Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/263

, breeding desolation by her fiery eruptions.

It is not the purpose of this story to tell the things the Imp did: this is a moral tale. But one nun after another succumbed in the struggle with her until throughout the length of the great building there was a demand, without one dissenting voice, that the Imp be removed. There were reasons, however, as the Superior knew, that made her removal a difficult matter. Her father had frankly declared his offspring's failings, and had warned the Sisters that her presence would not add to their comfort. They had quieted his doubts with suave assurances, strong through memory of other small tartars conquered and reclaimed. Then he had paid a year's tuition in advance and departed for South America, both he and his daughter bearing their farewell with suspicious cheerfulness. He was a widower, and there were no relatives, so far as the nuns knew, to take the child in his absence. She was on their hands!

The Imp's class teacher had a mild attack of hysteria when this ultimatum was announced to her, and her despair was shared, though less wildly, by the other Sisters whose duties brought them into daily association with Mercedes. The pupils openly rejoiced. The Imp was trying at