daughter of folly--there is a robing room, where many before you
have deposited their vestments."

Obeying the least signal with ready and timorous acquiescence, she
pushed the door open, but instantly recoiled with terror. It was
a charnel house, half filled with dry skulls and bones.

"I fear to change my dress there, and alone. But, if you, father,
command it, be it as you will."

"Why, thou child of vanity, the remains on which thou lookest are
but the earthly attire of those who, in their day, led or followed
in the pursuit of worldly pleasure. And such shalt thou be, for all
thy mincing and ambling, thy piping and thy harping--thou, and
all such ministers of frivolous and worldly pleasure, must become
like these poor bones, whom thy idle nicety fears and loathes to
look upon."

"Say not with idle nicety, reverend father," answered the glee
maiden, "for, Heaven knows, I covet the repose of these poor bleached
relics; and if, by stretching my body upon them, I could, without
sin, bring my state to theirs, I would choose that charnel heap for
my place of rest beyond the fairest and softest couch in Scotland."

"Be patient, and come on," said the monk, in a milder tone, "the
reaper must not leave the harvest work till sunset gives the signal
that the day's toil is over."

They walked forward. Brother Cyprian, at the end of a long gallery,
opened the door of a small apartment, or perhaps a chapel, for it