Saint Bernadette's Silence (IV)

In fact the crowd was larger than the day before, despite an early morning start. One hundred people filled the area between grotto and the river Gave. As Bernadette returned, a group of women accosted her and said that the priest Father Pene wanted to see her. After the office of Vespers, the field guard Callet grabbed Bernadette by the hood and told her to follow him. Bernadette replied, "Yes sir, wherever you want." In the Commissioner's office she was asked a lot of vivid, direct, and often unexpected questions. Bernadette responded clearly, briefly, never exceeding the question at hand, completely unemotional, sometimes answering after a slight hesitation for thought, but always replying with confidence. She spoke even more clearly since she was talking about the essential: the apparition.