9

He was a very attractive boy indeed. The nun thought she detected a family resemblance. “Your brother, I am sure of it. Suppose we ask him in. He will want to talk to you.”

But he would long ago have sent her off in his thoughts to another world, and she was ashamed to have him catch even a glimpse of her nun's habit.” I am sorry that you think me furtive,” she answered after some hesitation. “I am very sorry indeed. But I have nothing to say. You must have had any number of questions when you found me. I was out of my mind then, of course, and even now I cannot remember a thing. Possibly I have given away my own soul, if that is what you wish to call it, and borrowed someone else's. The other day when I heard what your nephew the governor had to say, I had a vague feeling that it was about a place I once knew. I have thought and thought, but nothing really comes back. There was a lady who worried about me and wanted to make me happy, and that is all I know. I keep wondering how she is, but somehow it makes me very sad to think of her. I may have known this boy when we were small—but please, I can't make myself try to remember. If you don't mind, I would rather let him go on thinking I am dead. I do not know whether my mother is still alive. If she is I might want to see her—but no one else. The gentleman the bishop speaks of: I would rather he too went on thinking I am dead. Please tell the boy that there has been a mistake.”

“That will not be easy. Even as people of saintly honesty go, my brother is not a man to hold things back. He will have revealed every last detail. The truth will not consent, I fear, to go back into hiding again, and the fact that the general is a man who must be reckoned with does not make matters less complicated.”

She was not prepared to accept evasions this time, and she had the support of the other nuns. “The most obstinate little creature,” they said, “the world ever saw.”

A curtain was hung near the veranda of the main hall and the boy invited inside the blinds. Though he knew that he was in his sister's presence, he was still a child, and shy about speaking without adequate preliminaries.

Eyes on the floor, he presently essayed: “There is another letter I'd like to give her. What the bishop said is true, I'm sure. But she seems so unfriendly.”

“She is indeed. What a handsome lad you are. Yes, here she is, the person the letter is for. We outsiders are somewhat puzzled by it all. Have a talk with her yourself. You do seem terribly young, but he must have had good reasons for choosing you.”

“What can I say when she won't answer? She is treating me like a stranger. No, I have nothing more to say. But he told me I had to put the letter in her hands and no one else's, and so I have to.”

“You do indeed.” The nun pushed the girl towards the curtain. “Be civil to him, please do. You really are very stubborn.”

The boy was certain, from the dumbness as of one in a trance, that the object of these remarks would be his sister. He edged closer and pushed the letter towards her.

“As soon as you can let me have your answer I will be off.” Hurt by her aloofness, he had no wish to dawdle.