in a box with three different sorts of locks, to which Madame Eglentyne
and two of the senior nuns had the keys, so that she could not open it
alone and so could not seal any business agreement without their
consent. And he ordered her to keep accounts and present them every year
(there are bundles of her accounts still preserved in the Record
Office). Finally he deputed a neighbouring rector to act as custodian of
the business affairs of the house so that she should always have his
help. Things went better after that.

Eglentyne, it seems, was never really interested in business, and was
quite pleased to have her time taken up with looking after internal
affairs and entertaining visitors, with an occasional jaunt outside to
see how the estates were getting on. And she began to find that she
could lead a much freer and gayer life now that she was a prioress; for
the prioress of a convent had rooms of her own, instead of sharing the
common dormitory and refectory; sometimes she even had a sort of little
house with a private kitchen. The abbess of one great nunnery at
Winchester in the sixteenth century had her own staff to look after her,
a cook, and an under cook, and a housemaid and a gentlewoman to wait
upon her, like any great lady in the world, and never dined with the
nuns except on state occasions. But a superior generally had with her
one nun to act as her companion and assist her in the choir and be a
witness to her good behaviour; this nun was called her chaplain, and was
supposed to be changed every year, to prevent favouritism. It will be
remembered that when Madame Eglentyne went on her pilgrimage she took
her nun chaplain with her, as well as three priests; that was because no
nun was ever allowed to go out alone. One of Madame Eglentyne's duties
as prioress was to entertain visitors with her celebrated cheer of
court, and we may be sure that she had a great many. Her sisters, who
were now grand ladies with husbands and manors of their own, and her old