exact number of the dishes one has for dinner, to
declare them to be more numerous than they
ought to be. She knows, sooner than you do
yourself, that your maid is a flirt, and had better
be dismissed. She strongly suspects that new
cloak of yours to be lined with scarlet (a
prohibited colour), and she is sure to find you
out. Why, niece, the other day she had even
the impudence to send her maid to inquire
whether I was aware that the carriage had been
at my door for ten minutes or more, and that
the horses would catch cold, if I kept them so
long."

"How can you be angry at that, aunt? Surely
it is not everybody who cares for other people's
horses. She must be a good woman after all."

The lady abbesses returned the visit the same
morning, and introduced some confidential
friendly discussion, in which she explained her
general and warm sympathy with the innocent
pleasures and enjoyments of youth, but, at the
same time, mentioned her duties in regard to
the position of the cloister and the necessity of
extreme caution not to expose members to
calumnies and false reports—there might be
some little occasional dance among themselves,
she would not mind that, but invitations and
preparations, no, it could not possibly be! So
Elise's quadrilles were never danced.

These cloisters are strictly Lutheran Protestant,
as all North Germany is, and their church
service is like that of all the other churches.
Nevertheless, they have retained many customs and
ceremonies of the nuns, which are strangely mixed
up with their present lay constitution. The
canonesses attend service on Sundays with the
rest of the congregation, but the communion is
held for them separately, and on a few particular
occasions they have a private service in their
choir (adjoining the church), attended by their
servants only. Then, above all, most of the cloisters
possess figures of Patron Saints to this day. They
are kept in secret shrines and said to be costly
figures of gold and silver, which are not shown
to the inquisitive stranger, nor much talked
about by the canonesses and their friends.
Report says that these precious patrons have their
principal part to perform at the installation of
the ladies, but nobody knows how and where.
The day of installation is celebrated with great
pomp, and closed with a grand evening party,
but the act itself is a bit of freemasonry held
perfectly secret among the ladies, not even their
pastor or most intimate friend being admitted.

The new comer gets first her " half veil," as
it is called (novitiate), and after some time—the
length of which depends on circumstances—the
whole veil; which whole veil imposes on her all
the duties, advantages, and privileges of her
state, but leaves her free to give it up whenever
she desires.

The ladies have their special costume, which
they wear in church on solemn occasions, and at
large dinners or evening parties. Their everyday
dress is of the common fashion, with the
exception of a few colours, which are forbidden.
The costumes of the Canonesses vary somewhat
in the different cloisters, but they are more or
less similar to each other. In Heilthal it
consists of a black satin gown, lace frill, sky blue
and silver ribbon across the shoulder, with a
small enamelled star on the left breast, and,
finally, the veil. This is a very peculiar sort
of head-dress, composed of white lace, more like
a narrow turban or fez than a veil, and highly
becoming. Under this mass of white lace young
faces look particularly fresh and lovely, old
faces more stately and dignified, than under any
other head-dress. At dinner or evening parties
the ladies of the cloister always form the centre
of attraction, and their uniform shows to great
advantage in comparison with costumes of the
present fashion.

The establishment keeps a considerable staff
of servants. A night-watchman or two to
guard the premises all night, three gardeners,
and four cooks, with one housemaid for every
two ladies. Only the female servants live
in the cloister, where they form a little host by
themselves. The ladies of Heilthal showed
much taste and a generous disposition in
surrounding themselves with the very prettiest girls
in the neighbourhood. A pity only that this
transplantation into the luxuriant soil of the
cloister did not always secure the prosperity of
the little wild flowers! These girls, spoilt by
an easy independent life, became unfit for other
service, as well as for their future humble lot as
poor artisans' and farmers' wives.

There is domestic authority exercised by a
Lady of the Kitchen, to whom the servants have
to apply in any serious difficulty, and who has
to keep watch over their proceedings. Not a
very enviable office, one would think, and full
of responsibility; but Fräulein von Langsam,
our Lady of the Kitchen, filled it with great
equanimity and without troubling herself much.
She was then more than seventy, scarcely looked
fifty, and was reported to have been the finest
woman of her time. She used to have a particularly
clever and experienced maid, with whom she
was closeted for about three hours every morning,
at the end of which seclusion she came forth
the dazzling star of the day. Her mental
capacities were rather low, and it seemed impossible
for her to deliver a sentence of more than half a
dozen words without the strangest mistakes.
How this poor soul came to be Lady of the
Kitchen never appeared, but whenever the
servants, riotous in mirth or quarrel, had to be
spoken to, Fräulein von Langsam went down
and delivered her speech to the general
stupefaction.

Each of the other ladies had some trifling
domestic duty to perform. One of them had to
keep the keys of the cloister, and occasionally to
see that the hall doors were locked at the
appointed time. Another lady had to be present
at the corn deliveries; a third to assist the
abbess in her business correspondence. Some, of
the offices were very peculiar. For example, there
was a Lady of the Gloves, whose duty it was
to knit, against every Christmas time, three pairs
of gloves for the clergymen, and an odd glove