صفحة 269 من 1118

There was a law, that no young person could be accepted for the

monastic life, without being examined by an ecclesiastic, called

the vicar of the nuns, so that it should be made manifest that it

was the result of her free election; and this examination could

not take place until a year after she had presented her petition

for admission, in writing, to the vicar. The nuns, therefore, who

were aware of the projects of her father, undertook to draw from

her such a petition; encountering her in one of those moments,

when she was assailed by her superstitious fears, they suggested

to her the propriety of such a course, and assured her,

nevertheless, that it was a mere formality (which was true), and

would be without efficacy, unless sanctioned by some after-act of

her own. The petition, however, had scarcely been sent to its

destination, when Gertrude repented of having written it; she

then repented of this repentance, passing months in incessant

vicissitude of feeling.