You do not understand.' 'How can I?
But I am grateful----' 'You owe me nothing,' the Mother Superior answered with sudden energy, 'but I owe you everything.

You have given me the happiest hours of my life.

But it was too much.

God sent you to me, and God is taking you away from me--God's will be done!' Sister Giovanna felt that she was near something very strange and great which she might not be able to comprehend if it were shown clearly, and which almost frightened her by its mysterious veiled presence.

The evening light penetrated Mother Veronica's translucid features, as if they were carved out of alabaster, and the hues that lingered in them might have been reflected from heaven; her upturned eyes, that sometimes looked so small and piercing, were wide and sorrowful now.