Priest Dow then came and stood before me, and taking from
a wine-glass a small thin wafer, he placed it upon my
tongue, at the same time repeating some Latin words,
which, the Superior afterwards told me, mean in English,
"The body and blood of Christ." I was taught to believe
that I held in my mouth the real body and blood of Christ.
I was also told that if I swallowed the wafer before it
had melted on my tongue, IT WOULD CHOKE ME TO DEATH; and
if I indulged an evil thought while I held it in my mouth
I SHOULD FALL INTO A POOL OF BLOOD.




CHAPTER III.

THE NURSERY.

While in the White Nunnery, I spent the most of my time
in the nursery. But the name gives one no idea of the
place. The freedom and careless gayety, so characteristic
of other nurseries, had no place in this. No cheerful
conversation, no juvenile merriment, or pleasureable
excitement of any kind, were ever allowed. A merry laugh,
on the contrary, a witty jest, or a sly practical joke,
would have been punished as the most heinous offence.
Here as elsewhere in the establishment, the strictest
rules of silence and obedience were rigidly enforced.
There were twenty little girls in the room with me, but
we were never permitted to speak to each other, nor to