about nine o'clock
I will send you word . '' Then she left me . Hour after hour I waited at the hospice , knowing that Seraphine would keep her promise and send me some message . At about nine o'clock a little boy came with a note saying that I must come at once . Christopher was worse . As we hurried through the square , the whole place was ablaze with lights , the church itself outlined fantastically in electric fires , while great crowds of chanting pilgrims moved in slow procession , each man or woman carrying a torch or lantern or shaded candle and all lifting their voices in that everlasting cry of faith and worship : _ Ave , Ave , Ave , Maria ! Ave , Ave , Ave , Maria !