“And wherefore was it, Mother?” inquired a giddy young nun, whose name was Laura. “Wert thou disappointed in love, or—”
The scorn exhibited on the blind woman’s face stopped her.
“I never was such a fool,” said Mother Joan, bluntly. “I became a nun because my father had decreed it from my cradle, and my mother willed it also. There were but two of us maids, and—ah, well! she would not have more than one to suffer.”
“Had thy sister, then, a woeful story?” asked Sister Laura, settling her wimple, (see note 2), as she thought, becomingly.
“Never woman woefuller,” sadly replied Mother Joan.
The next opportunity she had, Lady Sergeaux asked one of the more discreet nuns who Mother Joan was.
“Eldest daughter of the great house of Le Despenser,” replied Sister Senicula; “of most excellent blood and lineage; daughter unto my noble Lord of Gloucester that was, and the royal Lady Alianora de Clare, his wife, the daughter of a daughter of King Edward. By Mary, Mother and Maiden, she is the noblest nun in all these walls.”
“And what hath been her history?” inquired Philippa.
“Her history, I think, was but little,” replied Senicula; “your Ladyship heard her
