There was no other adornment in
the building,--the walls remained bare, the floor unmatted, the
seats uncushioned. No subscriptions were asked for its maintenance;
no collection plate was ever sent around, yet here, whenever Leigh
announced a coming "Address," so vast a crowd assembled that it was
impossible to find room for all who sought admittance. And here, on
one cold frosty Sunday morning, with the sun shining brightly
through the little panes of common glass which had been inserted to
serve as windows, he walked through a densely packed and expectant
throng of poor, ill-clad, work-worn, yet evidently earnest and
reverent men and women, leading his fair wife Sylvie, clad in bridal
white, by the hand, up to the platform, and there stood facing the
crowd. He was followed by Cardinal Bonpre and--Manuel. The Cardinal
wore no outward sign of his ecclesiastical dignity,--he was simply
attired in an ordinary priest's surtout, and his tall dignified
figure, his fine thoughtful face and his reverend age, won for him
silent looks of admiration and respect from many who knew nothing of
him or of the Church to which he belonged, but simply looked upon
him as a friend of their idolized teacher, Aubrey Leigh.
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