ith sea-weed, I dressed
myself in the religious habit which she had worn, and sat down awaiting
the arrival of the people, which I knew must soon take place. I was
then without a symptom of beard; and from the hardship and ill-treatment
which I had received on board of the Genoese, was thin and sallow in the
face. It was easy in a nun's dress to mistake me for a woman of
thirty-five years of age, who had been secluded in a cloister. In the
pockets of her clothes I found letters, which gave me the necessary clue
to my story, and I resolved to pass myself off as La Soeur Eustasie,
rather than he put in prison, or run through the body.

I had scarcely time to finish reading these documents when a party,
attracted by the fragments on the beach, came up to me. I narrated the
loss of the vessel, the death of the whole crew, my name and condition,
my having come over at the request of the bishop to assume the guidance
of the convent of St. Therese; and added, that I had called upon the
Virgin in my distress, who had come to my aid, and floated me on shore
with as much care and comfort as if I had been reposing on cushions of
down. The report was spread, and credited; for the circumstance of a
helpless woman being the sole survivor of a whole crew was miracle
enough in itself.

The bishop's carriage was sent for me, and I was conducted into the
town, followed by a concourse of priests, monks and common people, who
were anxious to kiss even the ground that had been trod upon by a
personage so especially under the protection of Heaven. I was conducted
to the bishop's palace, where I held a sort of court, being visited by
deputations from the official bodies, the governor, and all the people
of consequence. After a sojourn of three days, I removed to the convent
of which I was the supposed abbess, and was enthusiastically received by
the nuns, who flocked round me with mingled veneration and delight.

On the second day of my establishment as abbess, the two elder sisters,
who could with difficulty he got rid of even when I retired to bed the
night before, introduced the whole of the nuns in rotation, beginning
with the elder, and ending with those who last took the vow of chastity.
I felt little interest, I must confess, at the commencement of my
levee; but as it came near to a close, many beautiful countenances
attracted my attention, and I gave the kiss of peace with more zest than
prudence would have justified. The la