s
poverty!"

And he ate the loaf the Angel had brought, and drank the water of the
brook, and was strengthened in body and in soul. And an invisible hand
wrote on the walls of the city: "Woe, woe to the rich!"

V

THE TABLE UNDER THE FIG-TREE.

Following the example of St. Francis, his well-beloved Father, Fra
Giovanni used to visit the Hospital of Viterbo to help the lepers,
giving them to drink and washing their sores.

And if they blasphemed, he used to tell them, "You are the chosen sons
of Jesus Christ." And there were some lepers of a very humble spirit
whom he would gather together in a chamber, and with whom he took
delight as a mother does surrounded by her children.

But the Hospital walls were very thick, and daylight entered only by
narrow windows high up above the floor. The air was so fetid the lepers
could scarce live in the place at all. And Fra Giovanni noted how one of
them, by name Lucido, who showed an exemplary patience, was slowly dying
of the evil atmosphere.

Fra Giovanni loved Lucido, and would tell him:

"My brother, you are Lucido, and no precious stone is purer than your
heart, in the eyes of God."

And observing how Lucido suffered more sorely than the others from the
poisonous air they breathed in the Lepers' Ward, he said to him one day:

"Friend Lucido, dear Lamb of the Lord, while the very air they breathe
in this place is pestilence, in the gardens of Santa Maria degli Angeli
we inhale the sweet scent of the laburnums. Come you with me to the
House of the Poor Brethren, and you will find relief."

So speaking, he took the Leper by the arm, wrapped him in his own cloak
and led him away to Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Arrived at the gate of the Monastery, he summoned the Doorkeeper with
happy shouts of exultation:

"Open!" he cried, "open to the friend I am bringing you. His name is
Lucido, and a good name it is, for he is a very pearl of patience."

The Brother opened the Gate; but the instant he saw in Fra Giovanni's
arms a man whose face, livid and all but expressionless, was covered
over with scales, he knew him for a leper, and rushed off in terror to
warn the Brother Superior. The latter's name was Andrea of Padua, and
he was a man of very holy life. Nevertheless when he learned that Fra
Giovanni was bringing a leper into the House of Santa Maria degli
Angeli, he was very wroth, and coming to him with a face burning with
anger, bade him:

"Stay there outside, wit