Elizabeth G. Jordan

“ Friends of the young mother who slept under the deepening snows thought of her baby behind the convent walls, and brought him gifts and playthings. The nuns developed a marvellous talent for games of which they had never before heard, and their repertoire of songs and stories adapted to the amusement of small boys grew like a rolling snowball. But the baby was bored and showed it. He turned again to Sister Philomene, but found her as of yore—as frosty as the outside air. ”

“ With the perverseness of Fate, it was on Sister Philomene that the Light of the Convent had fastened his youthful affections.
No one could understand it, and certainly the baby could not explain it. Perhaps May Iverson, a pupil at the institution, came the nearest to the kernel of the situation.
"It is the contrariness of man," she said, positively. "The infant is a flirt, even at this tender age. He is tired of the cloying sweets he is getting on all sides, so he is making love to unresponsive Sister Philomene by way of variety." ”

“ It was no light weight, and the effort she made woke Frederick Addison Malcolm from his slumbers. He turned one sleepy blue eye on her, then the other, and a look of supreme discontent settled upon his brow. He sat up with a ruffled countenance, and beat his small heels upon the secretary's stomach. She put him hastily on the floor. ”

“ They at once sent across the street for the old doctor who came in consultation over serious cases in the convent, and he arrived after some delay.
He entered the room cheerfully, with the evident conviction that there was nothing serious the matter with the youngster who seemed to be upsetting the quiet life of the cloister. But after one look his face grew grave. He set to work at once, with the assistance of Sister Rodriguez, giving hurried directions right and left. Then he glanced round the little circle of anxious faces and spoke.
"There are too many here," he said, brusquely. ”

“ He tucked his head under her chin, and his dimpled hand stole up and rested against her cheek. She laid her head against his for an instant, and an inarticulate sound passed her lips—the sound every baby knows and every true woman makes when she feels a little body nestling against her heart. The two left the room together, and the secretary followed them down the long dim corridor to the refectory, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses. ”

“ It was a congenial duty, and Sister Rodriguez entered upon it with much zeal. For purposes of observation she remained in the baby's nursery at night, and that pleasant room, so unusual in such an institution, became the Mecca to which the feet of the nuns turned each day during the short intervals in which these busy women could leave the manifold duties connected with their vocation. Sister Philomene alone did not call. Even when she was told that the baby had on several occasions asked for "Chicker Menie" (his name for her) , she did not find time to drop in upon him. ”

“ He lay in the dim room, talking softly to himself, or making a queer humming sound which he seemed to think was pleasingly musical. Occasionally he sat up, and the anxious watchers outside, their ranks constantly augmented by others as anxious, heard a scramble, or the sound of a falling toy or pillow. ”