Page:The silent prince - a story of the Netherlands (IA cu31924008716957).pdf/238

 Church has sadly changed since the days of my youth. I have always loved and reverenced her, and I do so still. It is only those things within her which are not holy that I would see changed. May God in His own good time purge her from all her spots and stains, and bring her forth as gold purified by the refiner’s fire. But enough of this. The convent is no place for you. If you remain, you will be sadly persecuted. I have come to set you free. Hasten! there is no time to lose!”

So saying, she wrapped the bewildered girl in the coarse garments and led her to the postern gate of the convent. As she opened the gate she said, “Go along the Westernstrasse until you come to Canal Street. In the third house from the corner on the right lives my sister, Betgen Faber. She will shelter you to-night for my sake. Farther than this, the blessed Mother must direct your steps.”

With these words she gently thrust the trembling girl into the dark street of the city.