Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/259



AY IVERSON took one long, appraising look at the child and dubbed her "The Imp." It was the Imp's first day at St. Mary's, but the obvious fitness of the name was realized before the week had passed, and the pupils adopted it enthusiastically, regardless of the stern disapproval of the nuns.

The Imp was just ten. According to May Iverson, who seriously asserted that she had analyzed it, the blood that flowed in the Imp's veins was in equal parts French, Russian, Spanish, Tartar, and Indian. There was some color for this extravagant statement in the Imp's appearance, which was overwhelmingly foreign. Her great, dark eyes illumined a very olive skin, and the mass of hair that waved above them in riotous confusion was jet black and fiercely curly. The strict rule of the convent demanding smooth hair was violated by these flamboyant spirals, but even as the nuns