he age in the dear
old convent here. The thing is done in half of the great hospitals of
Europe every day, and men and women are cured in that way of diseases
that paralyse them in body as well as in mind. Men study to learn how it
is done; it is as common to-day, as a means of healing, as the medicines
you know by name and taste. It is called hypnotism."

Again the sister crossed herself.

"I have heard the word, I think," she said, as though she thought there
might be something diabolical in it. "And do you heal the sick in this
way by means of this--thing?"

"Sometimes," Unorna answered. "There is an old man, for instance, whom
I have kept alive for many years by making him sleep--a great deal."
Unorna smiled a little.

"But you have no words with it? Nothing?"

"Nothing. It is my will. That is all."

"But if it is of good, and not of the Evil One, there should be a prayer
with it. Could you not say a prayer with it, Unorna?"

"I daresay I could," replied the other, trying not to laugh. "But that
would be doing two things at once; my will would be weakened."

"It cannot be of good," said the nun. "It is not natural, and it is not
true that the prayer can distract the will from the performance of a
good deed." She shook her head more energetically than usual. "And it
is not good either that you should be called a witch, you who have lived
here amongst us."

"It is not my fault!" exclaimed Unorna, somewhat annoyed by her
persistence. "And besides, Sister Paul, even if the devil is in it, it
would be right all the same."

The nun held up her hands in holy horror, and her jaw dropped.

"My child! My child! How can you say such things to me!"

"It is very true," Unorna answered, quietly smiling at her amazement.
"If people who are ill are made well, is it not a real good, even if the
Evil One does it? Is it not good to make him do good, if one can, even
against his will?"

"No, no!" cried Sister Paul, in great distress. "Do not talk like
that--let us not talk of it at all! Whatever it is, it is bad, and I do
not understand it, and I am sure that none of us here could, no matter
how well you explained it. But if you will do it, Unorna, my dear child,
then say a prayer each time, against temptation and the devil's works."

With that the good nun crossed herself a third time, and unconsciously,
from force of habit, began to tell her beads with one hand, mechanically
smoothing her broad, starched collar with