Then the ward was at once emptied, the patients being carried down-stairs amidst renewed tumult.

And Pierre, having replaced Marie's box upon its wheels, took the first place in the _cortege_, which was formed of a score of little handcarts, bath-chairs, and litters.

The other wards, however, were also emptying, the courtyard became crowded, and the _defile_ was organised in haphazard fashion.

There was soon an interminable train descending the rather steep slope of the Avenue de la Grotte, so that Pierre was already reaching the Plateau de la Merlasse when the last stretchers were barely leaving the precincts of the hospital.
It was eight o'clock, and the sun, already high, a triumphant August sun, was flaming in the great sky, which was beautifully clear.

It seemed as if the blue of the atmosphere, cleansed by the storm of the previous night, were quite new, fresh with youth.