On a board outside was the inscription: "Apply here with reference to Masses, Offerings, and Brotherhoods.
Forwarding office for Lourdes water.

Subscriptions to the 'Annals of O.
L.of Lourdes.'" How many millions of people must have already passed through this wretched shanty, which seemed to date from the innocent days when the foundations of the adjacent Basilica had scarcely been laid! The whole party went in, eager to see what might be inside.

But they simply found a wicket at which Madame Desagneaux had to stop in order to give her friend's name and address; and when she had paid one franc and seventy centimes, a small printed receipt was handed her, such as you receive on registering luggage at a railway station.
As soon as they were outside again Gerard pointed to a large building standing two or three hundred yards away, and resumed: "There, that is where the Fathers reside." "But we see nothing of them," remarked Pierre.
This observation so astonished the young man that he remained for a moment without replying.

"It's true," he at last said, "we do not see them, but then they give up the custody of everything--the Grotto and all the rest--to the Fathers of the Assumption during the national pilgrimage." Pierre looked at the building which had been pointed out to him, and noticed that it was a massive stone pile resembling a fortress.

The windows were closed, and the whole edifice looked lifeless.