was grown heavy, and it began to appear not
impossible that he might yet have his heart's desire, there came to his
door an aged pilgrim with staff and scallop-shell, who craved food and
shelter for the night. Isidore bade him welcome, and gave him such
homely fare as he might--bread and apples and cheese and thin wine, and
satisfied his hunger and thirst.

Long they talked together of the holy places and of the joy of treading
the sacred dust that had borne the marks of the feet of Christ. Then
the pilgrim spoke of the long and weary journey he had yet to go,
begging his way from village to village (for his scrip was empty) till
he could prevail on some good mariner to give him ship-room and carry
him to the green isle of home, far away on the edge of sunset.
Thinking of those whom he had left and who might be dead before he
could return, the pilgrim wept, and his tears so moved the heart of
Isidore that he brought forth his treasure and said:

"This have I saved in the great hope that one day I might set eyes on
what thou hast beheld, and sit on the shores of the Lake of Galilee,
and gaze on the hill of Calvary. But thy need is very great. Take it,
and hasten home (ere they be dead) to those who love thee and look for
thy coming; and if thou findest them alive bid them pray for me."

And when they had prayed together Isidore and the pilgrim lay down to
sleep.

In the first sweet hours of the restful night Isidore became aware that
he was walking among strange fields on a hillside, and on the top of a
hill some distance away there were the white walls and low flat-roofed
houses of a little town; and some one was speaking to him and saying,
"These are the fields in which the Shepherds watched, and that rocky
pathway leads up the slope to Bethlehem."

[Illustration: "_These are the fields in which the Shepherds watched_"]

At the sound of the voice Isidore hastily looked round, and behind him
was the pilgrim, and yet he knew that it was not truly the pilgrim, but
an Angel disguised in pilgrim's weeds. And when he would have fallen
at the Angel's feet, the Angel stopped him and said, "Be not afraid; I
have been sent to show thee all the holy places that thy heart has
longed to see."

On valley and hill and field and stream there now shone so clear and
wonderful a light that even a long way off the very flowers by the
roadside were distinctly visible. Without effort and without weariness
Isidore glided fro