Page:Angels of Mons second edition.pdf/41

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INTRODUCTION

apparition was not of angels, but of the Rood—that is the figure of Our Lord upon the Cross, with the figures of Our Lady and of St. John, that stood in Christian times in the midst of the screen separating the church choir from the nave.

That story told by the lance-corporal constitutes the first piece of evidence—as distinguished from gossip, hearsay, tittle-tattle, and tarradiddle—that was advanced to show that there had been supernatural manifestations during the retreat from Mons.

I have since received a second piece of evidence. A distinguished officer wrote to me from the front—his letter is in my possession. He said that he had read "The Bowmen," and had noted my remark as to the oddity of the circumstance that "Nobody" had come forward to bear witness to the supposed visions.

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