Lifting her eyes again for a moment, Mother Hilda answered that it should be as the Prioress wished—­that she would do her best to instruct Teresa; and she moved away slowly, the Prioress not seeking to detain her any longer in her room.

XXVI

Next day in the novitiate Mother Hilda explained to Evelyn how the centre of their life was the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar.

“Our life is a life of expiation; we expiate by our prayers and our penances and our acts of adoration the many insults which are daily flung at our divine Lord by those who not only disobey His commandments, but deny His very presence on our altars.  To our prayers of expiation we add prayers of intercession; we pray for the many people in this country outside the faith who offend our Lord Jesus Christ more from ignorance than from malice.  All our little acts of mortification are offered with this intention.  From morning Mass until Benediction our chapel, as you know, is never left empty for a single instant of the day; two silent watchers kneel before the Blessed Sacrament, offering themselves in expiation of the sins of others.  This watch before the Blessed Sacrament is the chief duty laid upon the members of our community.  Nothing is ever allowed to interfere with it.  Unfailing punctuality is asked from every one in being in the chapel at the moment her watch begins, and no excuse is accepted from those who fail in this respect.  Our idea is that all through the day a ceaseless stream of supplication should mount to heaven, that not for a single instant should there be a break in the work of prayer.  If our numbers permitted it we should have Perpetual Adoration by day and night, as in the mother house in France; but here the bishop only allows us to have exposition once a month throughout the night, and all our Sisters look forward to this as their greatest privilege.”

“It is a very beautiful life, Mother Hilda; but I wonder if I have a vocation?”

“That is the great question, my dear,” and a cloud gathered in Mother Hilda’s face, for it had come into her mind to tell Evelyn that she hardly knew anything of the religious life as yet; but remembering her promise to the Prioress, she said:  “Obedience is the beginning of the religious life, and you must try to think that you are a child in school, with nothing to teach and everything to learn.  The experience of your past life, which you may think entitles you to consideration—­”

“But, dear Mother, I think nothing of the kind; my whole concern is to try to forget my past life.  Ah, if I could only—­” Mother Hilda wondered what it must be to bring that look of fear into Evelyn’s eyes, but she refrained from questioning her, saying: 

“I beg of you to put all the teachings of the world as far from your mind as possible.  It will only confuse you.  What we think wise the world thinks foolish, and the wisdom of the world is to us a vanity.”