Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/93

 and silk hangings and lovely curtains and flowers. Maybe they do in big cities in the East, but they don't when they come to our Western town. That room was about six feet long and four feet wide, it seemed to me, and dirty! The dust was simply thick. When we opened the door a cloud of it seemed to rise and settle on us. The place was so small that when we went in our elbows actually dug into one another's sides, and I tripped on a stool on the floor and almost bowled over the others like a lot of ten-pins. There was a long looking-glass on the wall just opposite the door, and a girl stood in front of it with her back to us. Of course she saw us reflected there and she turned around. She was dressed except for her gown; she had a blond wig on, and was daubing some red paint on her cheeks with a funny little piece of fur. She looked young and tired, and her lips had a peevish curl.

Sister Chrysostom threw back her veil and went right up to the girl and took her in her arms. "My little sister," she said, "you don't know how I've hungered for you," and there was something in her voice that brought the tears to my eyes. I turned and looked at Grace; her cheeks were wet, too. Then we heard a short laugh, and we both glanced up.