their heads, but the habit of fear was already so strong upon
them that they made no sound and instantly quieted Fidel. Again
the door creaked, and through it there appeared a tall figure
dressed in priestly robes. The children were so near that had
they thrust their hands through the railing of the communion bank
behind which they were concealed, they might have touched him as
he passed before the altar of the Virgin and presented himself in
front of the high altar to conduct the mass. His head, as he
passed them, was bowed. His face was pale and thin, and marked
with lines of deep sorrow.

"Oh," whispered Marie to Jan, "it must be the Cardinal himself.
Mother told me about him."

The whisper made such a loud sound in the silence of the great
cathedral aisles that Jan was afraid to reply. For answer he only
laid his finger upon his lips and crept still farther back into
the shadow. Fidel seemed to know that dogs were not allowed in
church and that it was necessary for him to be quiet, too, for he
crawled back with the children into the sheltering darkness.

There were only a few persons in the cathedral, and those few
were near the door; so no one saw the children as they knelt with
folded hands and bowed heads in their corner, reverently
following the service as the Cardinal ate the sacred wafer and
drank the communion wine before the altar. Later they were to
know his face as the bravest and best beloved in all Belgium next
to those of the King and Queen themselves.

When again he passed the kneeling little figures on his return to