cat-o'-nine-tails." From that time I cheerfully underwent the
discipline of flagellation, learning the regular method of practising it
from the sisterhood, and feeling, in a spiritual point of view,
immensely the better for it.

The nuns, finding that I cheerfully devoted myself to every act of
self-sacrifice prescribed by the rules of their convent, wondered very
much that I still hesitated about taking the veil. I begged them not to
mention the subject to me till my mind was quite made up about it. They
respected my wish, and said no more; but they lent me books to read
which assisted in strengthening my wavering resolution. Among these
books was the Life of Madame de Montmorenci, who, after the shocking
death of her husband, entered the Order of St. Mary. The great example
of this lady made me reflect seriously, and I communicated my thoughts,
as a matter of course, to Father Deveaux. He assured me that the one
last greatest sacrifice which remained for me to make was the sacrifice
of my liberty. I had long known that this was my duty, and I now felt,
for the first time, that I had courage and resolution enough boldly to
face the idea of taking the veil.

While I was in this happy frame of mind, I happened to meet with the
history of the famous Rance, founder, or rather reformer, of the Order
of La Trappe. I found a strange similarity between my own worldly
errors and those of this illustrious penitent. The discovery had such
an effect on me, that I spurned all idea of entering a convent where the
rules were comparatively easy, as was the case at Anticaille, and
determined, when I did take the veil, to enter an Order whose discipline
was as severe as the discipline of La Trappe itself. Father Deveaux
informed me that I should find exactly what I wanted among the Carmelite
nuns; and, by his advice, I immediately put myself in communication with