"Sighs, breathed with difficulty, announce that the oppression augments. Her eyes, more and more fixed and immovable, shed large drops of tears that fall slowly down her cheeks. Nervous spasms occur; involuntarily she opens her mouth; like a thundercloud presaging a storm, these spasms form larger and larger circles, until her whole countenance is distorted, and they finally become so violent that, from time to time, they shake her whole frame. Respiration, already so difficult, is changed into painful and plaintive sighs; a dull redness covers her cheeks; the swollen tongue seems to cleave to the palate; the convulsions become quicker and stronger; the hands, hitherto crossed, give way, and fall rapidly; the nails assume a blue tinge, and the fingers are convulsively interlocked.

"Presently, the rattle is heard in the throat. The breath comes with more effort from the breast, which seems bound with thongs of iron; the features are so distorted as to be scarcely recognized; the mouth is wide open, the nose shrunken, the eyes are fixed, and seem ready to burst their orbits. At long intervals, some sighs escape through the stiffening organs; and it would seem that the last must soon be uttered. The head then bows with every sign of death; and the whole appearance is totally unlike herself. All remains thus for the space of about a minute and a half. Then the head is raised, the hands return to the breast, the countenance recovers its form and calm expression; she is on her knees, absorbed in offering her thanksgiving to God. And this scene is renewed weekly, always the same in its essential phases, but more particularized in Holy Week, and each time showing the peculiar traits corresponding to the actual state of mind of the patient. I convinced myself of this by a careful examination on several occasions; for there is nothing studied, nothing fake, nothing exaggerated, in all this marvellous representation, which flows like an equal stream; and if Marie de Moerl actually died, her death could not appear more real.

"Howsoever absorbed in her contemplations the ecstatic may be, a single word from her confessor, or any person in spiritual connection with her, is sufficient to recall her to real life, without passing through any intermediate state. One instant suffices for her to recover, and she opens her eyes as though she had not been in ecstasy. The expression of her countenance instantly changes; it resembles that of a lively child, who has preserved its simplicity and candor. The first thing she does on coming to herself, is to hide her marked hinds beneath the bedclothes, like a child that has inked its sleeves and hears the footsteps of its mother. Then, being so accustomed to a concourse of strangers, she looks around and gives to each a friendly greeting. She exhibits great uneasiness when the emotions of those by whom she is surrounded, and which arise from witnessing her apparent sufferings, are too visible. When they are impressed with a feeling of veneration and solemnity, she endeavors, with a charming liveliness of manner, to efface the feeling. As she has long kept entire silence, she tries to make herself understood by signs; and when that fails, like a child who cannot yet speak, she looks to her confessor, and, with her eyes, begs him to answer for her.

"Her black eyes express the joy and ingenuousness of childhood. Her clear and expressive countenance at once forbids the idea that her heart can be the chamber of fraud or hypocrisy. There is no appearance of gloom or of exaltation; no weak nor false sentimentality; and still less of hypocrisy and pride. Her whole appearance conveys the impression of a serene and joyous childhood preserved in innocence, easily yielding to playfulness, because the pure and delicate tact which she possesses rejects all that might be unseemly. When with her friends, she can, once restored to herself, remain so for some time; but it is evident that it is with a great effort, for the ecstasy has become her second nature, and the life of others is, to her, something artificial and unusual.

"In the midst of a conversation, in which she even appears to take pleasure, her eyes suddenly close, and without any transition, she returns into her ecstasy. Daring my stay at Kal-dern, she was requested to be godmother to a new-born child, who was baptized in her chamber. She took it in her arms, and manifested the greatest interest in the whole ceremony; but several times she fell back into ecstasy, and it was necessary to recall her to the reality of what was going on around her.

"The beholder is astonished at seeing Marie de Moerl pass from common to ecstatic life; lying on her back, she seems to float on the waves of a luminous tide, and to throw a joyous look on all around. Suddenly she plunges gently into the abyss; the waves play for an instant around her, they then cover her face, and you follow her with your eyes as she descends into the depths of the pellucid waters. From that moment, the lively child has disappeared, and when in the midst of her transfigured features, her dark eyes are opened to their full extent, and darting their rays into vacancy, she looks a very sibyl, but full of nobleness and pathetic dignity.

"It must not, however, be supposed that her contemplations and pious exercises prevent her attending to domestic duties. From her bed she directs the household, the cares of which she formerly shared with a sister, but whom death has removed. She has enjoyed for several years a pension obtained for her by charitable persons; and as her wants are few, she devotes it to the education of her brothers and sisters. Daily, about two in the afternoon, her confessor recalls her to ordinary life, in order that she may attend to the affairs of the house. They then confer together on the subject; she thinks of everything, attends to the wants of those in whom she is interested, and, as she possesses good common sense, everything about her is well regulated."