It might seem as you come out from the great city, from the mighty labyrinth that is spreading across your river, as you pass by the gradually diminishing houses, and face the wide stretch of common, and then turn up the lane, it might seem as though this convent stood symbolically for all convents, as a haven of rest. It might seem as though the waste stretch of land was set there, as though the high walls had been built as a shelter, as though here people might escape from the foes around them, laying aside the noise and bustle, the responsibility and the dreadtulness of human life.