256 THE PASSION-FLOWER. 



from a luxuriant plant, that mantled its walls, pre- 

 senting it with a graceful expression of her grati- 

 tude, and saying it was in itself a poor token, but 

 rich in the sacred resembhince which it bore to 

 what we both held most holy. 



I took an affectionate leave of her : and on 

 shewing the flower to a friend, with an account of 



its fair donor, she replied, 'Poor E ! It could 



be no other, for she is all that you describe, and 

 there is not one like her in tlie place.* She then 

 proceeded to tell me, that my nun was a young 

 lady, educated in the Protestant faith ; but led to 

 apostatize under strange circumstances. What 

 these were, she could not inform me : but several 

 years after I learnt her story. It was briefly this : 

 her father, a Romanist, had married a Protestant, 

 with the customary iniquitous agreement, that the 

 sons should be brought up in his religion — the 

 daughters in hers. Daughters only were born, and 

 they were educated in the Protestant faith ; but, 

 on their father's death, a number of priests assem- 

 bled, to perform offices for the departed soul, du- 

 ring the time that the corpse lay in the house ; and 

 so well did they improve their opportunity, that the 

 widow and all her daughters renounced Protestant- 

 ism shortly after the funeral, with the exception of 



E — . 



To overcome her conscientious repugnance, the 

 most nefarious means were resorted to ; a preten^i- 



