@@@@@Her pale eyes were bewildered and hurt
@@@@@Her pale eyes were bewildered
and hurt beneath her smudged forehead, and her fingers were closed
like
claws on the rosary she'd borrowed from Eulalie
The elderly nun repeated her message with emotion-free patience
"The Mother Superior will be in retreat all day, in prayer and
fasting She took pity on Scarlett and added an explanation"This
is Ash Wednesday
"I know it's Ash Wednesday," Scarlett almost shoutedThen she
curbed
her tongue"Please say that I am very disappointed," she said softly,
"and I'll come back tomorrow As soon as she reached the Robillard
house she washed her face
Eulalie and Pauline were visibly shocked when she came downstairs
and
joined them in the drawing room, but neither of them said anything
Silence was the only weapon they felt it safe to use when Scarlett was
in a temperBut when she announced that she was going to order
breakfast, Pauline spoke up"You'll regret that before the day is
out, Scarlett
"I can't imagine why," Scarlett answeredIt sagged
when Pauline explained
Scarlett's reintroduction to religion was so recent that she thought
fasting meant simply having fish on Fridays instead of meatShe liked
fish and had never objected to the ruleBut what Pauline told her was
objectionable in the extremeOnly one meal a day during the forty
days of Lent, and no meat at that meal
Sundays were the exceptionStill no meat, but three meals were
allowed"I don't believe it!" Scarlett exclaimed for the second time
within an hour"We never did that at home
"You were children," said Pauline, "but I'm sure your mother fasted as
she shouldI cannot understand why she didn't introduce you to
Lenten
observance when you passed childhood, but then she was isolated out
in
the country without a priest's guidance, and there was