The kind couple of Groots were exceedingly solicitous about Grisell's
appearance before the Duchess, and much concerned that she could not
be induced to wear the head-gear a foot or more in height, with veils
depending from the peak, which was the fashion of the Netherlands.
Her black robe and hood, permitted but not enjoined in the external
or third Order of St. Francis, were, as usual, her dress, and under
it might be seen a face, with something peculiar on one side, but
still full of sweetness and intelligence; and the years of comfort
and quiet had, in spite of anxiety, done much to obliterate the
likeness to a cankered oak gall. Lambert wanted to drench her with
perfumes, but she only submitted to have a little essence in the
pouncet box given her long ago by Lady Margaret at their parting at
Amesbury. Master Groot himself chose to conduct her on this first
great occasion, and they made their way to the old gateway,
sculptured above with figures that still remain, into the great
cloistered court, with its chapel, chapter-house, and splendid great
airy hall, in which the Hospital Sisters received their patients.
They were seen flitting about, giving a general effect of gray,
whence they were known as Soeurs Grises, though, in fact, their dress
was white, with a black hood and mantle. The Duchess, however, lived
in a set of chambers on one side of the court, which she had built
and fitted for herself.
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