"The most terrible thing to witness was the last, straining,
anxious look which the mother gave her daughter through the
grating. She had seen her child pressed to the arms of strangers
and welcomed to her new home. She was no longer hers. All the
sweet ties of nature had been rudely severed, and she had been
forced to consign her, in the very bloom of youth and beauty, at
the very age in which she most required a mother's care, and when
she had but just fulfilled the promise of her childhood, to a
living tomb. Still, as long as the curtain had not fallen, she
could gaze upon her as upon one on whom, though dead, the
coffin-lid is not yet closed.

"But while the new-made nun was in a blaze of light and distinct
on the foreground, so that we could mark each varying expression
of her face, the crowd in the church, and the comparative
faintness of the light, probably made it difficult for her to
distinguish her mother; for, knowing that the end was at hand,
she looked anxiously and hurriedly into the church, without
seeming able to fix her eyes on any particular object, while her
mother seemed as if her eyes were glazed, so intensely were they
fixed upon her daughter.

"Suddenly, and without any preparation, down fell the black
curtain like a pall, and the sobs and tears of the family broke
forth. One beautiful little child was carried out almost in fits.
Water was brought to the poor mother; and at last, making our way
with difficulty through the dense crowd, we got into the
sacristy. 'I declare,' said the Countess ---- to me, wiping her
eyes, 'it is worse than a marriage!' I expressed my horror at the
sacrifice of a girl so young that she could not possibly have
known her own mind. Almost all the ladies agreed with me,
especially all who had daughters, but many of the old gentlemen
were of a different opinion. The young men were decidedly of my
way of thinking, but many young girls who were conversing
together seemed rather to envy their friend, who had looked so
pretty and graceful, and 'so happy,' and whose dress 'suited her
so well,' and to have no objection to 'go and do likewise.'"

[69] "The Santa Teresa, however, has few ornaments. It is not
nearly so large as the _Encarnacion_, and admits b