The congregation stirred in their seats, for they saw that the Cure intended Parpon to go.
Parpon went up two steps of the chancel quietly and caught the arm of the Cure, drawing him down to whisper in his ear.
A flush and then a peculiar soft light passed over the Cure’s face, and he raised his hand over Parpon’s head in benediction and said: “Go, my son, and the blessing of God and of His dear Son be with you.”
Then suddenly he turned to the altar, and, raising his hands, he tried to speak, but only said: “O Lord, Thou knowest our pride and our vanity, hear us, and—”
Soon afterwards, with tearful eyes, he preached from the text:
“And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”
.......................
Five days later a little, uncouth man took off his hat in the chief street of Quebec, and began to sing a song of Picardy to an air which no man in French Canada had ever heard. Little farmers on their way to the market by the Place de Cathedral stopped, listening, though every moment’s delay lessened their chances of getting a stand in the market-place. Butchers and milkmen loitered, regardless of waiting customers; a little company of soldiers caught up the chorus, and, to avoid involuntary revolt, their sergeant halted them, that they might listen. Gentlemen strolling by—doctor, lawyer, officer, idler—paused and forgot the raw climate, for this marvellous voice in the unshapely body warmed them, and they pushed in among the fast-gathering crowd. Ladies hurrying by in their sleighs lost their hearts to the thrilling notes of:
“Little grey fisherman,
Where is your daughter?
Where is your daughter so sweet?
Little grey man who comes Over the water,
I have knelt down at her feet,
Knelt at your Gabrielle’s feet—-ci ci!”
Presently the wife of the governor stepped out from her sleigh, and, coming over, quickly took Parpon’s cap from his hand and went round among the crowd with it, gathering money.