"Come in here for a moment, won't you? I think it is Miss Clare?"
"Yes."
Alex, faintly uneasy, although she could not have explained why, looked round for her maid.
Holland came forward at once.
"Good afternoon, Mary," said the nun, addressing her calmly. "How are you?"
"Very well, thank you, Mother Gertrude. I hadn't hoped to be here again so soon, but Miss Clare was tired, and we were just going past, on the way back after the procession."
"Ah, yes, to be sure," said the nun with the air of recalling an unimportant fact—"the Jubilee procession takes place today. That must make the streets unpleasantly crowded. Won't you rest a little while in the parlour, Miss Clare? Perhaps your maid might find a cab to take you home."
"Will you try, Holland?" said Alex eagerly. She felt unable to walk any more.
This time Holland made no demur at the suggestion, and only glanced a respectful farewell at the nun, who said, with a smile that seemed somehow full of authority: "Good-bye, then, Mary, for the present. I will take care of your young lady whilst you are away. It may take a little while to find a cab on a day like this."
As the maid went out, Mother Gertrude motioned to Alex to precede her down the small, uneven steps leading out of the lobby into a better-lighted passage beyond.