by John Keene
At these words both sisters embraced each other tightly, and Sr. François Agnès held Sr. Ambrose Jeanne as the latter sobbed her astonishment away. The examinations were to occur early that evening instead of supper, and as it was to be, so be it. Then they knelt on the warm stones and prayed, and after two rosaries, both nuns headed quickly down the catacomb-like hallway to the stairwell. After a pause of my own and still unsure of what was going on, I followed. When I was almost at the stairwell, I could hear other voices rounding the corner. It was two of the schoolgirls: Josephine O’Grady from Georgia, and another girl who was not Eugénie. I leaned back against the limed wall and crouched to listen.
The girls’ voices trembled with shock as well. Josephine, her English thick as a magnolia petal, asked the other girl who on God’s earth could have possibly done such a thing? She ticked off the list of nuns, not a single one had been with child, of that both were sure. They saw them daily at breakfast, at supper, at dinner, in class, in chapel, not one was with child. How could anyone have assumed such a thing? And then there were the schoolgirls themselves, only five now in summer residence, Josephine and Mary Margaret, both speaking to each other now, who were each sure that the other was as virginal as their other classmates, Catherine, Dorothy Angelica, and even the sickly, greedy Eugénie—none of them could possibly have been with child either, it was as clear as the reflection on the chapel patin. Sr. Germain Ruth, who ran the infirmary, would attest to that. And it had not come from any of the slaves, Josephine assured Mary Margaret, because, as they’d seen with their own eyes when the sheriff had thrust the tiny corpse into the Mother Superior’s hands, Mary Margaret gasping at the very memory, its tiny fists seizing at the air, its mud-caked face petrified in a shriek, its icy blue eyes staring out fishlike as if glimpsing the netherworld for the first time, its azure placenta eeling out of its swaddling, and most horribly, the calligraphy of marks and hatches, as if a demonic stylus had been drawn across its forehead and chest, it had been as clear to everyone assembled, all the nuns, all the schoolgirls, all the slaves, and the sheriff and his party of a dozen, that although the withered infant body had been found bundled in what appeared to be a slave girl’s shift, it was not a product, as he had clearly noted, Josephine’s voice breaking, “of that infernal race.”
The stench, Josephine continued, she could not ever forget, even less than that horrific image. And its unheard cry was still ringing in her ears. But, she told Mary Margaret, shortly after the sheriff and his party had descended the hill, aggrieved and barely satisfied, and everybody had been sent to their rooms or stations until another order was to be given about what would occur next, she had spied the Mother Superior and several of the other nuns, including Sr. Germain Ruth and the disciplinarian, Sr. Charles Thérèse, in the parlor looking at the small, bloated body, which they had placed on a table, and she had heard them saying that it did not appear to have been mutilated or used for some diabolic ritual, as the sheriff and most in his party had alleged, but rather as if it had simply been expelled from its birthing place too early, and been buried in that shallow grave just on the other side of the creek, at the rim of one of the many tiny sloughs the flood had created—a tiny blue waxen doll, not murdered by some mortal hand, despite its pose and cry and open eyes, because it was already deceased, though in the sheriff’s conclusion, the two amounted to the same thing.
Given that there was no priest in residence, Josephine added, as Fr. Malesvaux had departed by coach for Saint Louis only a week before and no other priests were scheduled for several more weeks, she thought it only proper that the nuns bury the child themselves, praying for its soul and returning it back to the earth, on the convent’s grounds. The entire incident was even more terrible, she added, than the flood and its aftermath, and the unspeakably bitter winter, and then the heat which now seemed to emanate from the gates of Hell itself, and the problems with her second slave girl, Phèdre—at whose name I moved away from the wall, nearer the speakers, neither of whom appeared to notice me—once so gentle and passive, who had gotten airs and become defiant and begun behaving as if she were in a bilious humor, even engaging in strange rituals, such as drawing crosses on the floor and talking in riddles and murmuring almost as though in a trance, so much so that she and the nuns had had, as Mary Margaret already knew, to remand the girl back to Savannah and request that her parents send her another in her stead. As Mary Margaret also knew, the new girl had not arrived and, this was news, as soon as Mlle. Josephine returned to her room she was going to write her parents a letter entreating them to remove her from the school as quickly as possible, she was not sure she could last another term.
Mary Margaret assented: she did not want to stay any longer either, though both would have to endure the inspection that evening, and then wait till as long as the post would take to travel to their respective homes before they could return, since the nuns would not send them on their way otherwise. I then heard both girls scramble up the stairs, and when there was nothing but the general sound of movement, I ascended the stairs myself on my way to the bedroom.
At the landing, I saw two of the bondswomen who, during my entire stay at the convent, had mostly kept their distances from me, though today, as in recent weeks, they did not bolt but unexpectedly lingered, as if they were gliding into my orbit. Though they still pretended not to want to sit beside me during our brief meals, today, as when we were in the same room undertaking our various tasks, they were drawing closer, closer still, until we sat or stood only fingers apart. We did not exchange a single word, but these two, who had been given the ridiculous names Daisy and Avondale, I had chosen to rename respectively Diejuste, because of her usual genial manner, and Ayidda, because twice while working in the gardens in her presence I had seen garter snakes. Each gave me the hint of a smile, as if I had shared with them some secret that offered a clue to the brouhaha now unfolding, and though I had not, I returned the slightest smile to each of them.
In the bedroom I found Eugénie slowly taking inventory of her personal effects, strewn across her blanket like a market stall. She moved as if performing a masque. I tried to get her attention and pinched her gently on the arm, but Eugénie pushed me away. She went to the door and, using a loose corner floorstone, wedged it shut. As soon as she’d done this, she crawled down under her bed and extracted a small bundle from the corner behind the portion of headboard nearest the wall. The stinking, reddish-brown mass of fabric made me retch, but I knew what she wanted me to do, so as soon as she handed it to me, I slid it under my own cot.
The white girl, still not uttering a word, approached me and, seizing both of my hands, plunged them in one dead swoop between her thighs. I drew them back, but the white girl grabbed ahold of them and again buried them between her thighs, clamping down so they were vised in there, a rosary bundled between the flesh scraping my knuckles. As she did so she mumbled several prayers, though I could not make out what they were. For a while we struggled as an onrushing current surged through my fingertips, my fingers, my hands, my arms, until I was finally able to break free. I settled on the end of my cot farthest away from Eugénie, and looked away.
She appeared satisfied by my actions, and resumed cataloguing the clothes before her. When she had finished, she carefully folded each of them up and stacked them into neat little piles. Then she turned to me and pointed to them, which meant that I was to pack them away in her trunk. She stepped back to watch me work. I carefully placed each of the garments in the trunk, c
ounting as I did so. I tallied combs, wool stockings, bodices, bonnets. There was one petticoat and one pair of small clothes missing: these, I guessed, were the dried carbuncle I had stored beneath my own cot. When I was done, Eugénie gestured for me to open my own sack of garments. I did so. She ordered me to pull everything out.
On my cot lay a long, threadbare linsy-woolsy shift, spangled with patches, that I alternated with the slightly newer one I now wore. There was my other linen head scarf, a faded rose castoff gift from her aunt, Mrs. Francis. There were my mismatched pair of repeatedly darned woolen socks, which I had not worn since the winter. Finally from the bottom of my sack I extracted my several tattered petticoats, which had belonged to Mme. de L’Écart, my own small clothes, and my woman’s garments, all of which, though gray from reuse and repeated washing I kept meticulously clean. Where was my other shift, the gray wool one I, like all the other slave girls, wore during the winter? I was sure she had not removed it from the sack in months.
The white girl pointed to one of the petticoats and one of the pairs of undergarments, and indicated that they be placed in her trunk. When I hesitated, her blue eyes smacked me so hard it was as if I had been struck by an open palm. I folded a petticoat and the small clothes, and layered them atop her pile. I sat back down on my cot without permission and replaced my small menagerie in its storeplace. Then we stared at each other, in silence, until Sr. Ambrose Jeanne appeared at the door to fetch Eugénie for her inspection.
As soon as the door closed I tidied up the room, then returned to my cot. I considering saying my rosary but did not.
Excerpts from a report by Sr. Germain Ruth on the Inspection of the Pupils
On the 25th day of August, 1806, in the convent of the Holy Order of the Most Precious Charity of Our Lady of the Sorrows, in Gethsemane, Kentucky, under the supreme guidance and counsel of the Heavenly Father and our patron, Most Blessed Virgin Mother, Mediatrix of Grace, and in the presence of our Reverend Mother Superior, Sister Louis Marie K., as well as our Associate Superior, Sr. Alphonse Isabelle D., I have, in accordance with the teachings of our faith, the wishes of our reverend leader, and the rules of our order, prepared the following report on the requested examination of the pupils enrolled in the convent’s school concerning the matter that is the case. This activity, extraordinary in light of the habitual occurrences of this house, was conducted to ascertain the possibility of a particular and unspeakable trangression by any of those entrusted to our care and formation. The particular case encompassing, in short, the tragic series of events that unfolded one week prior just across the estuary separating the convent’s grounds from those of the town.
Each of the young gentlewomen was conducted individually into the calefactory. Verily, each was asked to be seated in a chair facing away from the window overlooking the west meadow, and was presented a series of questions concerning the evening under scrutiny. The inquiries also assessed any and all potential associations with any male person the pupils may have had, their behavior in the weeks leading up to the above-cited events, and the general and specific perceptions the reverend sisters may have had about each. With one exception, the alibis provided by the young ladies were in various states of conflict concerning their whereabouts between the evening inspection, conducted by my person, and the morning call. With one exception, that being Miss Eugénie de L’É., none was able to reply to any of the subsequent questions with persuasion. Several of the girls appeared to be in advanced states of agitation, which could have been the result of sin, ill or uncertain humor, or some other cause. Only the aforesaid Miss de L’É. was able to reply with a demonstrable measure of calm. It should be noted that the inquiries were conducted by all three of the sisters present, though the author of this report served as the primary inquisitor.
To go further, though in each case the child under inquiry was able to cite a fellow room occupant, usually a fellow pupil, who could vouch for her presence in her room throughout the entire period when the said events are alleged to have occurred on the said evening, each mentioned a detail or details that contrasted with the testimony of her schoolmates. In several instances there arose conflict over the very question of whether the girls were asleep for the entire period or even in their rooms. In the sole case of Miss de L’É. there was, the inquisitors noted, a solid story, to which another figure in the house, in this instance her bondswoman, might attest. One pupil, Miss Mary Margaret S., developed considerable disquiet during the inquiry, specifically on the question of her actions on that evening. Despite the general concurrence of her answers by her roommate Miss Josephine O’G., she became so discomfited at this particular question that she expelled the contents of her stomach. The sisters present were not completely inclined to believe them.
After this initial period of inquiry concluded, the pupils were then individually asked to lie supine on the large serving table, which had previously been cleared of its usual artifacts in preparation for this portion of the inspection, against the east-facing wall. A white sheet was draped so that it concealed both the upper and lower portion of their torsos. Each girl was then told what this portion of the inspection would entail, which provoked several exclamations. In the case of said Miss Mary Margaret S., Sr. Alphonse Isabelle had to spend several minutes attempting to pacify her, and when this did not succeed, she was held down, by force, until such time as she was sufficiently becalmed, in order that the inspection could be properly undertaken.
The small clothes of each of the inspected were removed. In several instances this was only achieved with great difficulty. In the case of Miss Mary Margaret S., further force had to be applied to ensure that she would comply with this action. The author of this report, having served as the director of the convent’s infirmary since its establishment, and thus possessed of deep familiarity with the human anatomy and physiological principles, proceeded to examine each of the inspected. In half the cases the results were inconclusive. Although it did not appear as though any of the inspected had recently given birth, this inspector, having viewed in manuscript illustration the essential parts at the conclusion of such an event, was unready to make a decisive declaration. On this point the other nuns concurred initially, although the Reverend Mother Superior, on continued examination, adjudged decisively that the inspected were still in an unmolested state. Only in the case of Miss de L’É. did it appear that the observed anatomy appeared incontrovertibly unchanged, as it ought.
Given that none of the sisters was in the least suspected in the matter, this second part of the inspection left all of the inquisitors present with great disquiet, though each duly was subjected to a similar examination, in the author’s case the determinant being the Reverend Mother Superior. In none of the reverend sisters, by the Grace of the Holy Mother, did the observed anatomy appear incontrovertibly transformed.
In every instance in the inspection concerning the matter that is the case, the effort was made to preserve the inspected’s dignity. . . .
Sr. Germain Ruth M. deP deK.
The nuns’ official report, I heard Sr. Ambrose Jeanne telling Sr. François Agnès early one morning several weeks later as I sat undertaking piecework on the other side of the sewing room, having been delivered to Gethsemane’s mayor by the white driver and mechanic who had returned from Missouri with Fr. Malesvaux, who was sojourning at the convent before returning east to Maryland, appeared, at least temporarily, to have soothed the passions of the sheriff and the townspeople, if not Reverend White.
The summer heat, which had returned full blast, turning the air inside and outside the convent to glass, was, however, stoking the exact opposite effect.
Among their own population, Sr. François Agnès explained, they had identified a possible suspect: a white woman, the daughter of recent settlers in the town, was thought to have been secretly with child. Sr. François Agnès’s expression, and the clipped, elliptical quality of her Latin, the language into which she and the other nuns sometimes slipped when they hoped to avoid being overheard, suggested she thought the penalty ought be severe.
After the hubbub waned Eugénie had for several weeks remained in bed. The summer air cottoning everything had wrapped her in fevers and induced fainting, from which she now appeared fully recovered. The ranks of her classmates had, however, thinned only to three white girls, two of them Josephine and Mary Margaret, neither of whom had been fetched home as she had requested, though Josephine’s replacement servant, an often surly young woman named Marvel, who quickly took up with Diejuste and Ayidda, and whom I renamed Marinette because of her temper, had shown up, a sack in hand, on a coach from the east. The only other white girl was Annie Lawrie Geddes, who may or may not have been from New Jersey. These three white girls moved about as if in a state of shock, or suspended animation; their regular classes having ended, they had only to attend a daily course, after breakfast, that involved close reading and study of the Scriptures, in English, and because of the heat to participate in the various light indoor domestic tasks in the convent, such as replacing candles in the chapel, or helping to dry herbs and blooms and the first summer fruits for preservation, or copying out passages from English-language religious books to be sent to Catholics elsewhere in the countryside and country. At all other times they were allowed to read, or knit, or embroider, or sketch. None showed enthusiasm in anything she did, Eugénie even less so than the rest.