of
France numbered between eighty and an hundred thousand persons); and
loud above the footsteps came the cries of the priests, as they stood in
a long row facing the people, with arms extended in the form of a cross.
Now and again came a far-off roar of singing from the Grotto to my left,
where Masses were said continuously by bishops and favoured priests; or
from my right, from the great oval space beneath the steps; and then, on
a sudden a great chorus of sound from beneath, as the _Gloria Patri_
burst out when the end of some decade was reached. All about us was the
wheeling earth, the Pyrenees behind, the meadows in front; and over us
heaven, with Mary looking down.

Once from beneath during that long morning I heard terrible shrieks, as
of a demoniac, that died into moans and ceased. And once I saw a little
procession go past from the Grotto, with the Blessed Sacrament in the
midst. There was no sensation, no singing. The Lord of all went simply
by on some errand of mercy, and men fell on their knees and crossed
themselves as He went.

After _dejeuner_ at the Hotel Moderne, where now it was decided that we
should stay until the Monday, we went down to the Bureau. At first there
were difficulties made, as the doctors were not come; and I occupied a
little while in watching the litters unloaded from the wagonettes that
brought them gently down to within a hundred yards of the Grotto. Once
indeed I was happy to be able to fit a _brancardier's_ straps into the
poles that supported a sick woman. It was all most terrible and most
beautiful. Figure after figure was passed along the seats--living
crucifixes of pain--and lowered tenderly to the ground, to lie there a
moment or two, with the body horribly flat and, as it seemed, almost
non-existent beneath the coverlet; and the white face with blazing eyes
of anguish, or passive and half dead, to show alone that a human
creature lay there. Then one by one each was lifted and swung gently
down to the gate of the _piscines_.

At about three o'clock, after an hour's waiting, I succeeded in getting
a certain card passed through the window, and immediately a message came
out from Dr. Cox that I was to be admitted. I passed through a barrier,
through a couple of rooms, and found myself in the Holy Place of
Science, as the Grotto is the Holy Place of Grace.

It is a little room in which perhaps twenty persons can stand with
comfort. Again and again I saw more than sixty there.