Au revoir, and good luck." He stood on the pier looking
after them and waving his hat until they were well out in the
middle of the stream.
Father Meraut had the oars, and, as his arms had not been
injured, he was able to guide the boat without fatigue, and soon
the current had carried them through the City and out into the
open country which lay beyond. Mother Meraut sat in the prow,
looking back toward the Cathedral she had so loved, until the
blackened towers were hidden from view by trees along the
riverbank. They had started early in order to be well out of
Rheims before the daily bombardment should begin.
Spring was already in the air, and as they drifted along they
heard the skylarks singing in the fields. The trees were turning
green, and there were blossoms on the apple trees. The wild
flowers along the riverbank were already humming with bees, and
the whole scene seemed so peaceful and quiet after all they had
endured in Rheims, that even the shell-holes left in the fields
which had been fought over in the autumn and the crosses marking
the graves of fallen soldiers did not sadden them.
Mother Meraut sat for a long time silent, then heaved a deep sigh
of relief. "I feel like Lot's wife looking back upon Sodom and
Gomorrah," she said. Suddenly her eyes filled with tears and she
kissed her finger-tips and blew the kiss toward Rheims.
"Farewell, my beautiful City!" she cried. "It is not for your
sins we must leave you! And some happy day we shall return.
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