the sisters were strict and the accent was very much on piety , with the result that i learned a great deal of religious history and rather obscure dogma which i would gladly have exchanged for subjects that would have fitted me to be something other than a nurse or a nun , and , when in the end the atmosphere became so stifling to my spirit that i begged to be taken away , my aunt gladly rescued me from `` the papists '' and it was decided that , at the age of sixteen , i should go to england and be `` finished . ''