al and
tittle-tattle, none of it reached the seclusion of her convent-home, or
was allowed to sully her fair mind. And it was impossible for her to
connect the idea of folly, guilt, or shame with the pure, sweet face of
her mother, or the stately pride and dignity of her mother's father, the
Earl of Courtleroy. There was evidently a mystery; but she was sure of
one thing, that it was a mystery without disgrace.

And now, as she stood waiting on the stone steps, her face flushed a
little, and her eyes filled at the thought that she would now, perhaps,
be allowed to hear the story of her parents' lives. For she knew that
she was going to leave the convent, and it had been vaguely hinted by
Lady Alice in a recent letter that on leaving the convent Lesley must be
prepared for a great surprise.

Lesley looked over the silent, sweet-scented garden, and half-sighed,
half-smiled, to think that she should leave it so soon, and perhaps for
ever. But she was excited rather than sad, and when one of the sisters
appeared at the door of the study, or _salle d'etude_, Lesley turned
towards her with a quick, eager gesture, which not all the training to
which she had been subjected since her childhood would have availed to
suppress.

"Oh, sister, tell me, has she come?"

The sister was a tall, spare woman, with a thin face and great dark
eyes, with eyelids slightly reddened, as though by long weeping or
sleeplessness. It was an austere face, but its severity softened into
actual sweetness as she smiled at her pupil's eagerness.

"Gently, my child: why so impetuous?" she said, taking the girl's hand
in her own. "Yes, madame has arrived: she is in the parlor, speaking to
the Reverend Mother; and in five minutes you are to go to her."

"Not for five minutes?" said Lesley; and then, controlling herself, she
added, penitently. "I know I am impatient, Sister Rose."

"Yes, dear child: you are impatient: it is in your nature, in your
blood," said the sister, looking at her with a sort of pity in her
eyes--a pity which Lesley resented, without quite knowing why. "And you
are going into a world where you will find many things sadly different
from your expectations. If you remember the lessons that we have tried
to read you here--lessons of patience, endurance, resignation to the
will of others, and especially to the will of God--you will be happy in
spite of sorrow and tribulation."

The young girl trembled: it seemed as if the sister sp