The carriage-road up to the convent made a circuit, and swept
round to the other side of the little declivity: but in front,
separated from the highroad by a hedge, there was only the
slope of a ploughed field, with a gate at the lower end,
opening on to a narrow path that led straight through it up
the hill; and this path Graham and Madelon followed, to where
it joined a weed-grown footway skirting the outer wall of the
building. There was a garden inside apparently, for trees were
waving their topmost branches overhead, and vines, and
westeria, and Virginia creeper hung down in long, many-
coloured tangled shoots and tendrils over the angle of the
wall outside. A little beyond was a side-door, with a bench
placed beside it; and above, surmounted by a crucifix under a
little pent-house, a narrow shelf on which stood an empty bowl
and spoon, just placed there probably by some wandering
pensioner, who had come there, not in vain, to seek his
evening meal.
"Shall we sit down for a minute and rest?" said Graham.
Madelon seated herself at his side without speaking; she had
been talking fast enough, and not without cheerfulness, during
the early part of her walk; but since they had come within
sight of the convent, her chatter had died away into silence.
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