two o'clock
At length Marie went off leaning on her father 's arm , and it was agreed that they would both call and fetch her at the hospital to go to the station together . More than fifty people were awaiting her in the street in a state of ecstasy . They bowed to her and followed her ; and one woman even made her infirm child , whom she was bringing back from the Grotto , touch her gown . At half-past two o'clock the white train , which was to leave Lourdes at three-forty , was already in the station , alongside the second platform . For three days it had been waiting on a siding , in the same state as when it had come from Paris , and since it had been run into the station again white flags had been waving from the foremost and hindmost of its carriages , by way of preventing any mistakes on the part of the pilgrims , whose entraining was usually a very long and troublesome affair . Moreover , all the fourteen trains of the pilgrimage were timed to leave that day . The green train had started off at ten o'clock , followed by the pink and the yellow trains , and the others -- the orange , the grey , and the blue -- would start in turn after the white train had taken its departure .