"
"Hagar!" I exclaimed. "You do not mean that is your real name?"
"It is the name given me by the House of Martha," she answered. "There
is a list of names by which the sisters must be called, and as we enter
the institution we take the names in their order on the list. Hagar came
to me."
"I shall not call you by that," said I, "and we may as well go on with
our work."
I was anxious to have her read, and to forget that she was called Hagar.
She was a long time arranging the manuscript and putting the pages in
order. I did not hurry her, but I could not see any reason for so much
preparation. Presently she said, still arranging the sheets, and with
her head bent slightly over her work: "I don't know whether or not I
ought to tell you, but I dislike to be called Hagar. The next name on
the list is Rebecca, and I am willing to take that, but the rules of the
House do not allow us to skip an unappropriated name, and permit no
choosing. However, Mother Anastasia has not pressed the matter, and,
although I am entered as Sister Hagar, the sisters do not call me by
that name."
"What do they call you?"
"Oh, they simply use the name that was mine before I entered the House
of Martha," said she.
"And what is that?" I asked quickly.
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