And so she did so far as
regarded the discipline of the house, but what they had not so
entirely understood was the Mother de Borgia's desire to squeeze all
she could out of the revenues of the house.
Her Proctor arrived, a little pinched man in a black gown and square
cap, and desired to see the Mother Prioress and her steward, and to
overlook the income and expenditure of the convent; to know who had
duly paid her dowry to the nunnery, what were the rents, and the
like. The sisters had already raised a considerable gift in silver
merks to be sent through Lombard merchants to their new Abbess, and
this requisition was a fresh blow.
Presently the Proctor marked out Grisell Dacre, and asked on what
terms she was at the convent. It was explained that she had been
brought thither for her cure by the Lady of Salisbury, and had stayed
on, without fee or payment from her own home in the north, but the
ample donations of the Earl of Salisbury had been held as full
compensation, and it had been contemplated to send to the maiden's
family to obtain permission to enrol her as a sister after her
novitiate--which might soon begin, as she was fifteen years old.
The Proctor, however, was much displeased. The nuns had no right to
receive a pensioner without payment, far less to admit a novice as a
sister without a dowry.
Mistress Grisell must be returned instantly upon the hands either of
her own family or of the Countess of Salisbury, and certainly not
readmitted unless her dowry were paid.
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