atching, and glad at heart to think that all was going
well, my mother and my wife--still pale, but now recovered from her
fainting and weakness--came out into the great square, leading my little
Jean. They were on their way to the Cathedral, to thank God for their
return. They looked at me, but did not ask me to go with them, those
dear women; they respected my opinions, as I had always respected
theirs. But this silence moved me more than words; there came into my
heart a sudden inspiration. I was still in my scarf of office, which had
been, I say it without vanity, the standard of authority and protection
during all our trouble; and thus marked out as representative of all, I
uncovered myself, after the ladies of my family had passed, and, without
joining them, silently followed with a slow and solemn step. A
suggestion, a look, is enough for my countrymen; those who were in the
Place with me perceived in a moment what I meant. One by one they
uncovered, they put themselves behind me. Thus we made such a procession
as had never been seen in Semur. We were gaunt and worn with watching
and anxiety, which only added to the solemn effect. Those who were
already in the Cathedral, and especially M. le Cure, informed me
afterwards that the tramp of our male feet as we came up the great steps
gave to all a thrill of expectation and awe. It was at the moment of the
exposition of the Sacrament that we entered. Instinctively, in a moment,
all understood--a thing which could happen nowhere but in France, where
intelligence is swift as the breath on our lips. Those who were already
there yielded their places to us, most of the women rising up, making as
it were a ring round us, the tears running down their faces. When the
Sacrament was replaced upon the altar, M. le Cure, perceiving our
meaning, began at once in his noble voice to intone the _Te Deum_.
Rejecting all other music, he adopted the plain song in which all could
join, and with one voice, every man in unison with his brother, we sang
with him. The great Cathedral walls seemed to throb with the sound that
rolled upward, _male_ and deep, as no song has ever risen from Semur in
the memory of man. The women stood up around us, and wept and sobbed
with pride and joy. When this wonderful moment was over, and all the
people poured forth out of the Cathedral walls into the soft evening,
with stars shining above, and all the friendly lights below, there was
such a tumult of emotio