Pagina 261 de 1118

Dolls, clothed like nuns, were the first toys that were put into

her hands; then pictures of nuns; and these gifts were

accompanied with many injunctions to be careful of them, for they

were precious things. When the prince or princess, or the young

prince, who was the only one of the children brought up at home,

wished to praise the beauty of the infant, they found no way of

expressing their ideas, except in exclamations of this sort,

"What a mother abbess!" But no one ever said directly to her,

"Thou must be a nun;" such an intention, however, was understood,

and included in every conversation regarding her future destiny.