Sometimes she indicated her intentions for the future, which was
certainly not to be devoted to retreats and novenas, or to witness
another black dress as long as she lived, and if she married (which was
uncertain) it was not to be to an American, but to a Frenchman, because
Frenchmen had "family" and "blood," or perhaps to an Englishman, if he
was a member of the House of Lords, in which case she would attend all
the race-meetings and Coronations, and take tea at the Carlton, where
she would eat _meringues glaces_ every day and have as many _eclairs_ as
she liked.
And sometimes she would tell us the stories of the novels which she
bribed one of the washing-women to smuggle into the convent--stories of
ladies and their lovers, and of intoxicating dreams of kissing and
fondling, at which the bigger girls, with far-off suggestions of sexual
mysteries still unexplored, would laugh and shudder, and then Alma would
say:
"But hush, girls! Margaret Mary will be shocked."
Occasionally these conferences would be interrupted by Mildred's voice
from the other end of the dormitory, where she would raise her head from
her pillow and say:
"Alma Lier, you ought to be ashamed of yourself--keeping that child up
when she ought to be asleep, instead of listening to your wicked
stories.
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