And now, poor thing, she was grateful to the verge of tears for his one

word of blessing that seemed to wipe out all the rest. She wished that

when her hour came, she might hear him say again 'God bless you,' and

then die.

She let him go, and sat down amongst her furs, with a deep sigh of

satisfaction.

'I've made up my mind what to do,' she said, almost as if she were

talking to herself. 'I'm tired of it all, Tom, and I'm losing my good

looks and my figure. If this goes on, I shall soon be ridiculous. You

would not like your mother to be ridiculous, would you?' 'Certainly not!' 'No, my angel! Be good if you can; if you can't be good, be bad; but

never be ridiculous! Oh, never, never! I could not bear that. So I

shall leave the stage, quietly, without any farewell. I shall cancel my

engagements when I have finished singing here. The doctors will swear

to anything. What are they for? I was never ill in my life, but they

shall say I am ill now. What is it that every one has nowadays--the

appendix? I will have the appendix. The doctors shall swear that I have

it well. So I shall leave the stage with a good reason, and pay no

forfeit for cancelling the contracts. That is business. Then I will be

a nun.' 'Eh?' ejaculated Lushington, staring at her.

'Yes, I will be a nun,' continued Madame Bonanni unmoved. 'I will go

into religion. When your mother is a nun, my child, I presume that the

Church will protect her, and no one will dare to say anything against

her. Then you can marry or not, as you please, but you will no longer

be ashamed of your mother! I shall be a blue nun with a white bonnet

and a black veil, and I shall call myself Sister Juliet, because that

has been my great part, and the name will remind me of old times. Don't

you think "Sister Juliet" sounds very well? And dark blue is becoming

to me--I always said so.' 'Yes--yes,' answered Lushington in an uncertain tone and biting his

lip.

'I cannot do more than that for you, my treasure,' said his mother, a

touch of real human sadness in her voice. 'You will not take the

miserable money--but perhaps you will take the sacrifice, if I shut

myself up in a convent and wear a hair shirt, and feed sick babies, and

eat cabbage. How could any one say a word against me then? And you will

be happy, Tom. That is all I ask.' 'I shall not be happy, if you make yourself miserable, mother,' said

Lushington, smiling.




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