ay, to the child's great grief, she did not
appear, wishing, no doubt, to try her. But on the Tuesday she confided to
her a secret which concerned her (the girl) alone, a secret which she was
never to divulge*; and then she at last told her what mission it was that
she entrusted to her: "Go and tell the priests," she said, "that they
must build a chapel here." On the Wednesday she frequently murmured the
word "Penitence! penitence! penitence!" which the child repeated,
afterwards kissing the earth. On the Thursday the Lady said to her: "Go,
and drink, and wash at the spring, and eat of the grass that is beside
it," words which the Visionary ended by understanding, when in the depths
of the Grotto a source suddenly sprang up beneath her fingers. And this
was the miracle of the enchanted fountain.

* In a like way, it will be remembered, the apparition at La
Salette confided a secret to Melanie and Maximin (see _ante_,
note). There can be little doubt that Bernadette was acquainted
with the story of the miracle of La Salette.--Trans.

Then the second week ran its course. The lady did not appear on the
Friday, but was punctual on the five following days, repeating her
commands and gazing with a smile at the humble girl whom she had chosen
to do her bidding, and who, on her side, duly told her beads at each
apparition, kissed the earth, and repaired on her knees to the source,
there to drink and wash. At last, on Thursday, March 4, the last day of
these mystical assignations, the Lady requested more pressingly than
before that a chapel might be erected in order that the nations might
come thither in procession from all parts of the earth. So far, however,
in reply to all Bernadette's appeals, she had refused to say who she was;
and it was only three weeks later, on Thursday, March 25, that, joining
her hands together, and raising her eyes to Heaven, she said: "I am the
Immaculate Conception." On two other occasions, at somewhat long
intervals, April 7 and July 16, she again appeared: the first time to
perform the miracle of the lighted taper, that taper above which the
child, plunged in ecstasy, for a long time unconsciously left her hand,
without burning it; and the second time to bid Bernadette farewell, to
favour her with a last smile, and a last inclination of the head full of
charming politeness. This made eighteen apparitions all told; and never
again did the Lady show herself.

Whilst Pierre went on w