areful in moving a
patient who would soon be brought, and to get ready a certain new
chair which was especially constructed for carrying persons who had
received injuries of the feet only, and who did not require to be
transported on the ordinary stretcher, which always gives a patient
the idea that his case is a serious one.

She also went out to the lodge, to warn the portress that Captain
Severi was expected, and must not be kept waiting even a few seconds
longer than was necessary. The excellent Anna looked up with some
surprise, for she had never kept any one waiting without good cause,
since she had been in charge of the gate, but she bent her head
obediently and said nothing. It seems to be a general rule with
religious houses that no one is ever to wait in the street for
admittance; the barrier, which is often impassable, is the door that
leads inward from the vestibule.

When everything was prepared for Ugo's reception, Sister Giovanna went
back to the duties which kept her constantly occupied in the morning
hours and often throughout the day. She was personally responsible to
the house-surgeon for the carrying out of all directions given the
nurses, as he was, in grave cases, to the operating surgeon or
visiting physician. It was her business to inspect everything
connected with the hospital, from the laundry, the sterilising
apparatus, and the kitchen, to the dispensary, where she was expected
to know from day to day what supplies were on hand and what was
needed. She was ultimately answerable for the smallest irregularity or
accident, and had to report everything to the Mother Superior every
evening after Vespers and before supper. During her week, every one in
the establishment came to her for all matters that concerned the
hospital and the nurses on duty by day or night; but she had nothing
to do with those who were sent out to private cases. They reported
themselves and gave an account of their work to the Mother Superior,
whenever they returned to the Convent.

The supervising nurse for the week did not sleep in her cell, but lay
down on a pallet bed behind a curtain, in her office on the first
floor, close to the dispensary, where she could be called at a
moment's notice, though it rarely happened that she was disturbed
between ten o'clock at night and five in the morning.

The Mother Superior had introduced the system soon after she had taken
charge of the Convent hospital, of which the management