not sufficient time has elapsed for their test and verification.[3]
Occasionally there is a relapse soon after the apparent cure, in the
case of certain diseases that may be more or less affected by a nervous
condition; occasionally claimants are found not to be cured at all. For
scientific certainty, therefore, it is better to rely upon cures that
have taken place a year, or at least some months previously, in which
the restored health is preserved. There are, of course a large number of
such cases; I shall come to them presently.[4]

The next patient to enter the room was one Mlle. Bardou. I learned later
from her lips that she was a secularized Carmelite nun, expelled from
her convent by the French Government. There was the further pathos in
her case in the fact that her cure, when I left Lourdes, was believed to
be at least doubtful. But now she took her seat, with a radiantly happy
face, to hand in her certificate and answer the questions. She had
suffered from renal tuberculosis; her certificate proved that. She was
here herself, without pain or discomfort, to prove that she no longer
suffered. Relief had come during the procession. A question or two was
put to her; an arrangement was made for her return after examination;
and she went out.

The room was rapidly filling now; there were forty or fifty persons
present. There was a sudden stir; those who sat rose up; and there came
into the room three bishops in purple--from St. Paul in Brazil, the
Bishop of Beauvais, and the famous orator, Monseigneur Touchet, of
Orléans--all of whom had taken part in the procession. These sat down,
and the examination went on.

The next to enter was Juliette Gosset, aged twenty-five, from Paris. She
had a darkish plain face, and was of middle size. She answered the