"I could not go away, they are here and keep me with them.

It is all over, I am merely waiting till my time comes to join them again." Then silence fell.

Birds were fluttering among the shrubs on the bank behind them, and in front they heard the loud murmur of the Gave.

The sun rays were falling more heavily in a slow, golden dust, upon the hillsides; but on that retired bench under the beautiful trees, the coolness was still delightful.

And although the crowd was but a couple of hundred yards distant, they were, so to say, in a desert, for nobody tore himself away from the Grotto to stray as far as the spot which they had chosen.
They talked together for a long time, and Pierre related under what circumstances he had reached Lourdes that morning with M.de Guersaint and his daughter, all three forming part of the national pilgrimage.