People of Nantes! Citoyens! Patriots! Old things are past. To-day we welcome new. Gone are the priests, gone is the crucifix; Chalice and paten whelmed beneath the Loire! Kings, princes, nobles, priests, all crumbled down! Death on a pale horse hath ridden o’er them, The ravens and the sea mews pick their bones. Theirs are the yesterdays, the ci-devants! The red to-day is ours, the purple morrow!— Liberty, Equality, Fraternity! We worship Thee, Triune and Indivisible!— O Mother Nature, pure, beneficent, Redeemed from darkness of the centuries, Smile on thy children, come to worship thee! And thou, supernal Reason, Crown of Man, Eyes of the blind, divine, ascending flame, Pearl without price, rose, light, music, warmth!— O gushing spring where else were desert waste! O flooding light, celestial melody! O flower that blooms on either side the grave! O steadfast star that burns the night away! We worship thee! [_He takes the censer from a boy and swings it to and fro before the standing goddess. Clouds of incense arise. The trumpets sound._ THE CROWD (_with ecstasy_) We worship thee, Yvette! Yvette! Yvette! Reason! Yvette Charruel! YVETTE O God! I knew not ‘twas like this! LALAIN Reason, descend! Illume thy torch, among us mortals dwell. O sweetest Reason! ne’er regret the skies! Descend— [_He gives his hand to_ YVETTE. _She descends from the car._ A MAN She is the fairest Reason! ANOTHER Now She’ll light the torch! [_A boy brings her lighted touchwood._ LALAIN _fastens it to the point of her spear, and kneeling presents it to her. She advances to the church steps and raises the flaming lance in order to light the torch. She sees_ DE VARDES. _The spear falls to the earth. The flame goes out._ YVETTE O Our Lady! THE CROWD Light the torch! Light the torch! LALAIN What witchcraft’s this? YVETTE None, none!—Oh, see the heavens open! [_Murmurs of the crowd._ ANGÉLIQUE Goddess! Goddess! CÉLESTE She hears not! THE CROWD Light the torch! LALAIN