The first step, the preliminary instruction in
our creed and our simpler mysteries, which is the work of the
Novitiate, is a solemn epoch in the lives of our children. They are
not trusted with our secret till we can rely on the maturity of their
intelligence and loyalty of their nature. Eveena would in any case
have been received as a novice within some dozen days. It will now be
easy for me, considering her education and intelligence and my own
position in the Order, to obtain, for her as for you, exemption from
the usual probation on proof that you both know all that is usually
taught therein, and admission on the same occasion; and it will add
solemnity and interest to her first initiation, that this chief lesson
of her life should be shared this evening with him to whom she owes it
that she lives to enter the society, to which her ancestors have
belonged since its institution."
We passed into the peristyle, where the ladies were as usual
assembled; but the children had been dismissed, and of the maidens
Eveena only was present. Fatigue and agitation had left her very pale,
and she was resting at full length on the cushions with her head
pillowed on her mother's knee.
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