 Section 5 of Lourdes. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please contact LibriVox.org. Lourdes by Emile Zola. Translated by Ernest Visiterli. The First Day. 5. Bernadette. The train left Bordeaux after a stoppage of a few minutes, during which those who had not died and hastened to purchase some provisions. Moreover, the ailing months were constantly drinking milk and asking for biscuits like little children. And as soon as they were off again, Sister Yesante clapped her hands and exclaimed, Come, let us make haste, the evening prayer. Thereupon, during a quarter of an hour came a confused murmuring made up of parterres and arvés, self-examinations, acts of contrition, and vows of trustful reliance in God, the Blessed Virgin, and the Saints, with thanksgivings for protection and preservation that day, and at last a prayer for the living and for the faithful departed. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen. It was ten minutes past eight o'clock, the shades of night were already bedimming the landscape, a vast plain which the evening mists seemed to prolong into the infinite, and where far away bright dots of lights shone out from the windows of lonely scattered houses. In the carriage the lights of the lamps were flickering, casting a subdued yellow glow on the luggage and the pilgrims, who were sorely shaken by the spreading tendency of the train's motion. You know, my children, resumed Sister Yesante, who had remained standing, I shall order silence when we get to Lamotte in about an hour's time. So you have an hour to amuse yourselves, but you must be reasonable and not excite yourselves too much. And when we have passed Lamotte, you hear me, there must not be another word, another sound, you must all go to sleep. This made them laugh. Oh, but it is the rule, you know, added the Sister, and surely you have too much sense not to obey me. Since the morning they had punctually fulfilled the program of religious exercises specified for each successive hour. And now that all the prayers had been said, the beads told, the hymns chanted, the day's duties were over, and a brief interval of recreation was allowed before sleeping. They were, however, at a loss as to what they should do. Sister suddenly said, Marie, if you would allow Monsieur Labais to read to us, he reads extremely well, and as it happens I have a little book with me, a history of Bernadette which is so interesting. The others did not let her finish, but with the suddenly awakened desire of children to whom a beautiful story has been promised, loudly exclaimed, oh yes, Sister, oh yes, Sister. Of course I will allow it, replied Sister, yes, Saint, since it is a question of reading something instructive and edifying. Pierre was obliged to consent, but to be able to read the book he wished to be under the lamp, and it was necessary that he should change seats with Monsieur de Gelsaint, whom the promise of a story had delighted as much as it did the ailing ones. And when the young priest, after changing seats and declaring that he would be able to see well enough, at last opened the little book, a quiver of curiosity sped from one end of the carriage to the other, and every head was stretched out, lending ear with raptor tension. Fortunately Pierre had a clear, powerful voice and made himself distinctly heard above the wheels, which, now that the train travelled across a vast level plane, gave out but a subdued rumbling sound. Before beginning, however, the young priest had examined the book. It was one of those little works of propaganda issued from the Catholic printing presses, and circulated in profusion throughout all Christendom. Badly printed on wretched paper, it was adorned on its blue cover with a little woodcut of Our Lady of Lourdes, a naive designer like stiff and awkward. The book itself was short, and half an hour would certainly suffice for Pierre to read it from cover to cover without hurrying. Accordingly, in his fine clear voice with its penetrating musical tones, he began his perusal as follows. It happened at Lourdes, a little town near the Pyrenees, on a Thursday, February 11, 1858. The weather was cold and somewhat cloudy, and in the humble home of a poor but honest miller named François Soubirous, there was no wood to cook the dinner. The miller's wife, Louise, said to her younger daughter Marie, go and gather some wood on the bank of the garve or on the common land. The garve is a torrent which passes through Lourdes. Marie had an elder sister named Bernadette, who had lately arrived from the country where some worthy villagers had employed her as a chappardesse. She was a slender, delicate, extremely innocent child, and knew nothing except her rosary. Louise Soubirous hesitated to send her out with her sister on account of the cold. But at last, yielding to the entreaties of Marie and a young girl of the neighbourhood called Jean Abadi, she consented to let her go. Following the bank of the torrent and gathering stray fragments of dead wood, the three maidens at last found themselves in front of a grotto, hollowed out in a huge mass of rock which the people of the district called Massabiel. Pierre had reached to this point and was turning the page when he suddenly paused and let the little book fall on his knees. The childish character of the narrative, its ready-made, empty phraseology, filled him with impatience. He himself possessed quite a collection of documents concerning this extraordinary story, had passionately studied even its most trifling details, and in the depths of his heart retained a feeling of tender affection and infinite pity for Bernadette. He had just reflected too that on the very next day he would be able to begin that decisive inquiry which he had formally dreamt of making at Lourdes. In fact this was one of the reasons which had induced him to accompany Marie on her journey. And he was now conscious of an awakening of all his curiosity respecting the visionary, whom he loved because he felt that she had been a girl of candid soul, truthful and ill-fated, though at the same time he would much have liked to analyse and explain her case. Assuredly she had not lied, she had indeed beheld a vision and heard voices like Joan of Arc, and like Joan of Arc also she was now, in the opinion of the devout, accomplishing the deliverance of France, from sin if not from invaders. Pierre wondered what force could have produced her, her and her work. How was it that the visionary faculty had become developed in that lowly girl, so distracting believing souls as to bring about a renewal of the miracles of primitive times, as to found almost a new religion in the midst of a holy city, built at an outlay of millions, and ever invaded by crowds of worshippers more numerous and more exalted in mind than had ever been known since the days of the Crusades. And so ceasing to read the book, Pierre began to tell his companions all that he knew, all that he had devined and reconstructed of that story, which is yet so obscure despite the vast rivers of ink which it has already caused to flow. He knew the country and its manners and customs through his long conversations with his friend, Dr. Chasseigne. And he was endowed with charming fluency of language, an emotional power of exquisite purity, many remarkable gifts well-fitting him to be a pulpit orator which he never made use of, although he had known them to be within him ever since his seminary days. When the occupants of the carriage perceived that he knew the story far better and in far greater detail than it appeared in Marie's little book, and that he related it also in such a gentle yet passionate way, there came an increase of attention, and all those afflicted souls hungering for happiness went forth towards him. First came the story of Bernadette's childhood at Barthres, where she had grown up in the abode of her foster-mother, Madame Lague, who, having lost an infant of her own, had rendered those poor folks the soubirous, the service of suckling and keeping their child for them. Barthres, a village of 400 souls at a league or so from Lourdes, lay as it were in a desert oasis, sequestered amidst greenery and far from any frequented highway. The road dips down, the few houses are scattered over grassland, divided by hedges and planted with walnut and chestnut trees, whilst the clear rivulets, which are never silent, follow the sloping banks beside the pathways, and nothing rises on high save the small ancient Romanesque church, which is perched on a hillock covered with graves. Wooded slopes undulate upon all sides. Barthres lies in a hollow amidst grass of delicious freshness, grass of intense greenness, which is ever moist at the roots, thanks to the eternal subterraneous expanse of water that descends from the mountains. And Bernadette, who, since becoming a big girl, had paid for her keep by tending lambs, was wont to take them with her season after season through all the greenery where she never met a soul. It was only now and then, from the summit of some slope, that she saw the far away mountains, the peak du Midi, the peak de Viscos, those masses which rose up bright or gloomy according to the weather, and which stretched away to other peaks, lightly and faintly coloured, vaguely and confusedly outlined, like apparitions seen in dreams. Then came the home of the lagus, where her cradle was still preserved, a solitary silent house, the last of the village. A meadow planted with pear and apple trees, and only separated from the open country by a narrow stream which one could jump across, stretched out in front of the house. Inside the latter, a low and damper boat, there were, on either side of the wooden stairway leading to the loft, but two spacious rooms, flagged with stones, and each containing four or five beds. The girls, who slept together, fell asleep at even, gazing at the fine pictures affixed to the walls, and a big clock in its pine-wood case gravely struck the hours in the midst of the deep silence. Ah, those years of barteries! In what sweet peacefulness did Bernadette live them? Yet she grew up very thin, always in bad health, suffering from a nervous asthma which stifled her at the least veering of the wind, and on attaining her twelfth year she could neither read nor write, nor speak otherwise than in dialect, having remained quite infantile, behind hand in mind as in body. She was a very good little girl, very gentle and well-behaved, but little different to other children, except that instead of talking she preferred to listen. Limited as was her intelligence, she often evinced much natural common sense, and at times was prompt in her répartie, with a kind of simple gaitie which made one smile. It was only with infinite trouble that she was taught her rosary, and when she knew it she seemed bent on carrying her knowledge no further, but repeated it all day long, so that whenever you met her with her lambs she invariably had her chaplet between her fingers, diligently telling each successive parterre and ave. For long, long hours she lived like this on the grassy slopes of the hills, hidden away and haunted as it were amidst the mysteries of the foliage, seeing nought of the world save the crests of the distant mountains, which for an instant every now and then would soar aloft in the radiant light, as ethereal as the peaks of dreamland. Days followed days, and Bernadette roamed, dreaming her one narrow dream, repeating the sole prayer she knew, which gave her amidst her solitude so fresh and naively infantile, no other companion and friend than the Blessed Virgin. But what pleasant evening she spent at wintertime in the room on the left, where a fire was kept burning. Her foster mother had a brother, a priest, who occasionally read some marvellous stories to them, stories of saints, religious adventures of a kind to make one tremble with mingled fear and joy, in which paradise appeared upon earth, whilst the heavens opened, and a glimpse was caught of the splendour of the angels. The books he brought with him were often full of pictures, God the Father enthroned amidst his glory. Jesus so gentle and so handsome with his beaming face. The Blessed Virgin, who recurred again and again, radiant with splendour, clad now in white, now in Asia, now in gold, and ever so amiable, that Bernadette would see her again in her dreams. But the book which was read more than all the others was the Bible, an old Bible which had been in the family for more than a hundred years, and which time and usage had turned yellow. Each winter evening Bernadette's foster father, the only member of the household who had learnt to read, would take a pin, pass it at random between the leaves of the book, open the latter, and then start reading from the top of the right-hand page, amidst the deep attention of both the women and the children, who ended by knowing the book by heart, and could have continued reciting it without making a single mistake. However Bernadette, for her part, preferred the religious works in which the Blessed Virgin constantly appeared with her engaging smile. True, one reading of a different character amused her, that of the marvellous story of the Four Brothers' Amen. On the yellow paper cover of the little book, which had doubtless fallen from the bail of some peddler who had lost his way in that remote region, there was a naïve cut showing the four darty knights, Renaud and his brothers, all mounted on Bayard, their famous battle-charger, that princely present mage to them by the ferry Orlanda. And inside were narratives of bloody fights, of the building and besieging of fortresses, of the terrible sword-thrusts exchanged by Roland and Renaud, who was at last about to free the Holy Land, without mentioning the tales of Mojide the Magician and his marvellous enchantments, and the Princess Clarisse, the king of Aquitaine's sister, who was more lovely than sunlight. Her imagination fired by such stories as these, Belnedet often found it difficult to get to sleep. And this was especially the case on the evenings when the books were left aside and some person of the company related a tale of witchcraft. The girl was very superstitious, and after sundown could never be prevailed upon to pass near a tower in the vicinity which was said to be haunted by the Fiend. For that matter all the folks of the region were superstitious, devout, and simple-minded, the whole countryside being people, so to say, with mysteries. Trees which sang, stones from which blood flowed, crossroads where it was necessary to say three patas and three aves if you did not wish to meet the seven-horned beast who carried maidens off to perdition. And what a wealth of terrifying stories there was. Hundreds of stories so that there was no finishing on the evenings when somebody started them. First came the variable for adventures. The tales of the unhappy men whom the demon forced to enter into the bodies of dogs, the great white dogs of the mountains. If you fire a gun at the dog and a single shot should strike him, the man will be delivered. But if the shot should fall on the dog's shadow, the man will immediately die. Then came the endless procession of sorcerers and sorceresses. In one of these tales Bernadette vins to passionate interest. It was the story of a clerk of the Tribunal of Lord who, wishing to see the devil, was conducted by a witch into an untilled field at midnight on Good Friday. The devil arrived clad in magnificent scarlet garments and at once proposed to the clerk that he should buy his soul, an offer which the clerk pretended to accept. It so happened that the devil was carrying under his arm a register in which different persons of the town who had already sold themselves had signed their names. However the clerk, who was a cunning fellow, pulled out of his pocket a pretended bottle of ink which in reality contained holy water and with this he sprinkled the devil who raised frightful shrieks whilst the clerk took to flight carrying the register off with him. Then began a wild mad race which might last throughout the night over the mountains, through the valleys, across the forests and the torrents. Give me back my register! shouted the fiend. No you shan't have it! replied the clerk. And again and again it began afresh. Give me back my register! No you shan't have it! And at last finding himself out of breath near the point of succumbing. The clerk who had his plan threw himself into the cemetery which was consecrated ground and was there able to deride the devil at his ease waving the register which he had poloined so as to save the souls of all the unhappy people who had signed their names in it. On the evening when this story was told Bernadette, before surrendering herself to sleep would mentally repeat her rosary delighted with the thought that hell should have been baffled though she trembled at the idea of a return to prowl around her as soon as the lamp should have been put out. Throughout one winter the long evenings were spent in the church. Abbey Adel, the village priest had authorised it and many families came in order to economise oil and candles. Moreover they felt less cold when gathered together in this fashion. The Bible was read and prayers were repeated whilst the children ended by falling asleep. Bernadette alone struggled on to the finish so pleased she was at being there in that narrow nave whose slender nails were coloured blue and red. At the farther end was the altar also painted and gilded with its twisted columns and its screens on which appeared the Virgin and Saint Anne and the beheading of Saint John the Baptist the whole of a gaudy and somewhat barbaric splendour. And as sleepiness grew upon her the child must have often seen a mystical vision as it were of those crudely coloured designs rising before her and seen the blood flowing from Saint John's severed head have seen the Oriolas shining the Virgin ever returning and gazing at her with her blue living eyes and looking as though she were on the point of opening her vermilion lips in order to speak to her. For some months Bernadette spent her evenings in this wise half asleep in front of that sumptuous vaguely defined altar in the incipiency of a divine dream which she carried away with her and finished in bed slumbering peacefully under the watchful care of the angel. And it was also in that old church so humble yet so impregnated with ardent faith that Bernadette began to learn her catechism. She would soon be fourteen now and must think of her first communion. Her foster mother who had the reputation of being avaricious did not send her to school but employed her in or about the house from morning till evening. Monsieur Barbe the schoolmaster never saw her at his classes though one day when he gave the catechism lesson in place of Abbey Adel who was indisposed he remarked her on account of her piety and modesty. The village priest was very fond of Bernadette and often spoke of her to the schoolmaster saying that he could never look at her without thinking of the children of La Salette since they must have been good, candid and pious as she was for the blessed virgin to have appeared to them. On another occasion whilst the two men were walking one morning near the village and saw Bernadette disappear with her little flock of some spreading trees in the distance the Abbey repeatedly turned round to look for her and again remarked I cannot account for it but every time I meet that child it seems to me as if I saw Melanie the young Shepardess, little Maximeen's companion. He was certainly beset by this singular idea which became so to say a prediction. Moreover had he not one day after catechism or one evening when the villagers were gathered in the church related that marvellous story which was already twelve years old that story of the lady in the dazzling robes who walked upon the grass without even making it bend the blessed virgin who showed herself to Melanie and Maximeen on the banks of a stream in the mountains and confided to them a great secret and announced the anger of her son. Ever since that day a source had sprung up from the tears which she had shed a source which cured all ailments whilst the secret inscribed on parchment fastened with three seals slumbered at Rome and Bernadette no doubt with her dreamy silent air had listened passionately to that wonderful tale and carried it off with her into the desert of foliage where she spent her days so that she might live it over again as she walked along behind her lambs with her rosary slipping bead by bead between her slender fingers. Thus her child would run its course at Bartres that which delighted one in this Bernadette so poor-blooded, so slight of build was her ecstatic eyes beautiful visionary eyes her dreams soared aloft like birds winging their flight in a pure limpid sky her mouth was large with lips somewhat thick expressive of kindliness her square-shaped head had a straight brow and was covered with thick black hair whilst her face would have seemed rather common but for its charming expression of gentle obstinacy those who did not gaze into her eyes however gave her no thought to them she was but an ordinary child a poor thing of the roads a child of reluctant growth timidly humble in her ways assuredly it was in her glance that Abi Adel had with agitation detected the stifling ailment which filled her puny, girlish form with suffering that ailment born of the greeny solitude in which she had grown up the gentleness of her bleeding lambs the angelic salutation which she had carried with her hither and thither under the sky repeating and repeating it to the point of hallucination the prodigious stories too which she had heard folk tell at her foster-mothers the long evenings spent before the living altar screens in the church and all the atmosphere of primitive faith which she had breathed in that far away rural region hemmed in by mountains at last on one seventh of January Bernadette had just reached her 14th birthday when her parents finding that she had learnt nothing at Bautres resolved to bring her back to Lord for good in order that she might diligently study her catechism and in this way seriously prepare herself for her first communion and so it happened that she had already been at Lord some 15 or 20 days when on February 11 a Thursday cold and somewhat cloudy but Pierre could carry his narrative no further for sister Yersaint had risen to her feet and was vigorously clapping her hands my children she exclaimed it is past nine o'clock silence, silence the train had indeed just passed L'Amourte and was rolling with a dull rumble across a sea of darkness the endless plains of the land which the night submerged for ten minutes already not a sound ought to have been heard in the carriage one and all ought to have been sleeping or suffering uncomplainingly however a mutiny broke out oh sister exclaimed Marie whose eyes were sparkling allow us just another short quarter of an hour we have got to the most interesting part ten, twenty voices took up the cry oh yes sister please do let us have another short quarter of an hour they all wished to hear the continuation burning with as much curiosity as though they had not known the story so captivated were they by the touches of compassionate human feeling which Pierre introduced into his narrative their glances never left him all their heads were stretched towards him fantastically illumined by the flickering light of the lamps and it was not only the sick who displayed this interest the ten women occupying the compartment at the far end of the carriage had also become impassioned happy at not missing a single word turned to their poor ugly faces now beautified by naive faith no I cannot sister Yersaint at first declared the rules are very strict you must be silent however she weakened she herself feeling so interested in the tale that she could detect her heart beating under her stomacher then Marie again repeated her request in an entreating tone whilst her father Monsieur de Gersaint who had listened like one hugely amused declared that they would all fall ill if the story were not continued and thereupon seeing Madame de Genquière smile with an indulgent air sister Yersaint ended by consenting well then said she I will allow you another short quarter of an hour but only a short quarter of an hour mind that is understood is it not for I should otherwise be in fault Pierre had waited quietly without attempting to intervene and he resumed his narrative in the same penetrating voices before a voice in which his own doubts were softened by pity for those who suffer and who hope the scene of the story was now transferred to Lourdes to the Rue des Petits fossés a narrow tortuous mournful street taking a downward course between humble houses and roughly plastered dead walls the Soubirou family occupied a single room on the ground floor of one of these sorry habitations a room at the end of a dark passage in which seven persons were huddled together the father, the mother and five children you could scarcely see in the chamber from the tiny damp inner courtyard of the house there came but a greenish light and in that room they slept all over heap there also they ate when they had bread for some time past the father a miller by trade could only with difficulty obtain work as a journeyman and it was from that dark hole that lowly wretchedness that Bernadette the elder girl with Marie her sister and her little friend of the neighbourhood went out to pick up dead wood on the cold February Thursday already spoken of then the beautiful tale was unfolded at length how the three girls followed the bank of the gaave from the other side of the castle and how they ended by finding themselves on the Île du Chalet in front of the rock of Massabiel from which they were only separated by the narrow stream diverted from the gaave and used for working the mill of Savy it was a wild spot the wordsmen often brought the pigs of the neighbourhood which when showers suddenly came on would take shelter under this rock of Massabiel at whose base there was a kind of grotto of no great depth blocked at the entrance by Eglentine and Brambles the girls found dead wood very scarce that day but at last on seeing on the other side of the stream quite a gleaning of branches deposited there by the torrent Marie and Jean crossed over through the water whilst Bernadette more delicate than they were a trifle young ladyfied perhaps remained on the bank lamenting and not daring to wet her feet she was suffering slightly from humour in the head and her mother had expressly bidden her to wrap herself in her capulet a large white capulet which contrasted vividly with her old black woolen dress when she found that her companions would not help her she resignedly made up her mind to take off her subbos and pull down her stockings it was then about noon the three strokes of the Angelus rang out from the parish church rising into the broad calm winter sky which was somewhat veiled by fine fleecy clouds and it was then that a great agitation arose within her resounding in her ears with such a tempestuous roar that she fancied a hurricane had descended from the mountains and was passing over her but she looked at the trees and was stupefied for not a leaf was stirring then she thought that she had been mistaken it was about to pick up her subbos when again the great gust swept through her but this time the disturbance in the ears reached her eyes and she no longer saw the trees but was dazzled by her whiteness a kind of bright light which seemed to her to settle itself against the rock in a narrow lofty slit above the grotto not unlike an Ojival window of a cathedral in her fright she fell upon her knees what could it be, Mont-Dieu? sometimes during bad weather when her asthma repressed her more than usual she spent very bad nights dreaming dreams which were often painful and whose stifling effect she retained on awaking even when she had ceased to remember anything flames would surround her the sun would flash before her face had she dreamt in that fashion during the previous night? was this the continuation of some forgotten dream? however little by little a form became outlined she believed that she could distinguish a figure which the livid light rendered intensely white in her fear lest it should be the devil haunted by tales of witchcraft she began to tell her beads and when the light had slowly faded away and she had crossed the canal and joined Marie and Jeanne she was surprised to find that neither of them had seen anything whilst they were picking up the wood in front of the grotto on their way back to Lourdes the three girls talked together so she, Bernadette, had seen something then? what was it? at first feeling uneasy and somewhat ashamed she would not answer but she said that she had seen something white from this the rumors started and grew the soubirous on being made acquainted with the circumstance evinced much displeasure at such childish nonsense and told their daughter that she was not to return to the rock of Massabielle all the children of the neighbourhood however were already repeating the tale and when Sunday came the parents had to give way and allow Bernadette to take herself to the grotto with a bottle of holy water to ascertain if it were really the devil whom one had to deal with she then again beheld the light the figure became more clearly defined and smiled upon her evincing no fear whatever of the holy water and on the ensuing Thursday she once more returned to the spot accompanied by several persons and then for the first time the radiant lady assumed sufficient corporality to speak and say to her do me the kindness to come here for fifteen days thus little by little the lady had assumed a precise appearance the something clad in white had become indeed a lady more beautiful than a queen of a kind such as his only seen in pictures at first in presence of the questions with which all the neighbours plied her from morning to evening Bernadette had hesitated disturbed perhaps by scruples of conscience but then as though prompted by the very interrogatories to which she was subjected she seemed to perceive the figure which she had beheld more plainly so that it definitely assumed life with lines and hues from which the child in her after descriptions never departed the lady's eyes were blue and very mild her mouth was rosy and smiling the oval of her face expressed both the grace of youth and of maternity below the veil covering her head and falling to her heels only a glimpse was caught of her admirable fair hair which was slightly curled her robe which was of dazzling whiteness must have been of some material unknown on earth some material woven of the sun's rays her sash of the same hue as the heavens was fastened loosely about her its long ends streaming downwards with the light airiness of morning her chaplet wound about her right arm had beads of a milky whiteness whilst the links and the cross were of gold and on her bare feet on her adorable feet of virgin snow flowered two golden roses the mystic roses of this divine mother's immaculate flesh where was it that Bernadette had seen this picture of her child where was it that Bernadette had seen this blessed virgin of such traditionally simple composition unadorned by a single jewel having but the primitive grace imagined by the painters of her people in its childhood in which illustrated book belonging to her foster mother's brother the good priest who read such attractive stories had she beheld this virgin or in what picture or what statuette or what stained glass window of the painted and gilded church where she had spent so many evenings whilst growing up and whence above all things had come those golden roses poised on the virgin's feet that piously imagined fluorescence of woman's flesh from what romance of chivalry from what story told after catechism by the abbey Adel from what unconscious dream indulged in under the shady foliage of Barthres whilst ever and ever repeating that haunting angelic salutation Pierre's voice had acquired a yet more feeling tone for if he did not say all these things to the simple-minded folks who were listening to him still the human explanation of all these prodigies which the feeling of doubt in the depths of his being strove to supply imparted to his narrative a quiver of sympathetic fraternal love he loved Bernadette the better for the great charm of her hallucination that lady of such gracious access such perfect amiability such politeness in appearing and disappearing so appropriately at first the great light would show itself then the vision took form came and went forward moved about floating imperceptibly with ethereal lightness and when it vanished the glow lingered for yet another moment and then disappeared like a star fading away no lady in this world could have such a white and rosy face with a beauty so akin to that of the virgins on the picture cards given to children at their first communions and it was strange that the eglentine of the grotto did not even hurt her adorable bare feet blooming with golden flowers Pierre however at once proceeded to recount the other apparitions the fourth and fifth occurred on the Friday and the Saturday but the lady who shone so brightly and who had not yet told her name contented herself on these occasions with smiling and saluting without pronouncing a single word on the Sunday however she wept and said to Bernadette pray for sinners on the Monday to the child's great grief she did not appear wishing no doubt to try her but on the Tuesday she confided to her a secret and she disowned her the girl alone a secret which she was never to divulge and then she at last told her what mission it was that she entrusted to her go and tell the priests she said that they must build a chapel here on the Wednesday she frequently murmured the word penitence penitence which the child repeated afterwards kissing the earth on the Thursday the lady said to her go and drink and wash at the spring feet of the grass that is beside it words which the visionary ended by understanding when in the depths of the grotto a source suddenly sprang up beneath her fingers and this was the miracle of the enchanted fountain then the second week ran its course the lady did not appear on the Friday but was punctual on the five following days repeating her commands and gazing with a smile at the humble girl whom she had chosen to do her bidding and who on her side told her beads at each apparition she kissed the earth and repaired on her knees to the source there to drink and wash at last on Thursday March 4 the last day of these mystical assignations the lady requested more pressingly than before that a chapel might be erected in order that the nations might come thither in procession from all parts of the earth so far however in reply to all Bernadette's appeals she had refused to say who she was and it was only three weeks later on Thursday March 25 she was turning her hands together and raising her eyes to heaven she said I am the immaculate conception on two other occasions at somewhat long intervals April 7 and July 16 she again appeared the first time to perform the miracle of the lighted taper that taper above which the child plunged in ecstasy for a long time unconsciously left her hand without burning it and the second time to bid Bernadette farewell to favour her with a last smile and a vision of the head full of charming politeness this made 18 apparitions all told and never again did the lady show herself whilst Pierre went on with his beautiful, marvellous story so soothing to the wretched he evoked for himself a vision of that pitiable lovable Bernadette whose sufferings had flowered so wonderfully as a doctor had roughly expressed it this girl of 14 at a critical period of her life already ravaged too by Asma after all, simply an exceptional victim of hysteria afflicted with a degenerate heredity and lapsing into infancy if there were no violent crises in her case if there were no stiffening of the muscles during her attacks if she retained a precise recollection of her dreams the reason was that her case was peculiar to herself and she added so to say a new and very curious form to all the forms of hysteria known at the time miracles only begin when things cannot be explained and science so far knows and can explain so little so infinitely to the phenomena of disease vary according to the nature of the patient but how many shepherdesses there had been before Bernadette who had seen the virgin in a similar way amidst all the same childish nonsense was it not always the same story the lady clad in light the secret confided, the spring bursting forth the mission which had to be fulfilled the miracles whose enchantments would convert to the masses and was not the personal appearance of the virgin always in accordance with the poor child's dreams akin to some coloured figure in a missile an ideal compounded of traditional beauty gentleness and politeness and the same dreams showed themselves in the naivete of the means which were to be employed and of the object which was to be attained the deliverance of nations the building of churches the processional pilgrimages of the faithful then too all the words which fell from heaven resembled one another calls for penitence the forces of help and in this respect in Bernadette's case the only new feature was that most extraordinary declaration I am the Immaculate Conception which burst forth very usefully as the recognition by the Blessed Virgin herself of the dogma promulgated by the court of Rome but three years previously it was not the Immaculate Virgin who appeared, no it was the Immaculate Conception the abstraction itself the thing, the dogma so that one might well ask oneself really the Virgin had spoken in such a fashion as for the other words it was possible that Bernadette had heard them somewhere and stored them up in some unconscious nook of her memory but these, I am the Immaculate Conception whence had they come as though expressly to fortify a dogma still bitterly discussed with such prodigious support as the direct testimony of the mother conceived without sin at this thought Pierre who was convinced of Bernadette's absolute good faith and used to believe that she had been the instrument of a fraud began to waver deeply agitated feeling his belief in truth totter within him the apparitions however had caused intense emotion at Lourdes crowds flocked to the spot miracles began and those inevitable persecutions broke out which ensure the triumph of new religions Abbé Pierre Ramalle, the parish priest of Lourdes an extremely honest man with an upright vigorous mind was able in all truth to declare that child that she had not yet been seen at catechism where was the pressure then where the lesson learned by heart there was nothing but those years of childhood spent at Boutres, the first teachings of Abbé Adèle conversations possibly religious ceremonies in honour of the recently proclaimed dogma or simply the gift of one of those commemorative medals which had been scattered in profusion never did Abbé Adèle reappear upon the scene he who had predicted the mission of the future visionary he was destined to remain apart from Bernadette and her future career he who, the first, had seen her little soul blossom in his pious hands and yet all the unknown forces that had sprung from that sequestered village from that nook of greenery where superstition and poverty of intelligence prevailed were still making themselves felt disturbing the brains of men disseminating the contagion of the mysterious it was remembered that a shepherd of Ausilès speaking of the rock of Massabiel had prophesied that great things would take place there other children moreover now fell in ecstasy with their eyes dilated and their limbs quivering with convulsions but these only saw the devil a whirlwind of madness seemed to be passing over the region an old lady of Lourdes declared that Bernadette was simply a witch and that she had herself seen the toads foot in her eye but for the others for the thousands of pilgrims who hastened to the spot she was a saint and they kissed her garments sobs burst forth and frenzy seemed to seize upon the souls of the beholders when she fell upon her knees before the grotto a lighted taper in her right hand whilst with the left she told the beads of her rosary she became very pale and quite beautiful transfigured so to say her features gently ascended in her face lengthened into an expression of extraordinary beatitude whilst her eyes filled with light and her lips parted as though she was speaking words which could not be heard and it was quite certain that she had no will of her own left her penetrated as she was by her dream possessed by it to such a point in the confined exclusive sphere in which she lived that she continued dreaming it even when awake and thus accepted it as the only indisputable reality prepared to testify to it even at the cost of her blood repeating it over and over again obstinately stubbornly clinging to it and never varying in the details she gave she did not lie for she did not know could not and would not desire anything apart from it forgetful of the flight of time Pierre was now sketching a charming picture of old Lourdes that pious little town slumbering at the foot of the Pyrenees the castle perched on a rock at the point of intersection of the seven valleys of Lavidin had formerly been the key of the mountain districts but in Bernadette's time it had become a mere dismantled ruined pile at the entrance of a road leading nowhere modern life found its march staid by a formidable rampart of lofty snow-capped peaks and only the Trans-Pyronean railway had it been constructed could have established an active circulation of social life in that sequestered nook where human existence stagnated like dead water forgotten therefore Lourdes remained slumbering happy and sluggish amidst its old time peacefulness with its narrow pebble paved streets and its black houses with dressings of marble the old roofs were still all massed on the eastern side of the castle the Rue de la Grotte then called the Rue du Bois was but a deserted and often impassable road no houses stretched down to the garves now and the scum-laid and waters rolled through a perfect solitude of pollard willows and tall grass on weekdays but few people passed across the place du Marcadal such as housewives hastening on errands and petty sits airing their leisure hours and you had to wait till Sundays or fair days to find the inhabitants rigged out in their best clothes and assembled on the Champs-Comains in company with the crowd of graziers who had come down from the distant table lands with their cattle during the season when people resort to the Pyrenean waters the passage of the visitors to Côteray and Bagnères also brought some animation dilligeances passed through the town twice a day but they came from Poe by a wretched road and had to forward the La Paca which often overflowed its banks then climbing the steeper center of the Rue de la Grotte they skirted the terrace of the church which was shaded by large albums soft peacefulness prevailed in and around that old semi Spanish church full of ancient carvings columns screens and statues peopled with visionary patches of gilding and painted flesh which time had mellowed and which you faintly discerned as by the light of mystical lamps the whole population came there to worship to fill their eyes with the dream of the mysterious there were no unbelievers the inhabitants of Lourdes were a people of primitive faith each corporation marched behind the banner of its saint brotherhoods of all kinds united the entire town on festival mornings in one large Christian family and as with some exquisite flower that has grown in the soil of its choice great purity of life range there there was not even a resort of debauchery for young men to wreck their lives and the girls one and all grew up with the perfume and beauty of innocence under the eyes of the blessed virgin tower of ivory and seat of wisdom and how well one could understand that Bernadette born in that holy soil should flower in it like one of nature's roses budding in the wayside bushes she was indeed the very fluorescence of that region of ancient belief and rectitude she would certainly not have sprouted elsewhere she could only appear and develop there amidst that belated race amidst the slumberous peacefulness of a childlike people under the moral discipline of religion and what intense love at once burst forth all around her what blind confidence was displayed in her mission what immense consolation and hope came to human hearts on the very morrow of the first miracles a long cry of relief had greeted the cure of old Bourriette recovering his sight and of little Justin Buor coming to life again in the icy water of the spring at last then the blessed virgin was intervening in favor of those who dispaired forcing that unkind mother nature to be just and charitable this was divine omnipotence returning to reign on earth sweeping the laws of the world aside in order to work the happiness of the suffering and the poor the miracles multiplied blazed forth from day to day more and more extraordinary like unimpeachable proof of Bernadette's veracity and she was indeed the rose of the divine garden whose deeds shed perfume the rose who beholds all the other flowers of grace and salvation spring into being around her Pierre had reached this point of his story and was again enumerating the miracles on the point of recounting the prodigious triumph of the grotto when Sister Ea Sainte awaking with a start from the ecstasy into which the narrative had plunged her hastily rose to her feet really really said she there is no sense in it it will soon be eleven o'clock this was true they had left more serve behind them and would now soon be at Monde Marsin so Sister Ea Sainte clapped her hands once more and added silence my children silence this time they did not dare to rebel she was in the right they were unreasonable but how greatly they regretted not hearing the continuation how vexed they were that the story should cease when only half told the ten women in the further compartment even let a murmur of disappointment escape them whilst the sick their faces still outstretched their dilated eyes gazing upon the light of hope seemed to be yet listening those miracles which ever and ever returned to their minds filled them with unlimited haunting supernatural joy and don't let me hear anyone breathe even added Sister Ea Sainte Gailly or otherwise I shall impose penance on you Madame de Jean Kier laughed good-naturedly you must obey my children she said be good and get to sleep so that you may have strength to pray at the grotto tomorrow with all your hearts then silence fell nobody spoke any further and the only sounds were those of the rumbling of the wheels and the jolting of the train as it was carried along at full speed Pierre however was unable to sleep beside him Monsieur de Gelsain was already snoring likely looking very happy despite the hardness of his seat for a time the young priest saw Marie's eyes wide open still full of all the radiance of the marvels that he had related for a long while she kept them ardently fixed upon his own but at last closed them and then he knew not whether she was sleeping or with eyelids simply closed was living the everlasting miracle over again some of the sufferers were dreaming aloud giving vent to bursts of laughter which unconscious moans interrupted perhaps they beheld the archangels opening their flesh to rest their diseases from them others restless within somnia turned over and over stifling their sobs and gazing fixedly into the darkness and with a shudder born of all the mystery he had evoked Pierre distracted no longer master of himself in that delirious sphere of fraternal suffering ended by hating his very mind and drawn into close communion with all those humble folks sought to believe like them what could be the use of that physiological inquiry into Bernadette's case so full of gaps and intricacies why should he not accept her as a messenger from the spheres beyond as one of the elect chosen for the divine mystery doctors were but ignorant men with rough and brutal hands and it would be so delightful to fall asleep in child-like faith in the enchanted gardens of the impossible and for a moment indeed he surrendered himself experiencing a delightful feeling of comfort no longer seeking to explain anything but accepting the visionary with her sumptuous coltage of miracles and relying on God to think and determine for him then he looked out through the window which they did not dare to open on account of the consumptive patients and beheld the immeasurable night which enrapt the country across which the train was fleeing the storm must have burst forth there the sky was now of an admirable nocturnal purity as though cleansed by the masses of fallen water large stars shone out in the dark velvet alone illumining with their mysterious gleams the silent refreshed fields which incessantly displayed but the black solitude of a slumber and across the land through the valleys between the hills that carriage of wretchedness and suffering rolled on and on overheated, pestilential, rueful dignity of the august night so lovely and so mild they had passed rueful at one in the morning between the jolting the painful hallucinatory silence still continued at two o'clock as they reached vic de bigore low moans were heard the bad state of the line with the unbearable spreading tendency of the train's motion was sorely shaking the patients it was only at talb at half past two that silence was at length broken and that morning prayers were said though black nights still reigned around them there came first the pater and then the ave, the credo and the supplication to God to grant them a happiness of a glorious day O God, vach, save me sufficient strength that I may avoid all that is evil and do all that is good and suffer uncomplainingly every pain and now there was to be no further stoppage until they reached lourde barely three more quarters of an hour and lourde with all its vast hopes would blaze forth in the midst of that night so long and cruel their painful awakening was enfevered by the thought a final agitation arose amidst the morning discomfort as the abominable sufferings began afresh sister Ea Sainte however was especially anxious about the strange man whose sweat covered face she had been continually wiping he had so far managed to keep alive she watching him without a pause never having once closed her eyes but unremittingly listening to his faint breathing with the stubborn desire to take him to the Holy Grotto before he died all at once however she felt frightened and addressing herself to Madame de Genquière she hastily exclaimed pray pass me the vinegar bottle at once I can no longer hear him breathe for an instant indeed the man's faint breathing had ceased his eyes were still closed his lips parted he could not have been paler he had an ashen hue and was cold and the carriage was still rolling along the speed of coupling ions the speed of the train seemed even to have increased I will rub his temples resumed sister Ea Sainte help me do but at a more violent jolt of the train the man suddenly fell from the seat face downward oh mon dieu help me pick him up they picked him up and found him dead and they had to seat him in his corner again with his back resting against the woodwork he remained there erect his torso stiffened wagging slightly at each successive jolt thus the train continued carrying him along with the same thundering noise of wheels while the engine well pleased no doubt to be reaching its destination began whistling shrilly giving vent to quite a flourish of delirious joy as it sped through the calm night and then came the last and seemingly endless half hour of the journey in company with that wretched corpse two big tears had rolled down sister Ea Sainte's cheeks the man's joined she had begun to pray the whole carriage shuddered with terror at sight of that terrible companion who was being taken too late alas to the blessed virgin hope however proved stronger than sorrow or pain and although all the sufferings there assembled awoke and grew again irritated by overwhelming weariness a song of joy nevertheless proclaimed of the sufferer's triumphal entry into the land of miracles amidst the tears which their pains drew from them the exasperated howling sick began to chant the Ave Marie Stella with a growing clamour in which lamentation finally turned into cries of hope Marie had again taken Pierre's hand between her little feverish fingers oh Mondeur said she to think that poor man is dead and I feared so much that it was I who would die before arriving and we are there, there at last the priest was trembling with intense emotion it means that you are to be cured Marie replied and that I myself shall be cured if you pray for me the engine was now whistling in a yet louder key in the depths of the bluey darkness they were nearing their destination the lights of Lord already shone out on the horizon then the whole train again sang a canticle the rhymed story of Bernadette that endless ballad of six times ten couplets in which the angelic salutation ever returns as a refrain all besetting and distracting the portals of the heaven of ecstasy it was the hour for evening prayer soft bells chimed on the giliaire Ave, Ave, Ave Maria the maid stood on the torrent's bank a breeze arose then swiftly sank Ave, Ave, Ave Maria and she beheld in as it fell the virgin on Massabielle Ave, Ave, Ave Maria all white appeared the lady chased a zone of heaven round her waist Ave, Ave, Ave Maria two golden roses pure and sweet bloomed brightly on her naked feet Ave, Ave, Ave Maria upon her arm all white and round her chaplet's milky beads were wound Ave, Ave, Ave Maria the maid prayed on till from her eyes the vision sped to paradise Ave, Ave, Ave Maria end of section 5 section 6 of Lourdes this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please contact LibriVox.org Lourdes by Emile Zola translated by Ernest Visitelli the second day one, the train arrives was 20 minutes past 3 by the clock of the Lourdes railway station the dial of which was illumined by a reflector under the slanting roof sheltering the platform 100 yards or so in length some shadowy forms went to and fro resignedly waiting only a red signal light peeped out of the black countryside far away two of the promenades suddenly halted the taller of them a father of the assumption none other indeed than the reverent Father Foucaud director of the national pilgrimage who had reached Lourdes on the previous day was a man of 60 looking superb in his black cloak with its large hood his fine head with its clear domineering eyes and thick grizzly beard was the head of a general whom an intelligent determination to conquer in flames in consequence however of a sudden attack of Gout he slightly dragged one of his legs and was leaning on the shoulder of his companion Dr. Bonamy the practitioner attached to the miracle verification office a short thick set man with a square shaped clean shaven face which had dull blurred eyes and a tranquil cast of features Father Foucaud had stopped to question the station master whom he perceived running out of his office will the white train be very late Monsieur he asked know your reverence it hasn't lost more than 10 minutes it will be here at the half hour it's the beyond train which worries me it ought to have passed through already so saying he ran off to give an order but soon came back again his slim nervous figure displaying marked signs of agitation he lived indeed in a state of high fever throughout the period of the great pilgrimages apart from the usual service he that day expected 18 trains containing more than 15,000 passengers the grey and the blue trains which had started from Paris the first had already arrived at the regulation hour but the delay in the arrival of the white train was very troublesome the more so as the beyond express which passed over the same rails had not yet been signalled it was easy to understand therefore what incessant watchfulness was necessary not a second passing without the entire staff of the station being called upon to exercise its vigilance in 10 minutes then repeated Father Foucaud yes in 10 minutes unless I'm obliged to close the line cried the station master as he hastened into the telegraph office Father Foucaud and the doctor slowly resumed their promenade the thing which astonished them was that no serious accident had ever happened in the midst of such a fearful scramble in past times especially the most terrible disorder had prevailed Father Foucaud complacently recalled the first pilgrimage which he had organised and led in 1875 the terrible endless journey without pillows or mattresses the patients exhausted half dead with no means of reviving them at hand and then the arrival at Lourdes the train evacuated in confusion no material in readiness no straps no stretchers nor carts but now there was a powerful organisation a hospital awaited the sick who were no longer reduced to lying upon straw in sheds what a shock for those unhappy ones what force of will in the man of faith who led them to the scene of miracles the Reverend Father smiled gently at the thought of the work which he had accomplished then still leaning on the doctor's shoulder he began to question him how many pilgrims did you have last year he asked about 200,000 that is still the average in the year of the coronation of the Virgin the figure rose to 500,000 but to bring that about an exceptional occasion was needed with a great effort of propaganda such vast masses cannot be collected together every day a pause followed and then father full card murmured no doubt still the blessing of heaven attends our endeavours our work thrives more and more we have collected more than 200,000 francs in donations for this journey and God will be with us there will be many cures for you to proclaim tomorrow I am sure of it then breaking off he inquired has not father Darjelez come here Dr. Bonami waved his hand as though to say he did not know father Darjelez was the editor of the journal de la Grotte he belonged to the order of the fathers of the immaculate conception whom the bishop had installed at Lord and who were the absolute masters there though when the fathers of the assumption came to the town with the national pilgrimage from Paris which crowds of faithful Catholics from Cambrai, Arras, Chartres Troyes, Rince, Saint Orléans, Blois and Poitiers joined they evinced a kind of affectation in disappearing from the scene their omnipotence was no longer felt either at the Grotte or at the Basilica they seemed to surrender every key together with every responsibility their superior father cupped about a tall peasant like man with a knotty frame a big head which looked as if it had been fashioned with a bill-hook and a worn face which retained a ruddy mournful reflection of the soil did not even show himself of the whole community you only saw little insinuating father Darjelez but he was met everywhere incessantly on the lookout for paragraphs for his newspaper at the same time however although the fathers of the immaculate conception disappeared in this fashion it could be divined that they were behind the vast stage like a hidden sovereign power coining money and toiling without a pause to increase the triumphant prosperity of their business indeed they turned even their humility to account it's true that we have had to get up early in the morning resumed father Vorkart Gaely but I wished to be here what would my poor children have said indeed if I had not come he was alluding to the sick pilgrims those who were so much flesh for miracle working and it was a fact that he had never missed coming to the station no matter what the hour to meet that woeful white train that train which brought such grievous suffering with it five and twenty minutes past three only another five minutes now exclaimed dr. Bonami repressing a yawn as he glanced at the clock for despite his obsequious air he was at bottom very much annoyed at having had to get out of bed so early however he continued his slow promenade with father Vorkart along that platform which resembled a covered walk pacing up and down in the dense night which the gas jets here and there illumined with patches of yellow light little parties dimly outlined composed of priests and gentlemen in frock coats with a solitary officer who in the darkened rooms went to and fro incessantly talking together the while in discreet murmuring tones other people seated on benches ranged along the station wall were also chatting or putting their patients to proof with their glances wandering away into the black stretch of country before them the doorways of the offices and waiting rooms which were brilliantly lighted looked like great holes in the darkness and all was flaring in the refreshment room where you could see the marble tables and the counter with bottles and glasses and baskets of bread and fruit on the right hand beyond the roofing of the platform there was a confused swarming of people there was here a goods gate by which the sick were taken out of the station and a mass of stretchers, litters and hand carts with piles of pillows and mattresses obstructed the broad walk three parties of bearers were also assembled here persons of well-nigh every class but more particularly young men of good society all wearing red orange tipped crosses and straps of yellow leather many of them too had adopted the bear knees cap the convenient headgear of the region and a few clad as though they were bound on some distant expedition displayed wonderful gaiters reaching to their knees some were smoking whilst others installed in their little vehicles slept or read newspapers by the light of the neighbouring gas jets one group standing apart was discussing some service question suddenly however one and all began to salute a paternal looking man with a heavy but good natured face lighted by large blue eyes like those of a credulous child was approaching it was Baron Suir the president of the hospitality of Our Lady of Salvation he possessed a great fortune and occupied a high position at Toulouse where is Berthot he inquired of one bearer after another with a busy air where is Berthot I must speak to him the others answered volunteering contradictory information Berthot was their superintendent and whilst some said that they had seen him with the reverent father full card others affirmed that he must be in the courtyard of the station inspecting the ambulance vehicles and they there upon offered to go and fetch him no no thank you replied the Baron I shall manage to find him myself whilst this was happening Berthot who had just seated himself on a bench at the other end of the station was talking with his young friend Gerard the Père Longue by way of occupation pending the arrival of the train the superintendent of the bearers was a man of 40 with a broad regular featured handsome face and carefully trimmed whiskers of a lawyer like Patton belonging to a militant legitimist family and holding extremely reactionary opinions he had been procureur de la République public prosecutor in a town of the south of France from the time of the parliamentary revolution of the 24th of May until that of the decree on the religious communities when he had resigned his post in a blusterous fashion by addressing an insulting letter to the minister of justice and he had never since laid down his arms but had joined the hospitality of our lady of salvation as a sort of protest repairing year after year to Lord in order to demonstrate convinced as he was that the pilgrimages were both disagreeable and hurtful to the Republic and that God alone could reestablish the monarchy by one of those radicals which he worked so lavishly at the grotto despite all this however Belto possessed no small amount of good sense and being of a gay disposition displayed a kind of jovial charity towards the poor sufferers whose transport he had to provide for during the three days that the national pilgrimage remained at Lourdes and so my dear Gérard he said to the young man seated beside him your marriage is really to come off this year why yes if I can find such a wife I want replied the other come cousin give me some good advice Gérard de Père Long a short thin charity young man with a pronounced nose and prominent cheekbones belonged to Talbe where his father and mother had lately died leaving him at the utmost some seven or eight thousand francs a year extremely ambitious he had been unable to find such a wife as he desired in his native province a well connected young woman capable of helping him to push both forward and upward in the world and so he had joined the hospitality and but took himself every summer to Lourdes in the vague hope that amidst the mass of believers the torrent of devout mamas and daughters which flowed thither he might find the family whose help he needed to enable him to make his way in this terrestrial sphere however he remained in perplexity for if on the one hand he already had several young ladies in view on the other none of them completely satisfied him hey cousin you will advise me won't you he said to Bertot you are a man of experience there is Mademoiselle Le Mercier who comes here with her aunt she is very rich according to what is said she has over a million francs but she doesn't belong to our set and besides I think her a bit of a madcap Bertot nodded I told you so if I were you I should choose little Raymond Mademoiselle de Genquière but she hasn't a copper that's true she is fairly enough to pay for her board but she is fairly good looking she has been well brought up and she has no extravagant tastes that is the really important point for what is the use of marrying a rich girl if she squanders the dowry she brings you besides I know mademoiselle de Genquière very well I meet them all through the winter in the most influential drawing rooms of Paris and finally don't forget the girl's uncle the diplomatist who has had the painful courage to remain he will be able to do whatever he pleases for his niece's husband for a moment Gerard seemed shaken and then he relapsed into perplexity but she hasn't a copper he said no, not a copper it's too stiff I'm quite willing to think it over but it really frightens me too much this time Bertot burst into a frank laugh come you are ambitious and so you must be daring I tell you that it means the secretary ship of an embassy before two years are over by the way mademoiselle de Genquière are in the white train which we are waiting for make up your mind and pay your court at once no, no, later on I want to think it over at this moment they were interrupted for Baron Swield who had already once gone by without perceiving them so completely did the darkness enshroud them in that retired corner had just recognised the ex-public prosecutor's good-natured laugh and thereupon with the volubility of a man whose head is easily unhinged he gave him several orders respecting the vehicles and the transport service deploring the circumstance that it would be impossible to conduct the patients to the grotto immediately upon their arrival as it was yet so extremely early it had therefore been decided that they should in the first instance be taken to the hospital of Our Lady of Delure where they would be able to rest a while after their trying journey whilst the Baron and the superintendent were thus settling what measures should be adopted Gérald shook hands with a priest who had just sat down beside him this was the Abbé des Remois who was barely eight and thirty years of age and had a superb head such a head as one might expect to find on the shoulders of a worldly priest with his hair well combed and his person perfumed he was not unnaturally a great favourite among women very amiable and distinguished in his manners he did not come to Lourdes in any official capacity for his pleasure as so many other people did and the bright sparkling smile of a sceptic above all idolatry gleamed in the depths of his fine eyes he certainly believed and bowed to superior decisions but the church, the Holy See had not pronounced itself with regard to the miracles and he seemed quite ready to dispute their authenticity having lived at Taub he was already acquainted with Gérald ah, he said to him isn't it, this waiting for the trains in the middle of the night I have come to meet a lady one of my former Paris penitents but I don't know what train she will come by still as you see I stop on for it all interests me so much then another priest an old country priest having come to sit down on the same bench the Abbé considerably began talking to him speaking of the beauty of the Lourdes district and of the theatrical effect which would take place by and by when the sun rose and the mountains appeared however there was again a sudden alert and the station master ran along shouting orders removing his hand from Dr. Bonamie's shoulder father four card despite his gouty leg hastily drew near oh, it's that beyond express which is so late answered the station master and replied to the questions addressed to him I should like some information about it I'm not at ease at this moment the telegraph bells rang out and a porter rushed away into the darkness of the Lantan whilst a distant signal began to work there upon the station master resumed ah, this time it's the white train let us hope we shall have time to get the sick people out before the express passes he started off once more and disappeared Beltot meanwhile called to Gérard who was at the head of a squad of bearers and they both made haste to join their men into whom Baron Suir was already instilling activity the bearers flocked to the spot from all sides and setting themselves in motion began dragging their little vehicles across the lines to the platform at which the white train would come in an unroofed platform plunged in darkness a mass of pillows, mattresses, stretchers and litters was soon waiting there whilst father full card, Dr. Bonamie the priests, the gentlemen and the officer of dragoons in their turn crossed over in order to witness the removal of the ailing pilgrims all that they could as yet see far away in the depths of the black country was the Lantan in front of the engine, looking like a red star which grew larger and larger strident whistles pierced the night then suddenly ceased and you only heard the panting of the steam and the dull roar of the wheels gradually slackening their speed then the canticle became distinctly audible the song of Bernadette with the ever-recurring aves of its refrain which the whole train was chanting in chorus and at last this train of suffering and faith this moaning singing train leaving its entry into lured drew up in the station the carriage doors were at once opened the whole throng of healthy pilgrims and the ailing ones able to walk alighted and streamed over the platform the few gas lamps cast but a feeble light on the crowd of poverty-stricken beings clad in faded garments and encumbered with all sorts of parcels, baskets valises and boxes and amidst all the jostling of this scared flock which did not know in which direction to turn to find its way out of the station loud exclamations were heard the shouts of people calling relatives whom they had lost mingled with the embraces of others whom relatives or friends had come to meet one woman declared with beatifical satisfaction I have slept well a priest went off carrying his travelling bag after wishing a crippled lady good luck most of them had the bewildered, weary yet joyous appearance of people whom an excursion train sets down at some unknown station and such became the scramble and the confusion in the darkness that they did not hear the railway employees who grew quite hoarse through shouting this way, this way, in their eagerness to clear the platform as soon as possible Sister Ea Sainte had nimbly alighted from her compartment leaving the dead man in the charge of Sister Clare des Anges and losing her head somewhat she ran off to the Contine van in the idea that Ferrand would be able to help her fortunately she found father full card in the van and acquainted him with the fatality in a low voice repressing a gesture of annoyance he thereupon called Baron Suir who was passing and began whispering in his ear the muttering lasted for a few seconds and then the Baron rushed off and clove his way through the crowd with two bearers carrying a covered litter in this the man was removed from the carriage as though he were a patient who had simply fainted the mob of pilgrims paying no further attention to him amidst all the emotion of their arrival preceded by the Baron the bearers carried the corpse into a goods office where they provisionally lodged it behind some barrels one of them a fair-haired little fellow a general's son remaining to watch over it meanwhile after begging Ferrand and Sister Saint-François to go and wait for her in the courtyard of the station near the reserved vehicle which was to take them to the hospital of our lady of Dolour Sister Ea Sainte returned to the railway carriage and talked of helping her patients to alight but Marie would not let her touch her no, no said the girl do not trouble about me sister I shall remain here the last my father and Abbe-Fremont have gone to the van to fetch her wheels I am waiting for their return they know how to fix them and they will take me away all right you may be sure of it in the same way Monsieur Sabatier and Brother Isidore did not desire to be moved until the crowd had decreased Madame de Jean-Chière who had taken charge of la grivote to see Madame Vitu's removal in an ambulance vehicle and thereupon Sister Ea Sainte decided that she would go off at once so as to get everything ready at the hospital Moreover she took with her both little Sophie Coutot and Elise Rourquais whose face she very carefully wrapped up Madame Mars preceded them whilst Madame Vincent carrying her little girl who was unconscious and quite white struggled through the crowd possessed by the fixed idea of running off as soon as possible and depositing the child in the grotto at the feet of the Blessed Virgin the mob was now pressing towards the doorway by which passengers left the station and to facilitate the egress of all these people it at last became necessary to open the luggage gates the employees at a loss how to take the tickets held out their caps which are downpour of little cards speedily filled and in the courtyard a large square courtyard skirted on three sides by the low buildings of the station the most extraordinary uproar prevailed amongst all the vehicles of diverse kinds which were there jumbled together the Hotel Omnibuses backed against the curb of the footway displayed the most sacred names on their large boards Jesus and Mary Saint Michel the Rosary and the Sacred Heart then there were ambulance vehicles londas, cabriolets, brakes and little donkey carts all entangled together with their drivers shouting swearing and cracking their whips the tumult being apparently increased by the obscurity of all lanterns set brilliant patches of light rain had fallen heavily a few hours previously liquid mud splashed up under the hooves of the horses the foot passengers sank into it to their ankles Monsieur Vigneron whom Madame Vigneron and Madame Scheer were following in a state of distraction raised Gustave in order to place him in the omnibus from the hotel of the apparitions after which he himself and the ladies climbed into the vehicle Madame Mars shuddering slightly like a delicate tabby who fears to dirty the tips of her paws made a sign to the driver of an old broam got into it and quickly drove away after giving us address the convent of the blue sisters and at last Sister Yersaint was able to install herself with Elise Rouquet and Sophie Couteau in a large charabins in which Ferrand and sisters Saint-François and Claire Desanges were already seated the drivers whipped up their spirited little horses and the vehicles went off at a breakneck pace amidst the shouts of those left behind and the splashing of the mire In presence of that rushing torrent Madame Vincent with her dear little burden in her arms hesitated to cross over bursts of laughter rang out around her every now and then oh what a filthy mess and at the sight of all the mud the women caught up their skirts before attempting to pass through it at last when the courtyard had somewhat emptied Madame Vincent herself ventured on her way all terror lest the mire should make her fall in that black darkness then on reaching a downhill road she noticed there a number of women of the locality who were on the watch offering furnished rooms, bed and board according to the state of the pilgrims purse which is the way to the grotto Madame if you please asked Madame Vincent addressing one old woman of the party instead of answering the question however the other offered her a cheap room you won't find anything in the hotels as she said they are all full perhaps you will be able to eat there but you certainly won't find a closet even to sleep in eat sleep indeed had Madame Vincent any thought of such things she who had left Paris with 30 soos in her pocket all that remained to her after the expenses she had been put to the way to the grotto if you please Madame she repeated among the women who were thus touting for lodgers there was a tall well-built girl dressed like a superior servant and looking very clean with carefully tended hands she glanced at Madame Vincent slightly shrugged her shoulders and then seeing a broad-chested priest with a red face go by she rushed after him offered him a furnished room and continued following him whispering in his ear another girl however at last took pity on Madame Vincent and said to her here go down this road and when you get to the bottom turn to the right and you will reach the grotto meanwhile the confusion inside the station continued the healthy pilgrims the sick who retained the use of their legs could go off thus in some measure clearing the platform but the others the more grievously stricken sufferers whom it was difficult to get out of the carriages and removed to the hospital remained waiting the bearers seemed to become quite bewildered rushing madly hither and thither with their litters and vehicles not knowing at what end to set about the profusion of work which lay before them as Bertot followed by Gérard went along the platform gesticulating he noticed two ladies and a girl who were standing under a gas jet and to all appearance waiting in the girl he recognized Raymond and with a sign of the hand he had once stopped his companion ah mademoiselle said he how pleased I am to see you is Madame de Jean-Chière quite well you have made a good journey I hope then without a pause he added this is my friend Monsieur Gérard de Père-Long Raymond gazed fixedly at the young man with her clear smiling eyes oh I already have the pleasure of being slightly acquainted with this gentleman she said we have previously met one another at Lourdes there upon Gérard who thought that his cousin Bertot was conducting matters too quickly and was quite resolved that he would not enter into any hasty engagement contented himself with bowing in a ceremonious way we are waiting for Mama resumed Raymond she is extremely busy she has to see after some pilgrims who are very ill at this little Madame des Agneaux with her pretty light wavy head head began to say that it served Madame de Jean-Chière right for refusing her services she herself was stamping within patience eager to join in the work and make herself useful while Madame vomare silent shrinking back as though taking no interest in it at all seemed simply desirous of penetrating the darkness as though indeed she was seeking somebody with those magnificent eyes of hers usually bedimmed but now shining out like braziers just then however they were all pushed back Madame de la Faye was being removed from her first class compartment and Madame des Agneaux could not restrain an exclamation of pity ah the poor woman they could in fact be no more distressing sight than this young woman encompassed by luxury covered with lace in her species of coffin so wasted that she seemed to be a mere human shred deposited on that platform till it could be taken away her husband and her sister both very elegant and very sad remained standing near her whilst a manservant and maid ran off with the valises to ascertain if the carriage which had been ordered by telegram was in the courtyard Abes-Uden also helped the sufferer and when two men at last took her up he bent over her and wished her au revoir adding some kind words which she did not seem to hear then as he watched her removal he resumed addressing himself to Belto whom he knew ah the poor people if they could only purchase their dear sufferer's cure I told them that prayer was the most precious thing in the blessed virgin's eyes and I hope that I have myself prayed fervently enough to obtain the compassion of heaven nevertheless they have brought a magnificent gift a golden lantern for the basilica a perfect marvel adorned with precious stones may the immaculate virgin danger smile upon it in this way a great many offerings were brought by the pilgrims some huge bouquets of flowers had just gone by together with a kind of triple crown of roses mounted on a wooden stand and the old priest explained that before leaving the station he wished to secure a banner the gift of the beautiful Madame Jousseur Madame Biolafe's sister Madame de Jean-Chières was at last approaching however and on perceiving Belto and Gérard she exclaimed pray do go to that carriage gentlemen that one there we want some men very badly the presence to be taken out I am in despair I can do nothing myself Gérard ran off after bowing to Raymond whilst Belto advised Madame de Jean-Chières to leave the station with her daughter and those ladies instead of remaining on the platform her presence was in no way as necessary he said he would undertake everything and within three quarters of an hour she would find her patients in her ward at the hospital she ended by giving way and took a conveyance in company with Raymond at Madame des Agneaux as for Madame Vourmal she had at the last moment disappeared as though seized with a sudden fit of impatience the others fancied that they had seen her approach a strange gentleman with the object no doubt of making some inquiry of him however they would of course find her at the hospital Belto joined Gérard again just as the young man assisted by two fellow bearers was endeavouring to remove Monsieur Sabatier from the carriage it was a difficult task for he was very stout and very heavy he began to think that he would never pass through the doorway of the compartment however as he had been got in they ought to be able to get him out and indeed when two other bearers had entered the carriage from the other side they were at last able to deposit him on the platform the dawn was now appearing a faint pale dawn and the platform presented the woeful appearance of an improvised ambulance la grivote who had lost consciousness lay there on a mattress pending her removal in a litter some vet you had been seated against a lamp post suffering so severely from another attack of her ailment that they scarcely dared to touch her some hospitalers whose hands were gloved were with difficulty wheeling their little vehicles in which were poor, sordid looking women with old baskets at their feet others with stretches on which lay the stiffened woeful bodies of silent sufferers whose eyes gleamed with anguish found themselves unable to pass but some of the infirm pilgrims contrived to slip through the ranks among them a young priest who was lame and a little humpbacked boy one of whose legs had been amputated and who, looking like a gnome, managed to drag himself with his crutches from group to group then there was quite a block around a man who was bent in half twisted by paralysis to such a point that he had to be carried on a chair with his head and feet hanging downward it seemed as though ours would be required to clear the platform the dismay therefore reached a climax when the stationmaster suddenly rushed up, shouting the Bayonne Express is signalled make haste, make haste you have only three minutes left Father Fortcard, who had remained in the midst of the throng, leaning on Dr. Bonamy's arm and gaily encouraging the more stricken of the sufferers beckoned to Bertheau and said to him finish taking them out of the train you will be able to clear the platform afterwards the advice was very sensible and in accordance with it they finished placing the sufferers on the platform in Madame de Junquier's carriage Marie now alone remained, waiting patiently Monsieur de Gersin and Pierre had at last returned to her, bringing the two pairs of wheels by means of which the box in which she lay was rolled about and with Gerard's assistance Pierre in all haste removed the girl from the train she was as light as a poor shivering bird and it was only the box that gave them any trouble however they soon placed it on the wheels and made the latter fast and then Pierre might have rolled Marie away had it not been for the crowd which hampered him make haste, make haste furiously repeated the station master he himself lent a hand taking hold of a sick man by the feet in order that he might more speedily be got out of a compartment and he also pushed the little hand carts back so as to clear the edge of the platform in a second class carriage however there still remained one woman who had just been overpowered by a terrible nervous attack she was howling and struggling and it was impossible to think of touching her at that moment but on the other hand the express signaled by the incessant tinkling of the electric bells was now fast approaching and they had to close the door and in all haste shunt the train to the siding where it would remain for three days until in fact it was required to convey its load of sick and healthy passengers back to Paris as it went off to the siding the crowd still heard the cries of the suffering woman whom it had been necessary to leave in it in the charge of a sister cries which grew weaker and weaker than those of a strengthless child whom one at last succeeds in consoling good lord muttered the stationmaster it was high time in fact the Bayonne express was now coming along at full speed and the next moment it rushed like a crash of thunder past that woeful platform littered with all the grievous wretchedness of a hospital hastily evacuated the litters and little hand carts were shaken but there was no accident for the porters were on the watch and pushed from the line the bewildered flock distrustling and struggling in its eagerness to get away as soon as the express had passed however circulation was re-established and the bearers were at last able to complete the removal of the sick with prudent deliberation little by little the daylight was increasing a clear dawn it was whitening the heavens whose reflection illumined the earth which was still black you began to distinguish things and people clearly oh by and by Marie repeated Pierre as he endeavored to roll her away let us wait till some part of the crowd has gone then looking around she began to feel interested in a man of military bearing apparently some 60 years of age who was walking about among the sick pilgrims with a square shaped head and white bushy hair he would still have looked sturdy if he had not dragged his left foot throwing it inward at each step he took with the left hand too he leaned heavily on a thick walking stick when Monsieur Sabatier who had visited Lord for six years past perceived him he became quite gay ah said he it is you commander commander was perhaps the old man's name but as he was decorated with a broad red ribboned he was possibly called commander on account of his decoration albeit the latter was that of Amir Chevalier nobody exactly knew his story no doubt he had relatives and children of his own somewhere but these matters remained vague and mysterious for the last three years he had been employed at the railway station as a superintendent in the goods department a simple occupation a little birth which had been given him by favor and which enabled him to live in perfect happiness a first stroke of apoplexy at 55 years of age had been followed by a second one three years later which had left him slightly paralyzed in the left side and now he was awaiting the third stroke with an air of perfect tranquility as he himself put it he was at the disposal of death which might come for him that night the next day or possibly that very moment all lord knew him on account of the habit the mania he had at pilgrimage time of coming to witness the arrival of the trains dragging his foot along and leaning upon his stick whilst expressing his astonishment at reproaching the ailing ones for their intense desire to be made whole and sound again this was the third year that he had seen Monsieur Sabatier arrive and all his anger fell upon him what you have come back again he exclaimed well you must be desirous of living this hateful life but sacre bleu go and die quietly in your bed at home isn't that the best thing that can happen to anyone Monsieur Sabatier evinced no anger but laughed exhausted though he was by the handling to which he had been subjected during his removal from the carriage no no said he I prefer to be cured to be cured that's what they all ask for they travel hundreds of leagues and arrive in fragments howling with pain and all this to be cured to go through every worry and every suffering again come Monsieur you would be nicely courted for your agent with your dilapidated old body your blessed virgin should be pleased to restore the use of your legs to you what would you do with them Monsieur what pleasure would you find in prolonging the abomination of old age for a few years more it's much better to die at once while you are like that death is happiness he spoke in this fashion not as a believer who aspires to the delicious reward of eternal life but as a weary man who expects to fall into nihility to enjoy the great everlasting peace of being no more whilst Monsieur Sabatier was gaily shrugging his shoulders as though he had a child to deal with Abbey Juden who had at last secured his banner came by and stopped for a moment in order that he might gently scold the commander with whom he also was well acquainted don't blaspheme my dear friend he said it is an offence against God to refuse life and to treat health with contempt if you yourself had listened to me you would have asked the blessed virgin to cure your leg before now but this the commander became angry my leg the virgin could do nothing to it I'm quite at my ease may death come and may it be all over forever when the time comes to die you turn your face to the wall and you die it's simple enough the old priest interrupted him however pointing to Marie who was lying on her box listening to them he exclaimed you tell all our sick to go home and die even Mademoiselle she who is full of youth and wishes to live Marie's eyes were wide open burning with the ardent desire which she felt to be to enjoy her share of the vast world she had drawn near, gazed upon her suddenly seized with deep emotion which made his voice tremble if Mademoiselle gets well he said I will wish her another miracle that she be happy then he went off dragging his foot and tapping the flagstones with the feral of his stout stick as he continued wending his way like an angry philosopher among the suffering pilgrims little by little the platform was at last cleared Madame Vetu and La Grivotte were carried away and Gérard removed Monsieur Sabatier in a little cart whilst Baron Suir and Berre Tau already began giving orders for the green train which would be the next one to arrive of all the ailing pilgrims the only one now remaining at the station was Marie of whom Pierre jealously took charge he had already dragged her into the courtyard when he noticed that Monsieur de Gelsin had disappeared but a moment later he perceived him conversing with the Abbé d'Héon Roise who had been made their admiration of the beauties of nature had brought them together the daylight had now appeared and the surrounding mountains displayed themselves in all their majesty what a lovely country Monsieur exclaimed by Monsieur de Gelsin I have been wishing to see the Silk de Garvalne for 30 years past but it is some distance away and the trip must be an expensive one so that I fear I shall not be able to make it you are mistaken Monsieur you are more easily managed by making up a party the expense becomes very slight and as it happens I wish to return there this year so that if you would like to join us oh certainly Monsieur we will speak of it again a thousand thanks replied Monsieur de Gelsin his daughter was now calling him however and he joined her after taking leave of the Abbé in a very cordial manner Pierre had decided that he would drag Marie to the hospital so as to spare her the pain of transference to another vehicle but as the omnibuses, landaus and other conveyances were already coming back again filling the courtyard in readiness for the arrival of the next train the young priest had some difficulty in reaching the road with the little chariot whose low wheels sank deeply in the mud some police agents charged with maintaining order were cursing that fearful mire which splashed their boots and indeed it was only the touts the young and old women who had rooms to let who laughed at the puddles which they crossed and crossed again in every direction the last pilgrims that emerged from the station when the little car had begun to roll more easily over the sloping road Marie suddenly inquired of Monsieur de Gelsin who was walking near her what day of the week is it father Saturday my darling oh yes, Saturday the day of the Blessed Virgin is it today that she will cure me then she began thinking again while at some distance behind her two bearers came furtively down the road a covered stretcher in which lay the corpse of the man who had died in the train they had gone to take it from behind the barrels in the goods office and were now conveying it to a secret spot of which Father Foulcard had told them End of section 6