She was clothed in the well-known garb of her order--in a black dress, with long, hanging sleeves, and a long, black vail.

Her face was framed in with the usual white linen bands, her robe confined at the waist by a girdle, from which hung her rosary of agates; and her silver cross hung from her neck.
The abbess was a lady of the most noble birth, connected with the royal house of Orleans.
In the revolution which had driven Louis Philippe from the throne, her father and her brother had perished.

Her mother had passed away long before.

She remained in the convent of St.Rosalie, where she was being educated.
And when, early in the days of the Second Empire, her fortune was restored to her, instead of leaving the cloister, where she had found peace, for the world, where she had found only tribulation, she took the vail and the vows that bound her to the convent forever, and devoted her means to enriching and enlarging the house.

The convent had always supported itself by its celebrated academy for young ladies.