"
Mother Sub-Prioress paused to sniff, and to give the other nuns an
opportunity for ejaculations concerning Sister Antony. But their awe
of the Lord Bishop, and their genuine anxiety for the old lay-sister,
kept them silent.
The Bishop stroked his chin, keeping the corners of his mouth firmly in
place by means of his thumb and finger. Old Antony was delectably
funny when she said these things herself; but she was delectably
funnier, when her remarks were repeated by Mother Sub-Prioress.
"The old _creature_," continued Mother Sub-Prioress, eyeing the
Bishop's meditative hand suspiciously, "then betook herself to the
outer gates, told the porteress that she had your orders, Reverend
Father, to report to you if the Reverend Mother again elected to pass a
night in vigil and in fasting, because you and she--you and _she_
forsooth!--were made anxious by the too constant fasting and the too
prolonged vigils of the Reverend Mother. Mary Mark very properly
refused to allow the old"----
"Lay-sister," interposed the Bishop, sternly.
Mother Sub-Prioress gasped; then made obeisance:--"the old lay-sister
to leave the Convent. Whereupon Sister Antony sent Mary Mark to
deliver the Reverend Mother's message to me, bribing her, with the
promise of a gift from you, my lord, to leave her the key. When the
porteress returned, Mary Antony was gone, having left the great doors
ajar, and the key within the lock. She has not been seen since.
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