She need not be afraid of leaving him alone for a few moments, he added, for he was in no pain and did not feel at all faint.

Besides, she would now send him another nurse--he had not thanked her for taking care of him herself during the night--he hoped she would forgive his omission--he was still---- And thereupon, while in the very act of speaking, he fell asleep again, exhausted by the effort he had made, and still under the influence of the strong drug.

The Mother understood, glanced at him and slipped away, closing the door very softly.

She knew that stage of awakening from the influence of opium, with its alternating 'zones' of sleep and waking.
It was half-past five now, and a spring morning, and all was astir downstairs; lay sisters were gathering the broken glass into baskets, the portress was clearing away the wreck of broken panes from the outer hall, and the nun who had charge of the chapel was preparing the altar for matins.

No one was surprised to see the Mother Superior in the cloister so early, for she was often the first to rise and almost always the last to go to rest; the novices said that the little white volcano never slept at all, but was only 'quiescent' during a part of the night.
She found one of the orderlies scrubbing the outer doorstep, and despatched him at once with Giovanni's report, which she had put into an envelope and directed.