"You are tired and warm,
and must sit down. You came here on my account, and I regard you, in a
manner, as a guest."
She smiled, and looked at the rock which I had pointed out. It was a
flat one, about three feet long, and it seemed as if it had been put
there on purpose to serve for a seat.
"I am tired," she said, and sat down upon it. As she did so, she gave a
look about her, and at the same time made a movement with her right
hand, which I often before had noticed in women. It was the involuntary
expression of the female soul, longing for a fan. A fan, however, made
up no part of the paraphernalia of a sister of the House of Martha.
"Allow me," I said, and, taking off my straw hat, I gently fanned her.
Mother Anastasia laughed. "This is really too much; please stop it. But
you may lend me your hat. I did not know the morning would be so warm,
and I am afraid I walked too fast. But we are losing time. Will you tell
me precisely what it is you wish to know of me?"
"I can soon do that," I answered; "but I must first say that I believe
you will suffocate if you try to talk from under that cavernous bonnet.
Why don't you take it off, and get the good of this cool shade? You had
discarded all that sort of thing when I last talked with you, and you
were then just as much a Mother Superior as you are now.
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