They stood holding each other’s hands.
“Won’t you let me kiss you before you go?”
“Please let me go; it will be better not. The carriage is waiting; I must go.”
“But never, never to see you again!”
“Never is a long while; too long. We shall meet in heaven, and it would be unwise to forfeit that meeting for a moment of time on this earth.”
“A moment of time on this earth,” Evelyn answered. She stood looking out of the window like one dazed; and taking advantage of her abstraction Sister Mary John left the room. The Prioress came into the library.
“Mother, what does this mean? Why did you let her go?”
The Prioress sat down slowly and looked at Evelyn without speaking.
“Mother, you might have let her stay, for my sake.”
“I allowed her to see you before she left, and that was the most
