the door of the parlour. Evelyn opened it for the
Prioress, allowing her to pass in first.

"Louise, how good of you to come to see me. How did you find my
address? Did Merat give it to you?"

"No, but I have heard--we all know you are thinking of becoming a
nun."

"If you had been here a little earlier," the Prioress said, "you
would have been in time for Teresa's clothing." And there was an
appeal in the Prioress's voice, the appeal that one Catholic makes to
another. The Prioress, of course, assumed that Louise had been
brought up a Catholic, though very likely she did not practise her
religion; few actresses did. So did the Prioress's thoughts run as
she leaned forward; her voice became winning, and she led Louise to
ask her questions regarding the Order. And she told Louise that it
was a French Order originally, wearying her with the story of the
arrival of the first nuns. "How can Evelyn stop here listening to
such nonsense?" she thought. And then Mother Hilda told Louise about
Evelyn's singing at Benediction, and the number of converts she had
won to the Church of Rome.

"As no doubt you know. Mademoiselle Helbrun, once people are drawn
into a Catholic atmosphere--"

"Yes, I quite understand. So you sing every day at Benediction, do
you, Evelyn? You are singing to-day? It will be strange to hear you
singing an 'Ave Maria.'"

"But, Louise, if I sing an 'O Salutaris,' will you sing Schubert's
'Ave Maria'?"

"No, you sing Schubert's 'Ave Maria' and I will sing an 'O
Salutaris.'"

Evelyn turned to the Prioress.

"Of course, we shall be only too glad if Mademoiselle Helbrun will
sing for us."

"The last time we saw each other, Louise, was the day of your party
in the Savoy Hotel."

"Yes, didn't we have fun that day? We were like a lot of children.
But you went away early."

"Yes, that day I went to Confession to Monsignor."

"Was it that day? We noticed something strange in you. You seemed to
care less for the stage, to have lost your vocation."

"We hope she has begun to find her vocation," Mother Hilda answered.

"But that is just what I mean--in losing her vocation for the stage
she has gained, perhaps, her vocation for the religious life."

"Vocation for the stage?"

"Yes, Mother Hilda," the Prioress said, turning to the Mistress of
the Novices, "the word vocation isn't used in our limited sense, but
for anything for which a person may have a special aptitude."

"That day of your party--d