Is that true?"
"It is true," replied the priest; "all things are possible to Him who
created all."
Mademoiselle de Verneuil threw herself on her knees before him with
incredible enthusiasm.
"Oh, my God!" she cried in ecstasy, "my faith in thee is equal to my
love for him; inspire me! do here a miracle, or take my life!"
"Your prayer will be granted," said the priest.
Marie returned to the salon leaning on the arm of the venerable old
man. A deep and secret emotion brought her to the arms of her lover
more brilliant than on any of her past days, for a serenity like that
which painters give to the martyrs added to her face an imposing
dignity. She held out her hand to the marquis and together they
advanced to the altar and knelt down. The marriage was about to be
celebrated beside the nuptial bed, the altar hastily raised, the
cross, the vessels, the chalice, secretly brought thither by the
priest, the fumes of incense rising to the ceiling, the priest
himself, who wore a stole above his cassock, the tapers on an altar in
a salon,--all these things combined to form a strange and touching
scene, which typified those times of saddest memory, when civil
discord overthrew all sacred institutions. Religious ceremonies then
had the savor of the mysteries. Children were baptized in the chambers
where the mothers were still groaning from their labor.
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