“Run and see,” said the Cure’s sister to Mrs. Flynn, and the fat woman hurried away.
Rosalie raised herself so that she could look out of the window. “I can see him,” she cried.
“See whom?” asked the Cure’s sister.
“Monsieur,” she answered, with a changed voice. “He is speaking. They are cheering him.”
Ten minutes later, the Cure and the Notary entered the room. M. Loisel came forward to Rosalie, and took her hands in his.
“You should not have done it,” he said.
“I wanted to do something,” she replied. “To get the cross for you seemed the only payment I could make for all your goodness to me.”
“It nearly cost you your life—and the life of another,” he said, shaking his head reproachfully.
Cheering came again from the burning church. “Why do they cheer?” she asked.
“Why do they cheer? Because the man we have feared, Monsieur Mallard—”