"Then why didn't you let them take
you to the Grotto?" she asked. "You won't know what to do with yourself
all alone here."
"I am not alone, madame, I am with her," replied Marie; and thereupon,
her vision returning to her, she clasped her hands in ecstasy. "Last
night, you know, I saw her bend her head towards me and smile. I quite
understood her, I could hear her voice, although she never opened her
lips. When the Blessed Sacrament passes at four o'clock I shall be
cured."
Madame de Jonquiere tried to calm her, feeling rather anxious at the
species of somnambulism in which she beheld her. However, the sick girl
went on: "No, no, I am no worse, I am waiting. Only, you must surely see,
madame, that there is no need for me to go to the Grotto this morning,
since the appointment which she gave me is for four o'clock." And then the
girl added in a lower tone: "Pierre will come for me at half-past three.
At four o'clock I shall be cured."
The sunbeam slowly made its way up her bare arms, which were now almost
transparent, so wasted had they become through illness; whilst her
glorious fair hair, which had fallen over her shoulders, seemed like the
very effulgence of the great luminary enveloping her. The trill of a bird
came in from the courtyard, and quite enlivened the tremulous silence of
the ward. Some child who could not be seen must also have been playing
close by, for now and again a soft laugh could be heard ascending in the
warm air which was so delightfully calm.
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