“Why were you imprisoned?”
“Because—because,” she replied haltingly, “I had chosen the religious life, the which my guardian opposed. He appeared to think that some experience of the rigors of the convent might make me less eager to immure myself in a nunnery, which, like Pfalz Castle, is also on a restricted island.”
“Then his remedy has proved unavailing?”
“Quite. The Sisters will be very good to me, for I shall enrich their convent with my wealth. ‘Twill be vastly different from incarceration in Pfalz.”
“Hilda, I doubt that. Captivity is captivity, under whatever name you term it. I cannot understand why one who spoke so enthusiastically just now of hills and valleys and liberty should take the irrevocable step which you propose; a step that will rob you forever of those joys.”
The girl remained silent, and he went on, speaking earnestly:
“I think in one respect you are like myself. You love the murmur of the trees, and the song of the running stream.”
“I do, I do,” she whispered, as if to herself.
“The air that blows around the mountain-top inspires you, and you cannot view the hills on the horizon without wishing to explore them, and learn what is on the other side.”
There was light enough for him to see that the girl’s head sank into her open hand.