At nine o'clock the bell rung, and all who were awake repeated a prayer,
called the offrande; those who were asleep were considered as excused.

After my admission among the nuns, I had more opportunity than before,
to observe the conduct of mad Jane Ray. She behaved quite differently
from the rest, and with a degree of levity irreconcilable with the
rules. She was, as I have described her, a large woman, with nothing
beautiful or attractive in her face, form, or manners; careless in her
dress, and of a restless disposition, which prevented her from steadily
applying herself to any thing for any length of time, and kept her
roving about, and almost perpetually talking to somebody or other. It
would be very difficult to give an accurate description of this singular
woman; dressed in the plain garments of the nuns, bound by the same
vows, and accustomed to the same life, resembling them in nothing else,
and frequently interrupting all their employments. She was apparently
almost always studying or pursuing some odd fancy; now rising from
sewing, to walk up and down, or straying in from another apartment,
looking about, addressing some of us, and passing out again, or saying
something to make us laugh, in periods of the most profound silence. But
what showed that she was no novelty, was the little attention paid to
her, and the levity with which she was treated by the old nuns; even the
Superior every day passed over irregularities in this singular person,
which she would have punished with penances, or at least have met with
reprimands, in any other. From what I saw of her, I soon perceived that
she betrayed two distinct traits of character; a kind disposition
towards such as she chose to prefer, and a pleasure in teasing those she
disliked, or such as had offended her.