window above it rode the flying moon, and in the rays of it what did
I see?

"The figures stood as I had left them. But above the manger, over
the shoulders of the Virgin, blazed a rope of light--of diamonds such
as I have never seen nor shall see again--all flashing green and blue
and fieriest scarlet and piercing white. Of the Three Kings, also
each bore a gift, two of them a necklace apiece, and the third a
ring. I stood before the miracle, and my tongue clave to the roof of
my mouth, and then a figure crept out of the shadows and knelt in the
pool of moonlight at my feet. It was Jeanne. She caught at the
skirt of my soutane, and broke into sobbing.

"'My father, let the Blessed One wear them ever, or else help me to
give them back!'

"You will now guess, monsieur, on what business I have been visiting
England. It is a great country. The old clergyman sat among his
azaleas and rhododendrons and listened to all my story. Then he took
the box that held his daughter's jewels, and, emptying it upon the
table, chose out one necklace and set it aside. 'This one,' said he,
'shall be sold, my friend, and with the money you shall, after giving
this girl a marriage portion, re-adorn your church on Ile Lezan to
the greater glory of God!'"

On our way back to his lodging the little Cure halted me before the
cottage. Gay curtains hung in the windows, and the veranda had been
freshly painted.

"At the end of the month Lucien gets his relief, and then they are to