Marie waits for the girl to speak, and the moments slide past and grow heavy with expectation and the girl at last bows her head and says, low, that, yes, she is with child, but you see it is a miracle, the angel came and spoke the Word in her ear. Cellatrix Mamille’s face falls in astonishment, she crosses herself. Marie cannot believe that she has to tell her grown nuns that this too is a lie.
