"Well!... well!... well!... The poor woman is calm.... I believe that for her to receive the Divine Majesty will be good for her, as well for the body as for the soul."
"That is true.... You are right, Señor Cura," said several ladies.
"I have seen in my own family a very notable case of the power of faith," declared one of them. "My uncle Pepe had a very serious lung trouble, confirmed consumption. He had consulted a multitude of physicians, and had taken more than a cartload of medicine. Well, then it was suggested that, unless he were prepared to die, he would not recover. He had the priest called, made confession, received the viaticum, and even wanted to have extreme unction.... But from that very time, I don't know what it was, but it is a fact that he became more comfortable, and began to improve ... to improve ... to improve, until at last he became what you see him to-day."
The other women confirmed this opinion. Each one related her experience in support of it, and the priest summed up all the arguments, showing that such miraculous effects were nothing more than was to be expected, granting that the sick person's body received the presence of the Lord of the Heaven and earth, in whose hands is the safety of all mankind.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, they brought the viaticum to Doña Gertrudis with all the ceremony required by such a solemn act. The house of Elorza was filled with strange faces; a throng composed for the most part of working people invaded the stairway, the corridors, and even the invalid's sick-room, with wax tapers in their hands. The priest, with the acolyte before him, and the holy box on his breast, passed by the physician, and entered the sick-room. Don Mariano had gone to hide himself. Maria, with a book of devotions in her hand, read to her mother the prayers which were to be said before communion. Marta stood leaning against the wall, pale and frightened, gazing at the solemn ceremony, as though she saw some terrible vision. One of the women, who made their way into the room, handed her a lighted candle, and she took it without knowing what she did. When the priest brought forth the Holy Wafer, they had to tell her to kneel. The scene was sad and stirring for any one: how much more for a daughter! The wax candles lugubriously sputtered in the silence of the sick-room, and cast tremulous yellow reflections on the walls. The voice of the priest, as he raised the Host, was still more lugubrious than the sputtering of the tapers. The invalid, weakened by her illness, had grown terribly pale from emotion; she sat up as well as she could and, supported by Maria, and with her hands folded over her breast, she opened her mouth to receive the body of Jesus Christ. Then the bystanders went out softly, and on the staircase was heard the vibrating tinkle of the sacristan's little bell, announcing that the Lord was departing from the house. Only the intimate friends remained. A group of ladies invaded the sick woman's room to congratulate her, and to ask after her health. Doña Gertrudis said that she was more comfortable; and, taking her daughter Maria's hand, she thanked her for having given her the pleasure of communion. Her recovery was to be hoped for; all the ladies found her very much like herself, and assured her that it would not be long before she was well.
"God can do all things, Doña Gertrudis. When one's accounts are settled with the Lord, there is no fear of any harm befalling. Nothing, this is nothing, señora; you will see how you will soon recover."
"I have offered a mass to the Sacred Christ of Tunis for the day on which our señora shall get well," said Genoveva, Maria's maid.
"Woman, why did you not offer it to the Ecce Homo of Mercy?" asked an old laundress of the house, in some surprise. She had always lighted the lamp before the said Ecce Homo, and kept the chapel clean, so that she came to look upon it as her own property.
"Ay, woman! because the Holy Christ of Tunis is more miraculous."
"A cuckold on him," exclaimed the washerwoman, quickly, with angry eyes.