I
think I made her forget, for a few moments at least, that she was a
Mother Superior. Then her eyes fell again, and she stood silent.
"Perhaps," she said presently, and speaking slowly, "I ought to explain
these things to you. It is a great mistake, as I now see, that I ever
said anything to you on the subject; but things were different then, and
I did not know that I was doing wrong. Still, if you rely on me to set
you right, you shall be set right. I see that this is quite as necessary
from other points of view as from your own. I cannot speak with you
to-day, but to-morrow, about this time, I shall be on the road to Maple
Ridge, where I am going to visit a sick woman."
"I shall join you on the road," I answered, and took my leave.
For the rest of the day I thought of little but the promised interview
on the morrow. To this I looked forward with the greatest interest, but
also with the greatest anxiety. I feared that Mother Anastasia would
prove to me that I must give up all thoughts of Sylvia. In fact, if
Sylvia had resolved to devote herself to the service of the House of
Martha,--and she had told me herself that she had so resolved,--I was
quite sure she would do so. Then what was there for Mother Anastasia to
say, or me to do? The case was settled.
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