Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/254

 been moved between the two large windows. You were there, and another man I had never seen before, who seemed to be a doctor, too—both standing at the left side of the bed. You held my mother's hand and counted her pulse. Father knelt at the foot of the bed, with his face buried in the bedclothes. My sister Edith sat on a chair near him. When you were giving my mother some stimulant she revived and saw me. She said, 'Katherine—you have come—how good—dear child. Now I can die content. Then she—fell asleep, and you helped my dear old stricken father to his feet."

Comprehension dawned on the doctor's face. "Oh, you have heard from your father or sister, after all," he said, more briskly and with an air of relief. "They said they would not write, as I was to tell you personally. But I see they have given you minute details."

"No one has written," said the novice, simply. "I have not heard one word." She was very erect, and her pure tones had the throbbing quality of a cello string. "I saw it all—the whole scene—as I knelt before the altar in our chapel, where I had been praying God for strength to do my duty here. He gave it—and more. He took me there, my mother saw me, and I saw her die. I told Reverend Mother of it that night—just