It was scarcely replaced when a violent rap resounded, and the Virgin fell on the ground broken to pieces.
Great was Madame Vergniat’s grief when she heard of the accident. I must own that I, too, was vexed. The debris were gathered up and preserved with veneration for a long time.
But the pedestal remained vacant. Then the thought came to me of asking our protector if it would be possible to find a similar statuette.
‘I will see about it to-night,’ he replied. The spirit often begged me to leave him the night for reflection. He said it was then that he found the necessary information.
The next day, faithful to his promise, he gave me the following information: ‘There is, in Bordeaux, a Virgin like the one which is broken. You will find it at a sculptor’s in the Rue Bouquière (a small shop situated in a corner of the street). There is only that one specimen, and the tradesman has no cast.’
I quickly took one of the fragments, and went to the Rue Bouquière. I found the shop, and the tradesman told me he had a Virgin similar to the one I desired, but that he had no cast of it. ‘I will look for it, and you may come and fetch it this evening.’ The same evening I returned to Malbec with the statuette which was going to stifle all regrets.
My arrival with the statuette was the occasion for another official communication: ‘My son, that Virgin will be displaced. I will not tell you where I shall carry it to; she herself will reveal it to you. Now, as she will go very far away, you must put your name and address inside the statuette.’ This was done.
Placed upon the pedestal, the new Virgin turned round three times the day after her arrival; since that day she never stirred.
I do not know if she will ever go on this journey; in any case, she is a long time making her preparations.
All the incidents touching the statuette end here: the circumstances of the année terrible caused it to pass into other hands.