I blow out all
the candles but two, and remain here, seated, until the day breaks,
and the folk assemble to celebrate the first Mass of Noel. Eh?
It is discipline, but I bring rugs, and I will not say that all the
time my eyes are wide open.
"Certainly I closed them on this night of which I am telling. For I
woke up with a start, and almost, you might say, in trepidation, for
it seemed to me that someone was moving in the church. My first
thought was that some mischievous child had crept in, and was playing
pranks with my _creche_, and to that first I made my way. Beyond the
window above it rode the flying moon, and in the rays of it what did
I see?
"The figures stood as I had left them. But above the manger, over
the shoulders of the Virgin, blazed a rope of light--of diamonds such
as I have never seen nor shall see again--all flashing green and blue
and fieriest scarlet and piercing white. Of the Three Kings, also
each bore a gift, two of them a necklace apiece, and the third a
ring. I stood before the miracle, and my tongue clave to the roof of
my mouth, and then a figure crept out of the shadows and knelt in the
pool of moonlight at my feet.
Pages:
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90