At first, in presence of the questions with which all the neighbours plied her from morning till evening, Bernadette had hesitated, disturbed, perhaps, by scruples of conscience.

But then, as though prompted by the very interrogatories to which she was subjected, she seemed to perceive the figure which she had beheld, more plainly, so that it definitely assumed life, with lines and hues from which the child, in her after-descriptions, never departed.
The lady's eyes were blue and very mild, her mouth was rosy and smiling, the oval of her face expressed both the grace of youth and of maternity.
Below the veil covering her head and falling to her heels, only a glimpse was caught of her admirable fair hair, which was slightly curled.

Her robe, which was of dazzling whiteness, must have been of some material unknown on earth, some material woven of the sun's rays.

Her sash, of the same hue as the heavens, was fastened loosely about her, its long ends streaming downwards, with the light airiness of morning.

Her chaplet, wound about her right arm, had beads of a milky whiteness, whilst the links and the cross were of gold.