Chapter 5
The spring
“Go and drink at the fountain.”
At 10 am the principal officers of law and order meet at the Town
Hall. Present are:
Mayor Anselm Lacade;
Public Prosecutor Jacques-Vital Dutour;
Examining Magistrate Clement Rives;
Major M. Renault of the Gendarmes;
Commissioner of Police Dominique Jacomet; and
Prefect of the Haute Pyrenees, Baron Oscar Massey, senior public
servant in the region.
They are troubled. Illusion, possibly fraud – this is what the
grotto phenomenon suggests to their minds. Furthermore, they are
conscious of their duty to prohibit gatherings that might degenerate into a
brawl. Mindful of the narrow, slippery and dangerous path leading down
to the grotto, they are also aware of their responsibility for public safety.
For this phenomenon they have had no training or experience; in a sense,
they, too, have been waylaid; and the feeling lingers that they are being
out-maneuvered by this slip of a girl. If they do nothing, will this make
them objects of public ridicule, perhaps impinge of their career
prospects? So they dig their heels in.
If the problem is complex, the solution is simple: prevent the girl
going to the grotto. Over to Dutour and Jacomet. They move fast. On that
very day, Bernadette is apprehended coming out of church after High Mass,
and taken before Dutour. She stands before his desk.
“Do you intend to go to the grotto like this every morning?”
“Yes: I’ve promised to go every day for a fortnight.”
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