stre of its halo. The apparition
was dressed in pure white, and bore a chaplet upon its arm, and had no
resemblance to Bernadette's ideal of the Virgin. The child was filled
with awe, but felt no fear, and reverently kneeling she continued to
gaze at the vision, which smiled upon her and made the sign of the
cross. Bernadette did likewise. The appearance then vanished, and
for some time Bernadette remained spell-bound and still kneeling and
gazing abstractedly into the grotto, from which the luminous quality
had faded. After a short time she recovered from her transport, and
looking around her found the appearance of nothing changed. The stream
rushed on, the trees were the same, and in the hollow of the grotto
the wild brier grew in its accustomed place, and the clinging moss and
the ivy trails were unchanged.

Bernadette made her way across the stream as quickly as she could,
and hastening onward soon overtook Marie and Jeanne, who looked up
in surprise at her haste. When she had reached them their surprise
deepened into wonder as they observed the emotion depicted in her
face.

"Have you seen nothing?" inquired Bernadette, her eyes all aglow with
excitement.

"No: what is it?" said Marie.

"It is something strange," said Bernadette.

"It could not have been stranger than you look now, with your staring
eyes and your flying hair," said Jeanne.

"What have you seen, Bernadette?" asked Marie.

"Some one in white, bright and gleaming," said Bernadette.

"What did it do? Describe it," exclaimed Jeanne.

"I cannot describe it. If you haven't seen it, I can't tell you what
it was like," she said.

The two other girls were frightened. "Will it hurt us?" asked Marie.

"I am afraid of such things," said Jeanne: "let us hurry home as fast
as we can."

Bernadette was not afraid, but, habitually passive, she hurried with
them without protest. When they arrived at home she told her mother
her experience, and Madame Soubirons, being incredulous, attempted to
convince Bernadette that her vision was only a creature of her fancy;
but with no avail. The child was silenced, but not convinced. Madame
Soubirons said she would not allow her daughter to go to the grotto
any more, as it filled her with such ideas; and she expected to
hear no more about the matter. But the next day Bernadette talked
incessantly of her "Dame," and on the following day, when some one
inquired what her vision was like, she replied that she had se