rare! . . ."

"Poor little rich child!" he said, kindly--"Tell me some of those
'intervals'! Cannot they be repeated? Let us sit here"--and he moved
towards a stone bench which fronted an ancient disused well in the
middle square of the cloistered court,--a well round which a crimson
passion-flower twined in a perfect arch of blossom--"What was the
first 'interval'?"

He sat down, and the sunshine sent a dazzling ray on the silver
crucifix he wore, giving it the gleam of a great jewel. Morgana took
her seat beside him.

"Interval one!" he said, playfully--"What was this little lady's
first experience of happiness? When she played with her dolls?"

"No, oh no!" cried Morgana, with sudden energy--"That was anything
but happiness! I hated dolls!--abominable little effigies!"

Don Aloysius raised his eyebrows in surprise and amusement.

"Horrid little stuffed things of wood and wax and saw-dust!"
continued Morgana, emphatically--"With great beads for eyes--or eyes
made to look like beads--and red cheeks,--and red lips with a silly
smile on them! Of course they are given to girl-children to
encourage the 'maternal instinct' as it is called--to make them
think of babies,--but _I_ never had any 'maternal instinct'!--and
real babies have always seemed to me as uninteresting as sham ones!"

"Dear child, you were a baby yourself once!"--said Aloysius gently.