, to see if they are in good
order."

"We have plenty of time before us, my dear," replied Hubertine, in her
quiet way. "We shall not put them up until afternoon."

The decorations in question consisted of three large panels of the
most admirable ancient embroidery, which the Huberts guarded with the
greatest care as a sacred family relic, and which they brought out once
a year on the occasion of the passing of this special procession.

The previous evening, according to a time-honoured custom, the Master
of the Ceremonies, the good Abbe Cornille, had gone from door to door to
notify the inhabitants of the route which would be taken by the bearers
of the statue of Saint Agnes, accompanied by Monseigneur the Bishop,
carrying the Holy Sacrament. For more than five centuries this route had
been the same. The departure was made from the portal of Saint Agnes,
then by the Rue des Orfevres to the Grand Rue, to the Rue Basse, and
after having gone through the whole of the lower town, it returned by
the Rue Magloire and the Place du Cloitre, to reappear again at the
great front entrance of the Church. And the dwellers on all these
streets, vying with each other in their zeal, decorated their windows,
hung upon their walls their richest possessions in silks, satins,
velvets, or tapestry, and strewed the pavements with flowers,
particularly with the leaves of roses and carnations.

Angelique was very impatient until permission had been given her to
take from the drawers, where they had been quietly resting for the past
twelve months, the three pieces of embroidery.

"They are in perfect order, mother. Nothing has happened to them," she
said, as she looked at them, enraptured.

She had with the greatest care removed the mass of silk paper that
protected them from the dust, and they now appeared in all their beauty.
The three were consecrated to Mary. The Blessed Virgin receiving the
visit of the Angel of the Annunciation; the Virgin Mother at the foot
of the Cross; and the Assumption of the Virgin. They were made in
the fifteenth century, of brightly coloured silks wrought on a golden
background, and were wonderfully well preserved. The family had always
refused to sell them, although very large sums had been offered by
different churches, and they were justly proud of their possessions.

"Mother, dear, may I not hang them up to-day?"

All these preparations required a great deal of time. Hubert was
occupied the whole for