She no longer prayed, but remained quite motionless, gazing fixedly with her large eyes at the marble Virgin, the white statue amidst the radiance of the Grotto.

And as four o'clock was now striking, Pierre with his heart sore went off to the Verification Office, having suddenly remembered the appointment given him by Doctor Chassaigne.
IV.

VERIFICATION THE doctor was waiting for the young priest outside the Verification Office, in front of which a compact and feverish crowd of pilgrims was assembled, waylaying and questioning the patients who went in, and acclaiming them as they came out whenever the news spread of any miracle, such as the restoration of some blind man's sight, some deaf woman's hearing, or some paralytic's power of motion.
Pierre had no little difficulty in making his way through the throng, but at last he reached his friend.

"Well," he asked, "are we going to have a miracle--a real, incontestable one I mean ?" The doctor smiled, indulgent despite his new faith.

"Ah, well," said he, "a miracle is not worked to order.