Tales of the Cloister
it would. Now Ernestine will be a dear little link between the finest musician in the Order and one of the most famous singers in the world. Madame Holstein is singing at the Metropolitan Opera-House in New York now," she continued, expansively. "Later, you know, she is to sing in the West. She has sent her little girl here for a few months because she will not keep her in hotels. I am simply existing until I hear her in Le Prophète. Fidès is her best rôle. Fancy how Sister Cecilia would love to hear her," she continued, regretfully. "Poor, dear Cecilia, who lives for music and never hears any but what we have in this convent! It's good, of course, but not to be compared with the singing of great artists like Madame Holstein. She has all that nature and art and years of the best European training can give. New York has gone mad over her. Last Friday night, when she sang Fidès, she was called before the curtain eight times! The newspapers are full of her, and I have shown Sister Cecilia all the press notices during the opera season. Reverend Mother wishes her to see them, as the criticisms help her in her musical work. When she discovers Ernestine's last name and knows she is the child of Holstein—" Miss Iverson stopped and smiled in sweet anticipa-
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