The sisters were formerly, perhaps, nuns of some kind. Sister
Eatherine Bayssallance was no nun, except that she was still, at
forty-five or fifty, in a state of celibacy. One thinks of a nun,
despite the horrid stories sometimes told of convents, as of a
woman saintly in appeamnce as well as by profession — she should



ST. KATHERINS'S BY THE TOWER. 63

be pale, aastere, and thin ; Sister Katherine, on the other hand,
\?as plump of figure and rosy-cheeked, fonder of mirth than of
tears, and of a cheerful piety. In all respects she was the exact
opposite of the nun as we are apt to think of her. She was also
voluble exceedingly. Yet not foolish like most voluble persons
who, so long as they can still be talking, care not greatly what
they say or who listens. In every respect she was unlike her
brother, the lieutenant, who lived with her. For while she was
easy, he was stiff; while she was plump, he was thin; while
iShe was merry, he was grave ; while she was voluble, he was
sparing of his words. But such opposites are common in fam-
ilies. George, for his part, took after his father's sister rather
than his father.
The good lady, espying me one day: — 'twas on a Sunday, after
dinner — ^wandering in melancholy mood about the place— there
was little joy at home during those days — opened her ^indow
and hemmed, and bade me come in.
" I am alone," she said, when I obeyed. " Come in and let
us have a comfortable cry — ^that is, I will cry. I am alone.
