her trembling hands, and in a gentle supplicating voice said to Pierre,
"Question her, pray question her, ask her to tell us everything--cured, O
God! cured of such a terrible complaint!"

Madame de Jonquiere, who was quite affected, had leant over the partition
to kiss the girl. "Certainly," said she, "our little friend will tell you
all about it. Won't you, my darling? You will tell us what the Blessed
Virgin did for you?"

"Oh, certainly! madame-as much as you like," answered Sophie with her
smiling, modest air, her eyes gleaming with intelligence. Indeed, she
wished to begin at once, and raised her right hand with a pretty gesture,
as a sign to everybody to be attentive. Plainly enough, she had already
acquired the habit of speaking in public.

She could not be seen, however, from some parts of the carriage, and an
idea came to Sister Hyacinthe, who said: "Get up on the seat, Sophie, and
speak loudly, on account of the noise which the train makes."

This amused the girl, and before beginning she needed time to become
serious again. "Well, it was like this," said she; "my foot was past
cure, I couldn't even go to church any more, and it had to be kept
bandaged, because there was always a lot of nasty matter coming from it.
Monsieur Rivoire, the doctor, who had made a cut in it, so as to see
inside it, said that he should be obliged to take out a piece of the
bone; and that, sure enough, would have made me lame for life. But when I
got to Lourdes and had prayed a great deal to the Blessed Virgin, I went
to dip my foot in the water, wishing so much that I might be cured that I
did not even take the time to pull the bandage off. And everything
remained in the water, there was no longer anything the matter with my