"Why is thy brow so pale, O France! O Liberty! And why is thy white tunic soiled with sweat and blood? Why walkest thou painfully like a woman in travail? XII "Because thy bridegroom gives thee no relaxation from thy task, and thy travail is at hand. XIII "Dost thou hear the wind roaring in the distance, and the mighty voice of the flood as it groans in its granite prison? Dost thou hear the moaning of the waves and the cry of the night-birds? All announce that deliverance is at hand. XIV "As in the days of thy departure, O France, O Liberty! put on thy glorious raiment; sprinkle on thy locks the purest perfumes of Araby; empty with thy disciples the farewell goblet, and take thy way to thy Calvary, where the deliverance of the world must be sealed. XV "'What is the name of that hill thou climbest amidst the lightning flashes?' "'The hill is Waterloo.' "'What is that plain called all red with thy blood?' "'It is the plain of the Belle-Alliance!' "'Be thou for ever blessed among women, among all the nations, O France! O Liberty!' "And when _he who is_ had listened to these things, he replied-- "'Oh, my mother, thou who told me "Death was not the tomb; but the cradle of an ampler life, of more infinite Love!" thy cry has reached me. O mother! by the anguish of thy painful travail, by the sufferings of thy martyrdom in crushing the serpent's head and saving Humanity!' "Then turning to me he added: 'Child of God, what art thou looking for? Light or darkness? Death or life? Hope or despair?' "'Brother,' I replied, 'I am looking for Truth!' "And he replied, 'In the name of primeval unity, reconstructed by the grand blood of France, I hail thee apostle of _Eve-Adam!_' "And _he who is_ called forth to the abyss which opened out at his voice-- "'Child of God,' he said, 'listen attentively, and look!' "And I looked and saw a great vessel, with a huge mast which terminated in a mere hull, and one of the sides of the vessel looked west and the other east. And on the west it rested upon the cloudy tops of three mountains whose bases were plunged in a raging sea. Each of these mountains bore its name on its blood-red flank: the first was called Golgotha; the second, Mont-Saint-Jean; the third, Saint-Helena. In the middle of the great mast, on the western side, a five-armed cross was fixed, upon which a woman was stretched, dying. Over her head was this inscription-- "FRANCE 18 _June_ 1815 Good Friday