The Convent: A Novel by Panos Karnezis

out her religious duties and at the same time take care of the child, she was tired and melancholy. Sister María Inés made a vague gesture and the young nun approached and bowed. She said: ‘I have come to offer you my help, Mother.’
    The Mother Superior looked at her through her lethargy. ‘Very kind of you,’ she said. ‘But everything is under control.’
    The cradle was in a corner of the room. Sister Beatriz walked up to it and looked at the sleeping child. The Mother Superior shut her eyes and leaned her head against the window. When the young nun turned round and saw her, she said: ‘Mother, you seem very tired.’
    The Mother Superior opened her eyes again. ‘I am fine.’
    ‘Let me help you with the baby.’
    ‘No. I can take care of him alone.’
    The nun looked straight at her. The Mother Superior’s white habit glowed in the sun but her black veil obscured her face like a shadow. Sister Beatriz said: ‘But, Mother—’
    ‘Be quiet. The child is asleep.’
    They did not speak for a while. Suddenly the Mother Superior said: ‘You might think that I have lost my mind, Beatriz…But I have thought carefully about this. The Blessed Virgin did not conceive Our Lord in the normal way. Yet she is still his mother, is she not? God entrusted His son to her. In the same way, I have assumed responsibility for this orphan–with great humility.’ She crossed herself and added: ‘The child’s coming is an act of Divine Providence, Beatriz. I do not intend to explain to you why, for it is a matter between God and me. But do believe me when I say that I have no doubt about it whatsoever.’
    Sister María Inés stopped and listened to the child breathing. He slept wrapped in a blanket while all round him hung the charms the nuns had placed to protect him from harm. But no charm could save her from her hallucinations when the icy winds that shook the pine trees on the hillside blew open the windows and announced the end of the world. In her brief sleep the previous night, Sister María Inés had had one of her familiar nightmares. She had heard, coming from far away, the howling of evil spirits, the laments of hermits who had given in to sin, the chants from a witches’ sabbath where the servants of the Devil were dancing naked, trampling the Cross, eating the flesh of children and were being baptised in the name of Lucifer. Lying under her thin blanket and shaking from cold and fear, Sister María Inés had begun, with tears in her eyes, a long prayer to the Virgin and had not stopped until the light of dawn rescued her from her ordeal.
    Sister Beatriz said: ‘Reverend Mother, I have to talk to you about a very serious matter.’
    It was no secret that the Mother Superior hoped the young nun would take charge of the convent after her retirement. They often went on long walks, just the two of them, and discussed not theology but practical matters that had to do with the running of the convent. Over the course of time, Sister María Inés had come to admire the young woman’s common sense and unassuming manner, which did not show the slightest trace of conceit. She had never asked Sister Beatriz about her life before she had joined the convent of Our Lady of Mercy, where she was born or what her name was; she had only asked her to choose the name that she wished to be known by from then on. The young woman had shrugged and Sister María Inés had chosen one for her.
    ‘You ought to be careful, Mother.’
    ‘You are talking about Sister Ana.’
    ‘She thinks you are possessed by Satan.’
    ‘Ah yes, Satan. Do not mind her, Beatriz. What lies at the root of her attitude is not malice but her ambition. Perhaps I should suggest she move to another convent.’
    The young nun sat down next to her wanting to speak but then lost her courage. The Mother Superior said: ‘If you have something to say, say it.’
    Sister Beatriz told the Mother Superior about Sister Ana’s intention to ask the Bishop to intervene,