ht in a country solitude, gave additional
solemnity to the scene. The great salon, seen through the double doors,
was lighted up for the little company of persons who were praying there;
all were on their knees except the two priests who were seated and
reading their brevaries. On either side of the grand state bed were the
prelate in his violet robes, the rector, and the two physicians.

"She is agitated almost unto death," said Horace Bianchon, who, like all
men of great talent, sometimes used speech as grand as the occasion that
called it forth.

The archbishop rose as if some inward impulse drove him; he called to
Monsieur Bonnet, and together they crossed the room, passed through the
salon, and went out upon the terrace, where they walked up and down
for some moments. When they returned, after discussing this case of
ecclesiastical discipline, Roubaud met them.

XXI. CONFESSION AT THE GATES OF THE TOMB

At ten o'clock in the morning the archbishop, wearing his pontifical
robes, came into Madame Graslin's chamber. The prelate, as well as the
rector, had such confidence in this woman that they gave her no advice
or instructions as to the limits within which she ought to make her
confession.

Veronique now saw an assemblage of clergy from all the neighboring
districts. Monseigneur was assisted by four vicars. The magnificent
vessels she had bestowed upon her dear parish church were brought to the
house and gave splendor to the ceremony. Eight choristers in their white
and red surplices stood in two rows from the bed to the door of the
salon, each holding one of the large bronze-gilt candelabra which
Veronique had ordered from Paris. The cross and the church banner were
held on either side of the bed by white-haired sacristans. Thanks to the
devotion of her servants, a wooden altar brought from the sacristy
had been erected close to the door of the salon, and so prepared and
decorated that Monseigneur could say mass upon it.

Madame Graslin was deeply touched by these attentions, which the Church,
as a general thing, grants only to royal personages. The folding doors
between the salon and the dining-room were open, and she could see a
vista of the ground-floor rooms filled with the village population. Her
friends had thought of everything; the salon was occupied exclusively
by themselves and the servants of the household. In the front rank and
grouped before the door of the bedroom were her nearest friends,