[Illustration: COSTUME OF A MILITARY NUN.]
The nun's choir is entirely separated from the public chapel, with the exception of two gratings, which admit to the latter the sound of the organ, and through which the nuns have a better view of the church than the public can obtain of the choir, this being less lighted, and on a lower level. Near the choir a small oratory of no greater dimensions than about seven feet square, appears to be the only remains extant of the Arab buildings, which occupied the site. The ceiling is hemispherical, and ornamented in the Arab style; and one of the walls contains a niche surrounded by Arab tracery. I should mention likewise a fountain in the garden, which bears a similar character.
These nuns live less in community with each other than those of other convents; in fact, their life resembles in many respects that of independent single ladies. Each inhabits her own suite of apartments, and keeps her own servant. Her solitary repasts are prepared in her own separate kitchen, and at the hour chosen by herself. Once a-year only, on the occasion of the festival of the patron Apostle, the community assembles at dinner. The common refectory is at present let to strangers, together with other portions of the convent. The novice who wishes to enter this convent must be of good family, (proof of noble descent being demanded up to grand-fathers and grandmothers inclusive) and possessed of property. Of the entrance of the present _commendadora_ into the convent thirty years since, a romantic story is related. She belongs to a family of rank in the province of La Mancha,--and it is worth mentioning, that she recollects Espartero's father, who, as she states, served a neighbouring family in the capacity of cowherd.
A match, _de convenance_, had been arranged for her by her parents, on the accomplishment of which they insisted the more rigidly from her being known to entertain an attachment, the object of which was disapproved. No resistance being of any avail, the wedding-day was named; and she was taken to Toledo for the purpose of making the necessary purchases for the occasion. It so happened that she was received by a relative, a member of the community of Santiagistas; and whether she confided her pains to the bosom of this relative, and yielded to her persuasions--nuns being usually given to proselytism; or perhaps acting on the impulse of the moment; she declared on the morning after her arrival her resolution never to quit the convent; preferring, as she resolutely affirmed, an entire life of seclusion, to an union with a man she detested. Instead, therefore, of the wedding dresses, a _manton capitular_ was the only ornament purchased.