nuns of the order of Mount Carmel; and as many whose veils, being
white, argued them to be novices, or occasional inhabitants in
the cloister, who were not as yet bound to it by vows. The
former held in their hands large rosaries, while the younger and
lighter figures who followed carried each a chaplet of red and
white roses. They moved in procession around the chapel, without
appearing to take the slightest notice of Kenneth, although
passing so near him that their robes almost touched him, while
they continued to sing. The knight doubted not that he was in
one of those cloisters where the noble Christian maidens had
formerly openly devoted themselves to the services of the church.
Most of them had been suppressed since the Mohammedans had
reconquered Palestine, but many, purchasing connivance by
presents, or receiving it from the clemency or contempt of the
victors, still continued to observe in private the ritual to
which their vows had consecrated them. Yet, though Kenneth knew
this to be the case, the solemnity of the place and hour, the
surprise at the sudden appearance of these votaresses, and the
visionary manner in which they moved past him, had such influence
on his imagination that he could scarce conceive that the fair
procession which he beheld was formed of creatures of this world,
so much did they resemble a choir of supernatural beings,
rendering homage to the universal object of adoration.

Such was the knight's first idea, as the procession passed him,
scarce moving, save just sufficiently to continue their progress;
so that, seen by the shadowy and religious light which the lamps
shed through the clouds of incense which darkened the apartment,
they appeared rather to glide than to walk.