Part 21 (1/2)

As usual, the early autuain fell ill of a fever, and spent some weeks at Andilly with her troop of brothers and sisters But she could not shake off the sad thoughts which were pressing on her, and was glad to go back to the convent, taking with her little Marie Arnauld, then seven years old The winter passed before she could decide what to do, and her illness was increased by the da from the ponds and , and at length the prioress was so alared the abbess to do whatever she thought right, as the sisters would sub sooner than see her in such elique's mind was immense, and she instantly called on the whole coether She then spoke to the the them how, if it was to be kept, they must cease to have possessions of their own and share all things between them When she had finished, a nun rose up and silently left the roo the treasures by which she had set so elique's first battle on

In spite of the French proverb which says 'it is only the first step which hurts,' the second step on the road to reforelique, for she was resolved to put an end to the practice of per the relatives and friends of the nuns free entrance into the convent; and knew that her father, who during all these years had coone as he wished, would not submit quietly to his exclusion Therefore she made certain alterations in the abbey: ordered a foot or two to be added to the walls, and built a parlour outside with only a sh which the nuns would be allowed now and then to talk to their faain assembled the sisters, and informed them of the new rule which was to be carried out, and when shortly after a novice took the veil, and her friends were entertained outside the convent, many voices were raised in discontented protest, and more than once thewhen elique never made one rule for herself and another for her nuns, and by-and-by when her father's as over in Paris, and they all moved to Andilly, the abbess knew that her time of trial had come She wrote to either herthem to inform her father of the new state of affairs; but this they do not seeelique received athat they would arrive the nextto see her

Now the abbess of Port Royal was no hard-hearted, despotic wo to display her power and to 'irl, easily touched and very grateful, and in her generosity had striven to forget her father's double dealing in theintervieould be a cause of much pain to both she well knew, and she entreated two or three of the nuns--aned Saint-Cyr and was now at Port Royal--to spend the night in praying that her deterht not falter

It was at the dinner-hour, about eleven o'clock, that the noise of a carriage was heard in the outer court of the abbey The abbess turned pale and rose from her seat, while those of the sisters whom she had taken into her confidence hastened away to be ready for the different duties she had assigned to the in her hands the keys of every outer door leading into the convent, walked to the great gate, against which monsieur Arnauld, as accohters, was knocking loudly He was not used to be kept waiting like this, and did not understand theof it, and when the tinycut in the thick oak panels was suddenly thrown open, and his daughter's face appeared, he asked iates were locked, and why she did not open theo into the parlour beside the gate she would speak to hiates being shut; but her father, not believing his ears, only rapped the louder, while hter with lack of respect and affection, and monsieur d'Andilly her brother called her all sorts of nareat that it reached the refectory or dining-hall, where the nuns were still sitting, and soon their voices were joined to the cla the conduct of their abbess, buther

At this point ive way, bethought hi inside the walls If, he said, Angelique had lost all sense of duty and obedience to her parents, he would not suffer his other children to be ruined by her exaiven up to hi opened for the girls to come out, and that then he would be able to slip inside; but, unfortunately, Angelique knew by experience of what her father was capable, and had foreseen his demand She answered that his wishes should be obeyed, and seeking out one of the sisters who frones and Marie out that way This was done, and suddenly the two little nuns were greeting their father as if they had dropped fro that neither abuse nor tricks could o to the parlour, and there a rush of tenderness came over him, and he implored her to be careful in what she did, and not to ruin her health by privations and harsh treatelique was not prepared for kindness, and after all she had undergone it proved too round, and lay there without help, for her parents could not reach her through the grating in the wall, and the nuns, thinking thatreproaches on her head, carefully kept away

At last, however, they realised that help was needed, and arrived to find their abbess lying senseless Her first words on recovering were to implore her father not to leave that day, and the visitors passed the night in a guest-roo she had a long and peaceful talk with her fa

[Illustration: She fell fainting to the ground]

In the end the abbot of Citeaux gave permission for ardens, as he had been in the habit of doing, while his wife and daughters had leave to enter the convent itself when they wished But this was not for a whole year, as ates of Port Royal, and it was only after hearing a ser that she felt at liberty once hter

The income left by the founder of Port Royal was very sh on which to support a nuh, of course, it could perhaps buy as elique first went there as abbess, ed all the money matters, paid all that seehter and the nuns But after the day when she closed the gates on hier accept his help, as she felt she could not honestly do so while behaving in a ether her little cos they could possibly do without The loves had already been discarded, and there seeive up, if they were to help the sick people and peasants who crowded about their doors, but their food and their firing Not that she intended to support anybody in idleness; Angelique was far too sensible for that She took counsel with her father, and found work for theto the abbey

Their wages were selique had no belief in bad cooking--and heeled out by the sisters in little carts as far as the garden walls, where the workmen could eat it while it was hot Then soers to carry boith dinners to the old and ill Of course some of these were in the abbey infirelique, who took the one who seemed to need most care into her own room, while she slept on the damp floor--for half the sickness at Port Royal was due to the marshes that surrounded it If it happened that she had her cell to herself, there was no fire to warht to carry wood to the long dormitory where several of the nuns slept, so that they, at least, should not suffer from cold

All the daily expenses she saw to herself, as debt was hateful to her, and she and the sisters denied themselves food and wore the cheapest and coarsest clothes, not for the sake of their own souls, but of other people's bodies

In h she did not know it and certainly would have been shocked to hear it, Angelique reseland was daily increasing She had a special dislike tospent on decorations and ornaments in churches, or in embroidered vestments for priests, and never would allow any of therey dress for the girls to ho desired ad them to put on the clothes they had worn at home, as had always been the custom The first to wear it was her own sister Anne, who after leading the gay life of a Parisian young lady for a year, at fifteen resolved to abandon it for ever and join her three sisters at Port Royal

It is possible thatAngelique and Agnes to beco in their footsteps Anne he had expected to remain, for she was full of little fancies and vanities, and he could not i to the hich he knew the abbess loved

He would have laughed sadly enough if he could have seen how right he was On the first night that Anne slept in the abbey, she laid a cloth on a table in her cell, and tried to -table she had left in Paris Angelique happened to pass the open door on her way to the chapel, and, s to herself, quietly stripped the table Soain, and over it was spread a white handkerchief This she also re Anne to apply the lesson, she did not make any remark, and sent her to clean out the fowl-house

By this time the eyes of the world had been turned to Port Royal, and to the strange spectacle of a girl who, possessed of every talent which would enable her to shi+ne in society, had deliberately chosen the worst of everything, and had induced her nuns to choose it too Possibly the quiet and useful life led by the Port Royal sisters aieties and disorders of the other convents look even blacker than before; but however that elique was about twenty-six a reeable piece of as put into her hands

The king, Louis XIII, a very different man from his father, Henry IV, had deters that prevailed, and resolved to begin with Maubuisson

Now nobody had ever attempted to interfere with madame d'Estrees, as still abbess, and when the abbot of Citeaux, her superior, infor's commands he proposed to cory Without caring for the consequences, she locked up in a cell two e, and kept thehly bade theht no more about the matter