Truth to tell, I had already made away with the tainted piece; but Mother Sub-Prioress was pleased to think it was in the pot, seething for the holy Ladies' evening meal; and wherefore should Mother Sub-Prioress not think as she pleased?
"'Woman!' she cried; 'Woman!'-- and when Mother Sub-Prioress says 'Woman!' the woman she addresses feels her estate would be higher had God Almighty been pleased to have let her be the Man, or even the Serpent, so much contempt does Mother Sub-Prioress infuse into the name--'Woman!' said Mother Sub-Prioress, 'wouldst thou make all the Ladies of the Convent ill ?' "'Nay,' said I, 'that would I not.

Yet, if any needs must be ill, 'twere easier to tend the holy Ladies in their cells, than the Poor, in humble homes, outside the Convent walls, tossing on beds of rushes.' "'Tush, fool!' snarled Mother Sub-Prioress.

"'The Poor are not easily made ill.' "Tush indeed! I tell thee, little bright-eyed man, old Antony, can 'tush' to better purpose! That night there were strong purging herbs in the broth of Mother Sub-Prioress.

Yet she did but keep her bed for one day.

Like the Poor, she is not easily made ill!.