174 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [1639. 



at the entrance of the cloister, and, separating 

 into two rows as she appeared, sang the Veni 

 Creator, while the bell of the monastery sounded 

 its loudest peal. Then they led her in triumph to 

 their church, sang Te Deum, and, while the hon- 

 ored guest knelt before the altar, all the sisterhood 

 knelt around her in a semicircle. Their hearts 

 beat high within them. That day they were to 

 know who of their number were chosen for the new 

 convent of Quebec, of which Madame de la Peltrie 

 was to be the foundress ; and when their devotions 

 were over, they flung themselves at her feet, each 

 begging with tears that the lot might fall on her. 

 Aloof from this throng of enthusiastic suppliants 

 stood a young nun, Marie de St. Bernard, too timid 

 and too modest to ask the boon for which her fer- 

 vent heart was longing. It was granted without 

 asking. This delicate girl was chosen, and chosen 

 wisely.^ 



There was another nun who stood apart, silent 

 and motionless, — a stately figure, with features 

 strongly marked and perhaps somewhat mascu- 

 line;^ but, if so, they belied her, for Marie de 

 ITncamation was a woman to the core. For her 

 there was no need of entreaties ; for she knew that 



1 Casgrain, Vie de Marie de VlncarnatioUy 271-273. There is a long 

 account of Marie de St. Bernard, by Kagueneau, in the Relation of 1652. 

 Here it is said that she showed an unaccountable indifference as to 

 whether she went to Canada or not, which, however, was followed by an 

 ardent desire to go. 



2 There is an engraved portrait of her, taken some years later, of 

 which a photograph is before me. When she was " in the world," her 

 stately proportions are said to have attracted general attention. Her 

 family name was Marie Guyard. She was born on the eighteenth of 

 October, 1599. 



