Palla explained in her sweet, colourless voice that the Czar had permitted certain religious orders to establish themselves––very few, however,––the number of nuns of all orders not exceeding five hundred. Also she explained that they were forbidden to make converts from the orthodox religion, which was why the Empress had sternly refused the pleading of the little Grand Duchess.
“I do not think,” added Palla, “that the Bolsheviki have left any Catholic nuns in Russia, unless perhaps they have spared the Sisters of Mercy. But I hear that non-cloistered orders like the Dominicans, and cloistered orders such as the Carmelites and Ursulines have been driven away.... I don’t know whether this is true.”
Mrs. Shotwell, her eyes on her flying needle, said casually: “Have you never felt the desire to reconsider––to return to your novitiate?”
The girl, bending low over her work, drew a deep, still breath.
“Yes,” she said, “it has occurred to me.”
“Does it still appeal to you at times?”
The girl lifted her honest eyes: “In life there are moments when any refuge appeals.”
“Refuge from what?” asked Helen quietly.
Palla did not evade the question: “From the unkindness of life,” she said. “But I have concluded that such a motive for cloistered life is a cowardly one.”
“Was that your motive when you took the white veil?”