y may have been taking a
recent _miracule_ to give thanks; for when I arrived presently at the
Bureau again, I heard that, after all, several appeared to have been
cured at the procession on the previous day.

I was sitting in the hall of the hotel a few minutes later when I heard
the roar of the _Magnificat_ from the street, and ran out to see what
was forward. As I came to the door, the heart of the procession went by.
A group of _brancardiers_ formed an irregular square, holding cords to
keep back the crowd; and in the middle walked a group of three, followed
by an empty litter. The three were a white-haired man on this side, a
stalwart _brancardier_ on the other, and between them a girl with a
radiant face, singing with all her heart. She had been carried down from
her lodging that morning to the _piscines_; she was returning on her own
feet, by the power of Him who said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and
go into thy house." I followed them a little way, then I went back to
the hotel.

VII.

In the afternoon we went down to meet a priest who had promised a place
to one of our party in the window of which I have spoken before. But the
crowd was so great that we could not find him, so presently we dispersed
as best we could. Two other priests and myself went completely round the
outside of the churches, in order, if possible, to join in the
procession, since to cross the square was a simple impossibility. In the
terrible crush near the Bureau, I became separated from the others, and
fought my way back, and into the Bureau, as the best place open to me
now for seeing the Blessing of the Sick.

It was now at last that I had my supreme wish. Within a minute or two of
my coming to look through the window, the Blessed Sacrament entered the
reserved space among the countless litters. The crowd between me and the
open space was simply one pack of heads; but I could observe the
movements of what was going forward by the white top of the _ombrellino_
as it passed slowly down the farther side of the square.

The crowd was very still, answering as before the passionate voice in
the midst; but watching, watching, as I watched. Beside me sat Dr. Cox,
and our Rosaries were in our hands. The white spot moved on and on, and
all else was motionless. I knew that beyond it lay the sick. "Lord, if
it be possible--if it be possible! Nevertheless, not my will but Thine
be done." It had reached now the end of the first line.