1 "Jesus, crown of virgin spirits,

Whom a virgin mother bore,

Graciously accept our praises

While thy footsteps we adore.

"Thee among the lilies feeding

Choirs of virgins walk beside,

Bridegroom crowned with glorious beauty

Giving beauty to thy bride.

"Where thou goest still they follow

Singing, singing as they move,

All those souls forever virgin

Wedded only to thy love."

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58

This little canticle was, in truth, very different from the hymns to Venus which used to resound in the temple which the convent had displaced. The voices which sung were of a deep, plaintive contralto, much resembling the richness of a tenor, and as they moved in modulated waves of chanting sound, the effect was soothing and dreamy. Agnes stopped at the door to listen.

"Stop, dear Jocunda," she said to the old woman, who was about to push her way abruptly into the room, "wait till it is over."

Jocunda, who was quite matter-of-fact in her ideas of religion, made a little movement of impatience, but was recalled to herself by observing the devout absorption with which Agnes, with clasped hands and downcast head, was mentally joining in the hymn with a solemn brightness in her young face.

"If she hasn't got a vocation, nobody ever had one," said Jocunda, mentally. "Deary me, I wish I had more of one myself!"

When the 

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