[BOOK ONE]
[CHAPTER I,] [ II,] [ III,] [ IV,] [ V,] [ VI,] [ VII,] [ VIII,] [ IX,] [ X,] [ XI,]
[BOOK TWO]
[ XII,] [ XIII,] [ XIV,] [ XV,] [ XVI,] [ XVII,] [ XVIII,] [ XIX,] [ XX,] [ XXI,]
[BOOK THREE]
[ XXII,] [ XXIII,] [ XXIV,] [ XXV,] [ XXVI,] [ XXVII,] [ XXVIII,] [ XXIX,] [ XXX.]
[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE]
HALF LOAVES
——————
MARGARET CULKIN BANNING
HALF LOAVES
BY
MARGARET CULKIN BANNING
AUTHOR OF “THIS MARRYING,” ETC.
NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1921,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
A. T. B.
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER I
IT was dusk in the convent. All the stillness of the hour of prayer was deepened by the soft twilight coming through the narrow windows of the long corridor that led from the study room to the chapel. The statue of the Blessed Virgin above the holy-water font caught the last rays of light in the folds of her blue gown and dimly held them.
Cecily sat opposite the statue on the ledge of the window, and gravely watched the world darken. It was not quite time for Benediction and she had a great deal to think about. The convent was having a mission for its pupils and especially for the small class of girls who were to graduate next week. They had been exhorted to take the words of the missionary priest with great earnestness, for it would be his especial purpose to prepare these young souls for life in the world. The Jesuit, tall, spiritually emaciated, seethingly emphatic, had caught the spirit of his work. He had told them of temptation, of sin, of eternal life, of hope, of the grace of God, painting his pictures with a vividness of beauty and horror. And this afternoon in his last talk he had laid before them a choice of lives. There were three paths into which the life of a woman might direct itself or be directed, he had said. And the girls, hushed into immense seriousness and expectation, had hung upon his words.