At the entrance of one of the broadest of these, Mother Prudentia stopped short and, with a look I shall never forget, pointed out something on the ground to Mother Superior. I looked, but saw only the impress of our own wet and muddy footsteps upon the mouldy floor.
"Holy Virgin!" said Mother Prudentia. "Surely you did not go down there!"
"I don't know. I suppose so," answered Amabel, wearily, for she was not strong, and was growing very tired. "We went somewhere where the ground was all soft, and we began to sink in, and Lucy lost her shoes. Then we turned round and ran, till we came to where you found us."
"Thank Heaven!" said the Superior again; and not another word was spoken till we reached the upper air, where Mother Bursar and the Mother Assistant, with two or three other elders, were waiting.
Never in my life shall I forget how marvellously beautiful everything looked as we came out into the court. And how sweet was the breath of the summer air! It was like a vision of the new Heaven and the new earth to the redeemed soul.
The sisters gathered round us with many exclamations, but we were allowed to speak to no one. We were hurried off to the infirmary and popped into bed, with plenty of blankets, and enjoined to lie still. We were no sooner deposited than Sister Lazarus appeared with a jug of steaming hot soup and two little basins.
"There, drink your soup directly," said she, pouring it out. "You will get your deaths of cold, and so will dear Mother, and how you will feel then, naughty children! There, don't cry, poor dears, but take your soup good and hot."
"But this is meat soup," said Amabel. "Isn't this Friday?"
"No, of course not, child! It is Thursday. Did not you have meat for your dinners?"
"Thursday?" said Amabel, wonderingly. "Why, surely, it is not the same day that we were looking at the pictures in the great hall. Have we been in that place only one day?"