“We repeated our experiment. He ate some more biscuits, not only without difficulty, but with an increasing appetite. I was obliged to restrain him. “But I could not refrain from proclaiming my happiness, and thanking God. “‘Wait for me,’ said I to Jules, ‘and pray to the Blessed Virgin. I am going to the chapel.’ “And leaving him for a moment kneeling at the Grotto, I ran to tell the priest the wonderful news. I was quite bewildered. Besides my happiness, so unexpected and sudden that it was terrible, besides the confusion of my heart, I felt in my soul and mind an inexpressible disturbance. A revolution was going on in my agitated and tumultuous thoughts. All my ‘philosophical’ ideas were tottering and crumbling away. “The priest came down immediately and saw Jules finishing his last biscuit. The Bishop of Tarbes happened to be that day at the chapel, and he wished to see my son. I told him of the cruel illness which had just had such a happy end. Every one caressed the child, and rejoiced with him. “But I meanwhile was thinking of his mother, and of the joy in store for her. Before going to the hotel, I ran to the telegraph office. My despatch contained only one word: ‘Cured!’ “Hardly had it gone before I wanted to recall it. “‘Perhaps,’ said I, ‘I have been too hasty. Who knows if he will not have a relapse?’ “I did not dare to believe in the blessing I had received; and when I did believe in it, it seemed that it was going to escape from me. “As for the child, he was happy without the least mixture of disquietude. He was exuberant in his joy and perfect security. “‘You see now, papa,’ said he to me every moment, ‘it was only the Blessed Virgin who could cure me. When I told you so before, I was sure of it.’ “At the hotel, he ate with an excellent appetite; and how I enjoyed watching him! “He wanted to return on foot to the Grotto to give thanks for his deliverance, and actually did so. “‘You will be very grateful to the Holy Virgin, will you not?’ said a priest to him. “‘Ah! I shall never forget,’ said he. “At Tarbes, we stopped at the hotel where we had put up the day before. They were on the lookout for us. They seem to have had (as I think I told you) a feeling that we would be successful. There was a great rejoicing. People gathered around us to see him eat with a relish everything that was served upon the table; to see him eat heartily who the day before could only swallow a few spoonfuls of liquid. That time seemed to me long gone by. “This illness, against which the science of the most able physicians had failed, and which had just been so miraculously cured, had lasted two years and nineteen days.