The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, vol 2 | Page 3

now appeared, that we were nearly related to the
Abbé Edgeworth, Louis XVI.'s confessor. This with some difficulty
was put into the Italian's head, and through her into the nuns', and
through them, in German, into the abbess' superior head. I heard a
mistake in the first repetition, which ran, no doubt, through all the
editions, viz. that we were proches parents, not to the King's confessor,
but to the King! The nuns opened the whites of their eyes, and smiled
regularly in succession as the bright idea reached them and the
abbess--a good-looking soul, evidently of superior birth and breeding to

the rest, all gracious and courteous in demeanour to the strangers.
A thought struck me--or, as Mr. Barrett of Navan expressed it, "I took a
notion, ma'am"--that Fanny would look well in a nun's dress; and
boldly I went to work with my interpreter, who thought the request at
first too bold to make; but I forced it through to nun the first, who
backed and consulted nun the second, who at my instigation referred in
the last appeal to the abbess, who, in her supreme good-nature, smiled,
and pointed upstairs; and straight our two nuns carried Fanny and me
off with them up stairs and stairs, and through passages and passages,
to a little nun's room--I mean a nun's little room--nice with flowers and
scraps of relics and religious prints. The nuns ran to a press in the wall,
and took out ever so many plaited coifs and bands, and examined them
all carefully as birthnight beauty would have done, to fix upon one
which was most becoming. Nun the second ran for the rest of the
habiliments, and I the while disrobed Fanny of her worldly sprigged
cambric muslin and straw hat, which, by the bye, nun the second eyed
with a fond admiration which proved she had not quite forgotten this
world's conveniences. The eagerness with which they dressed Fanny,
the care with which they adjusted the frontlet, and tucked in the ringlets,
and placed the coif on her head, and pulled it down to exactly the right
becoming sit, was exceedingly amusing. No coquette dressing for
Almack's could have shown more fastidious nicety, or expressed more
joy and delight at the toilette's triumphant success. They exclaimed in
German, and lifted up hands and eyes in admiration of Fanny's
beautiful appearance in nun's attire. The universal language of action
and the no less universal language of flattery was not lost upon me: I
really loved these nuns, and thought of my Aunt Ruxton's nuns, who
were so good to her. Down corridors and stairs we now led our novice,
and the nuns showed her how to hold her hands tucked into her sleeves,
and asked her name; and having learned it was Fanny, Frances, Sister
Frances, were again overjoyed, because one of them was named
Frances, the other was Agnes. When, between Sister Agnes and Sister
Frances the first, Sister Frances the second entered the room, where we
had left the abbess, Mrs. Moilliet, Emily, and Susan, they did not know
Fanny in the least, and Harriet declared that, at the first moment, even
she did not know her. Mrs. Moilliet told me she said to herself, "What a
very graceful nun is coming now!"

After all had gathered round, and laughed, and admired, the abbess
signified to me, through our interpreter, that we could do no less than
leave her in the convent with them, and grew so mighty fond of Fanny,
that I was in as great a hurry to get her nun's dress off as I had been to
get it on; and when I had disrobed her, I could not think of a single
thing to give the poor nuns, having no pockets, and my bag left in the
carriage! At last, feeling all over myself, I twitched my little gold
earrings out of my ears, and gave one, and Fanny gave the other, to the
two nuns; and Sister Frances and Sister Agnes fell on their knees to
pray for and thank us.
To MRS. EDGEWORTH.
PREGNY, _Sept. 6, 1820_.
The account of the loss of the three guides at Chamouni is, alas! too
true: three perished by stepping into the new-fallen snow which
covered the crevasses; one was Joseph Carrier, who was Harriet's guide.
Mrs. Marcet has just told us that, at a breakfast given by M. Prevost to
M. Arago, and many scientific and literary people, a few days after the
accident, parties ran high on this as on all affairs: some said it was all
M. Hamel's fault; some, that it was all the guides' own fault. One said
he wished one of the English gentlemen who was of the party was
present, for then they should know the