.

The events foretold by the good priest happened sooner even than he had
anticipated. A new government ruled the destinies of France, and the
persecution ceased in Brittany.

Among other propositions which were then submitted to the Parliament,
was one advocating the restoration of the road-side crosses throughout
the province. It was found, however, on inquiry, that these crosses were
to be counted by thousands, and that the mere cost of wood required to
re-erect them necessitated an expenditure of money which the bankrupt
nation could ill afford to spare. While this project was under
discussion, and before it was finally rejected, one man had undertaken
the task which the Government shrank from attempting. When Gabriel left
the cottage, taking his brother and sisters to live with his wife and
himself at the farmhouse, Francois Sarzeau left it also, to perform in
highway and byway his promise to Father Paul. For months and months he
labored without intermission at his task; still, always doing good, and
rendering help and kindness and true charity to any whom he could serve.
He walked many a weary mile, toiled through many a hard day's work,
humbled himself even to beg of others, to get wood enough to restore a
single cross. No one ever heard him complain, ever saw him impatient,
ever detected him in faltering at his task. The shelter in an outhouse,
the crust of bread and drink of water, which he could always get from
the peasantry, seemed to suffice him. Among the people who watched
his perseverance, a belief began to gain ground that his life would be
miraculously prolonged until he had completed his undertaking from one
end of Brittany to the other. But this was not to be.

He was seen one cold autumn evening, silently and steadily at work
as usual, setting up a new cross on the site of one which had been
shattered to splinters in the troubled times. In the morning he was
found lying dead beneath the sacred symbol which his own hands had
completed and erected in its place during the night. They buried him
where he lay; and the priest who consecrated the ground allowed Gabriel
to engrave his father's epitaph in the wood of the cross. It was
simply the initial letters of the dead man's name, followed by this
inscription: "Pray for the repose of his soul: he died penitent, and the
doer of good works."

Once, and once only, did Gabriel hear anything of Father Paul. The good
priest showed, by writing to the farmho