"Wait for me!"
And he had just got up on the other chair when, suddenly stopping:
"Why, we have not made our wills!"
"Hold on! That's quite true!"
Their breasts swelled with sobs. They leaned against the skylight to take breath.
The air was chilly and a multitude of stars glittered in a sky of inky blackness.
The whiteness of the snow that covered the earth was lost in the haze of the horizon.
They perceived, close to the ground, little lights, which, as they drew near, looked larger, all reaching up to the side of the church.
Curiosity drove them to the spot. It was the midnight mass. These lights came from shepherds' lanterns. Some of them were shaking their cloaks under the porch.
The serpent snorted; the incense smoked. Glasses suspended along the nave represented three crowns of many-coloured flames; and, at the end of the perspective at the two sides of the tabernacle, immense wax tapers were pointed with red flames. Above the heads of the crowd and the broad-brimmed hats of the women, beyond the chanters, the priest could be distinguished in his chasuble of gold. To his sharp voice responded the strong voices of the men who filled up the gallery, and the wooden vault quivered above its stone arches. The walls were decorated with the stations of the Cross. In the midst of the choir, before the altar, a lamb was lying down, with its feet under its belly and its ears erect.