cher, and thus they continue till three o'clock,
when all assemble in the chapel for matins. They also join in prayer
seven times in the day, at fixed periods, though they may be separated.
To the order of the Love of Jesus are attached companions who may mix in
the world, and whose real duties are to obtain proselytes. They are
expected to join in prayer at stated hours, wherever they may be, and on
every Thursday night, from midnight till one o'clock, the companions
unite in prayer. The Lady Superior in one of her more confidential
moods invited Clara to join the order.

"My dear child," she observed, "it is a glorious thing to be thus
constantly engaged in prayer when you may; in every service and homage
you render, call to your aid the choirs of angelic spirits, and unite
yourself to them in spiritual companionship, in order that they may
supply your deficiencies."

Clara had never before heard that it was necessary to obtain the aid of
angels for offering up prayer to God, and was somewhat startled at the
novelty of the notion; but she knew perfectly well that it would not do
to state her objections to so determined a person as her spiritual
mother. She did not, either, feel inclined to become one of the order
of the Sacred Heart, not having formed the very highest opinion of the
nuns belonging to it whom she had met. They appeared to her generally
weak-minded enthusiasts, and she still retained a belief that God is
best served by those who, in imitation of our blessed Lord and Master,
engage in the duties of active benevolence. On her declining,
therefore, the Lady Superior dismissed her in a stern manner, reminding
her that those who put their hands to the plough, and look back, are not
worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

Clara, without uttering a word, left the room, and hoped to devote
herself with more zeal than ever to the duties she had actually
undertaken. With this feeling, she repaired at the appointed hour to
the schoolroom, where she took her class of children. They were, as it
happened, inclined to be less attentive and more unruly than was their
wont; some of them had only lately been induced to attend the school,
and were unaccustomed to the rules and regulations. A biggish boy was
trying to see how far he could proceed in impudence and lead on the
others, when Clara, finding that appealing to him was useless, gave him
a box on the ear. The Deane, at that moment entering, observed the act.