... nunsdecided to let him in, and then there was a jingling of keys and a clanking of iron bars and a grinding of locks, and presently a small door, cut and hung in one leaf of the great, iron-studded, ... within the convent walls, and the praying and nasal chanting, and thecounting of sheets and pillow-cases, and doing a little sewing, and singing to herself, perhaps, and then thebeing reproved ... abbess's pale hands were unclasped, and one of them pressed each knee, as she leaned farforward in her seat, with an expression of surprise and horror, her dark lips parted and all the lines of hercolourless...