"Oh, yes, indeed I do. I'm glad you like it.... When I was a child my greatest treat was to be allowed to play in the nuns' garden."
"Then you knew the convent long before you came to be a nun yourself?"
"Oh, yes, I've known it all my life."
"So it was not strange when you came here first?"
"No, it was like coming home."
Evelyn repeated the nun's words to herself, "Like coming home." And she seemed to see far into their meaning. Here was an illustration of what she had read in the book—she and Veronica seemed to understand each other in the silence. But it became necessary to speak, and in answer to a question, Sister Veronica told Evelyn that there were four novices and two postulants in the novitiate, and that the name of the novice mistress was Mother Mary Hilda. The novitiate was in the upper storey of the new wing, above the convent refectory.
"And here is Reverend Mother," and Sister Veronica suddenly got up. Evelyn got up too, and they waited till the elderly nun slowly crossed the lawn. Evelyn noticed, even when the Reverend Mother was seated, that Veronica remained standing.
"You can go now, Veronica."
Veronica smiled a little good-bye to Evelyn, and left them immediately.
"Veronica told you, Miss Innes, I was taking my watch?"