ave an idea, Grizel, that
his mother said something to him about me before she died. She knew I
was unhappy, I could see it in her eyes, and ever since he has been
more,--how shall I put it?--not affectionate, that's over,--more
_human_, shall we say? He doesn't take me _quite_ so much for granted.
It occasionally enters his head that I'm not very strong. He would be
quite willing for me to have a change, even without the excuse of your
breakdown. Poor young wife! ... And where is the Retreat?"

"In France. In Normandy. It's a convent, my dear, where they take a
few _pensionnaires_, but I'll arrange that there shall be no one there
but ourselves. I've been before when I needed a rest,--not the bodily
_I_, but the other bit, whatever you choose to call it, the bit that
_feels_! Being a good Protestant I should logically hate convents. As
a solid fact, I get more good in this particular one than anywhere else
in the world. The nuns are so sweet; they have such selfless,
crystalline, child-hearts. After you have been with them a few days,
some of their calm begins to steal into your own heart, and the fret to
die out. You feel such a long, long way from the outside world, that
you look at everything from a new perspective. It came upon me with
quite a shock that all my trouble had been about myself! ... My own
waiting, my own loss. But these sweet things have buried self... Oh,
it does one good, Cassandra, and the regular Spartan life, the bare
floors, the exquisite, exquisite, cleanliness,--it's all a tonic and an
inspiration. It's not dull either; don't think that it's dull! I take
my prettiest clothes, and an assortment of selected jokes. They love
'em, the dear things! I believe they love me too."

"I'm quite sure of that."

"Well!" Grizel smirked complacently, "so am I. To tell you the truth
I'm a tonic to them, so I give as much as I take. They do me good, and
I shock them, so we're both happy. The Reverend Mother once felt it her
duty to reprove me, but her eyes danced, so I went steadfastly on, and
did it again."

"And the services? Do you go to the services too?"

"Of course, and enjoy them so much that they have fond hopes of
converting me altogether. They won't; but that's a detail. Thank
goodness, I am so constituted that it's always the similarity between
creeds that strikes me, never the difference, so I find help in them
all... We'll allow a month for the convent,--I can't d