may it
be soon! Meanwhile I will help to keep our holy Cathedral clean as he
used to do. It is not easy work, but one must do what one can, and
surely it is better to do it with smiles than with tears!"

The Verger nodded. "That is true," he said, "yet it is hard to smile in
the face of sorrow."

"But we must smile--though our hearts break--for France, and for our
children, lest they forget joy!" cried Mother Meraut. She smiled as she
spoke, though her lip trembled "I will you the truth, Henri, sometimes
when I think of what the Germans have already done in Belgium, and may
yet do in France, I feel my heart breaking in my bosom. And then I say
to myself, 'Courage, Antoinette! It is our business to live bravely for
the France that is to be when this madness is over. Our armies are
still between us and the Boche. It is not time to be afraid.'"

"And I tell you, they shall not pass," cried Father Varennes, striking
his crutch angrily upon the stone floor. "The brave soldiers of France
will not permit it! Oh, if I could but carry a gun instead of this!" He
rattled his crutch despairingly as he spoke.

Mother Meraut sighed. "Though I am a woman, I too wish I might fight
the invaders," she said, "but since I may not carry a gun, I will put
all the more energy into my broom and sweep the dirt from the Cathedral
as I would sweep the Germans back to the Rhine if I could."

"It is, indeed, the only way for women, children, and such as I,"
grieved the Verger.

"Tut, tut," answered Mother Meraut cheerfully, "it isn't given us to
choose our service. If God had wanted us to fight he would have given
us power to do it."

The Verger shook his head. "I wish I were sure of that," he said, "for
there's going to be need for all the fighting blood in France if half
one hears is true. They say now that the Germans are already far over
the French border and that our Army is retreating before them. The
roads are more than ever crowded with refugees, and the word they bring
is that the Germans have already reached the valley of the Aisne."

"But that is at our very doors!" cried Mother Meraut. "It is absurd,
that rumor. Chicken hearts! They listen to nothing but their fears. As
for me, I will not believe it until I must. I will trust in the Army as
I do in my God and the holy Saints."

"Amen," responded the Verger devoutly.

At this moment the great western portal swung on its hinges, a patch of
light showed itself against the gloom