“I didn’t know you’d written to them,” said Rosamund dully.
“I thought it wasn’t any use to say anything till I had the answers,” Frances said apologetically. “They might have told me to put the whole thing out of my mind, you know.”
“They—they don’t do that, then?”
“No. I’ve brought the letters for you to read, Rosamund.”
The Prior of Twickenham’s letter was not a long one, and struck Rosamund as that of a peculiarly simple and unworldly man. He told Frances that he had long ago guessed the destiny which God held in store for her, and that he believed her vocation to the religious life to be a real one. She must speak to her guardians and obtain their consent before taking any step. Meanwhile, she was to write freely and to count upon his prayers that her decision might be guided and blessed from above. There was little else in the letter, but something in its tone of matter-of-fact acceptance frightened Rosamund.
Mère Pauline wrote at much greater length. She congratulated Frances on “the great honour she had received” and promised her many prayers, but after that she became at once characteristically practical in her advice. If Frances’ director thought with her that she was suited to their own form of convent life, then Mère Pauline would be very glad to receive her, and meanwhile Frances must try and fit herself to be of great use. She must take care of her health, so as to be strong, and she must study, so as to be able to work, and above all, she must not neglect prayer and meditation. And, added Mère Pauline in a matter-of-fact postscript, it might be no bad plan to set about learning Latin, for greater facility in the recitation of the Holy Office. But she need not impress upon her dear child that, above all, must the feelings of that family, so soon to be called upon for so great a sacrifice, be tenderly considered.
“Frances!” said Rosamund aghast. “She writes as though the whole thing were settled.”
Her little sister looked at her with compassionate, loving eyes, and said nothing.
But Rosamund knew, more surely than any words could have told her, that in effect, the whole thing, as she had said, was settled.
The conviction remained with her even when it became obvious that the main conflict was yet to come.