indows of the houses, and on the Cathedral steps, where they seemed
to throng, listening to the sounding of the bells, spoke only of this
that they had come to do. Of you and you only I heard. They said to each
other, with great joy, that the women had been instructed, that they had
listened, and were safe. There was pleasure in all the city. The singers
were called forth, those who were best instructed (so I judged from what
I heard), to take the place of the warders on the walls; and all, as
they went along, sang that song: 'Our brothers have forgotten; but when
we speak, they will hear.' How was it, how was it that you did not hear?
One time I was by the river porte in a boat; and this song came to me
from the walls as sweet as Heaven. Never have I heard such a song. The
music was beseeching, it moved the very heart. 'We have come out of the
unseen,' they sang; 'for love of you; believe us, believe us! Love
brings us back to earth; believe us, believe us!' How was it that you
did not hear? When I heard those singers sing, I wept; they beguiled the
heart out of my bosom. They sang, they shouted, the music swept about
all the walls: 'Love brings us back to earth, believe us!' M. le Maire,
I saw you from the river gate; there was a look of perplexity upon your
face; and one put his curved hand to his ear as if to listen to some
thin far-off sound, when it was like a storm, like a tempest of music!

After that there was a great change in the city. The choirs came back
from the walls marching more slowly, and with a sighing through all the
air. A sigh, nay, something like a sob breathed through the streets.
'They cannot hear us, or they will not hear us.' Wherever I turned, this
was what I heard: 'They cannot hear us.' The whole town, and all the
houses that were teeming with souls, and all the street, where so many
were coming and going was full of wonder and dismay. (If you will take
my opinion, they know pain as well as joy, M. le Maire, Those who are
in Semur. They are not as gods, perfect and sufficing to themselves, nor
are they all-knowing and all-wise, like the good God. They hope like us,
and desire, and are mistaken; but do no wrong. This is my opinion. I am
no more than other men, that you should accept it without support; but I
have lived among them, and this is what I think.) They were taken by
surprise; they did not understand it any more than we understand when we
have put forth all our strength and fail. The