"Because, Mon seignor, I did not perceive in her any true vocation for the religious life," answered the Superior.
"Then it was not for want of a satisfactory dowry, that she was refused!"
"Far from it, Mon seignor; we are a very poor community, but I can safely say that I would never refuse a postulant with a true vocation, though she came to me with nothing but the clothes she stood in. The Count de Crequi was so good as to offer me a double dowry, if I would consent to receive his step-daughter, but I need not say, I declined."
"And quite rightly!" answered the Bishop. "I wish all heads of religious houses were as disinterested as yourself. But the love of money, my brothers and sisters, is the root of all evil, as the Holy Apostle says. Let us be thankful that our state of life shelters us from its baleful influence. However, to return to the subject of this interview, which it is my painful duty to bring before you." Here he found his box, took a pinch of snuff, and thus fortified, made a fresh start.
"I will not, Reverend Mother, disguise from you the fact that this young lady, Desireè de La Mothe has plainly testified to the existence of certain very grave scandals under this roof; such as are not to be tolerated in any community, much less a religious one. These things having been brought to my ears by my relation by marriage to the Count de Crequi, it becomes my duty to thoroughly investigate them. I have no doubt that such an investigation will turn to your credit and that of your family—" here I saw the two priests again exchange looks—"but nevertheless it is, as you must see, my duty to make it."
"Assuredly, Mon seignor!" answered the Superior. "I have no other wish than to afford you every facility. How would your Greatness wish to proceed?"
"Oh! I suppose the proper way would be to examine each one of the family separately; which I will myself do with your permission. But these are not all!"
"All, Mon seignor! Save one!"
"And the lay sisters?"
"We have none, Mon seignor; our last lay sister died a year ago, at the age of eighty-nine. For a long time all the work of the house and garden has been performed by the choir sisters."