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Book 6 Chapter 5
The beam of the declining sun, softened by the stained panes
of a small gothic window, suffused the chamber of the Lady
Superior of the convent of Mowbray. The vaulted room, of very
moderate dimensions, was furnished with great simplicity and
opened into a small oratory. On a table were several volumes,
an ebon cross was fixed in a niche, and leaning in a high-
backed chair, sate Ursula Trafford. Her pale and refined
complexion that in her youth had been distinguished for its
lustre, became her spiritual office; and indeed her whole
countenance, the delicate brow, the serene glance, the small
aquiline nose, and the well-shaped mouth, firm and yet
benignant, betokened the celestial soul that habited that
gracious frame.
The Lady Superior was not alone; on a low seat by her side,
holding her hand, and looking up into her face with a glance
of reverential sympathy, was a maiden over whose head five
summers have revolved since first her girlhood broke upon our
sight amid the ruins of Marney Abbey, five summers that have
realized the matchless promise of her charms, and while they
have added something to her stature have robbed it of nothing
of its grace, and have rather steadied the blaze of her beauty
than diminished its radiance.
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