But she looked at the trees and was stupefied, for not a leaf was stirring.

Then she thought that she had been mistaken, and was about to pick up her _sabots_, when again the great gust swept through her; but, this time, the disturbance in her ears reached her eyes, she no longer saw the trees, but was dazzled by a whiteness, a kind of bright light which seemed to her to settle itself against the rock, in a narrow, lofty slit above the Grotto, not unlike an ogival window of a cathedral.

In her fright she fell upon her knees.

What could it be, _mon Dieu_?
Sometimes, during bad weather, when her asthma oppressed her more than usual, she spent very bad nights, incessantly dreaming dreams which were often painful, and whose stifling effect she retained on awaking, even when she had ceased to remember anything.
Flames would surround her, the sun would flash before her face.

Had she dreamt in that fashion during the previous night?
Was this the continuation of some forgotten dream?
However, little by little a form became outlined, she believed that she could distinguish a figure which the vivid light rendered intensely white.