he whirr of the bats as they fly hither
and thither under the high dome, not daring to light on the crown of
the stranger as they were accustomed to do upon the wooden image, being
frightened away by the brightness of her eyes; until at last the eyes
close, and the mother and son sleep quietly on their throne above the
altar.

"In the early morning, even before the pilgrims who are encamped all
about the chapel have awakened, a young man comes along the road,
and, thinking no evil, enters the open portal, through which the gray
light of morning has just begun to steal. He has often seen the
wonder-working image that was worshiped here, but has never found that
it exerted any particular power upon himself. And now he merely goes in
and kneels down in a corner to let his heart commune with its God. But
as his eyes roam absently about the chapel they encounter the divine
apparition on the altar, sending a shock full of bliss and longing,
adoration and rapture, to the very depths of his heart. Just at this
moment the divine woman opens her eyes, makes a movement--which also
wakes the boy--and has to think a little before she can remember where
she is and how she came there. Her look falls upon the youth, who
stands there gazing up at her, looking so handsome and earnest, and as
if he were turned into a statue. She smiles graciously upon him, and
moves her hand in token of greeting. Then a holy dread overcomes him,
so that he flies from the chapel, and it is only when he is alone in
the solitary wood that he recalls what he has seen, and realizes what a
miracle has been revealed to him. And immediately the yearning comes
back to him. Like a drunken man he staggers back to the chapel, where
he finds the pilgrims already at their first mass. But the marvelously
beautiful lady with the boy has vanished; the wooden Madonna is again
enthroned under the baldachuin, and even a wax child lies upon her lap,
for the priests have supplied the place of the broken one by another.
Everything is in its old place, only the crown sits a little aslant on
the brown, wooden head, for the sacristan has not succeeded in
repairing the mysterious destruction any better. But the youth turns
his steps homeward, and bears about with him, through his whole life,
the after-glow of this wonderful apparition; striving always to
represent, to his fellowmen who had not beheld it with their own eyes,
how she had looked upon him--at first earnestly and dreami