The Eaux Bonnes was the scene of a sad accident in 1883, that happened to the Rev. Merton Smith, vicar of Plympton S. Mary, in Devonshire. He had gone to the Pyrenees for his month’s holiday, and visited this watering-place. On 8 August he left his hotel at 3 p.m., in his usual spirits, to walk to Eaux Chaudes, and never returned. He had intended to return the same evening. Nothing could be heard of him. Inquiries were made in all directions, search parties were organized; he could nowhere be found. Months passed, and his disappearance remained unexplained. The Bishop of Exeter was in perplexity what to do. He could not institute to the living without certain knowledge that Mr. Merton Smith was dead, and this knowledge could not be obtained. Uncharitable tongues wagged. Some said that he had fallen a victim to the fascinations of a Pyrenean shepherdess, and that he was picking edelweiss and playing a flute on some high Alp to the delectation of the damsel. Some said that he had been captured by Roman Catholics and interned in a monastery. Some said that he had been murdered by Ossau mountaineers for the sake of his money. Not till eighteen months after his disappearance was the mystery cleared up. His body was found on the mountainside, buried among thick bushes of box that had concealed it. He had apparently been stooping to pick a flower and had fallen over a precipice and been killed instantaneously. His watch and purse were intact. It was by chance only that a woodcutter discovered the remains whilst clearing the boxwood. CHAPTER IX LOURDES Line from Lourdes turns north--Argelez glacier--The Lavedan-- The Seven Valleys--Lourdes of old--The castle--Held by the English--Attacked by the Duke of Anjou--Held by Saracens-- Besieged by Charlemagne--The Grotto--Bernadette Soubirous-- The _curé_ Ader--The apparition expected--The vision-- Repeated--Crowds attend Bernadette--The spring--Mud--Price of the water--Je suis l’Immaculée Conception--Explanation-- Compromising pamphlet suppressed--The Abbé Ader removed--La Salette--Similar visions seen by Huguenots--Doctor Dozous--The Empress and Prince Imperial--The Emperor patronizes the Grotto-- Disappearance of documents--Laserre--His book a romance--The Jesuit Cros exposes it--The water of the spring--Drawn from the Gave--The Bishop’s commission--Pius IX appoints a festival in honour of the apparition--Removal of Bernadette to Nevers-- Her brother refused permission to see her--Forces his way in-- Last scene--The procession--Where the natural ends and the supernatural begins--No guarantee that the cures are permanent. As the train sweeps into the station at Lourdes, on the right side, a few feet above the Gave, may be seen the twinkling lights of the Grotto of Massabielle, about which presently.