As it went off to the siding the crowd still heard the cries of the suffering woman, whom it had been necessary to leave in it, in charge of a Sister, cries which grew weaker and weaker, like those of a strengthless child whom one at last succeeds in consoling.
"Good Lord!" muttered the station-master; "it was high time!" In fact the Bayonne express was now coming along at full speed, and the next moment it rushed like a crash of thunder past that woeful platform littered with all the grievous wretchedness of a hospital hastily evacuated.

The litters and little handcarts were shaken, but there was no accident, for the porters were on the watch, and pushed back the bewildered flock which was still jostling and struggling in its eagerness to get away.

As soon as the express had passed, however, circulation was re-established, and the bearers were at last able to complete the removal of the sick with prudent deliberation.
Little by little the daylight was increasing--a clear dawn it was, whitening the heavens whose reflection illumined the earth, which was still black.

One began to distinguish things and people clearly.
"Oh, by-and-by!" Marie repeated to Pierre, as he endeavoured to roll her away.

"Let us wait till some part of the crowd has gone." Then, looking around, she began to feel interested in a man of military bearing, apparently some sixty years of age, who was walking about among the sick pilgrims.