Page:The golden days of the early English church from the arrival of Theodore to the death of Bede, volume 3.djvu/21

early in the morning from the inner buildings of the monastery to the guest-chamber, he found a young man sitting there, and thinking he was a mortal he entertained him in the usual way. He gave him water to wash his hands with, and himself bathed his feet, wiped them with a napkin and placed them in his bosom, humbly chafing them with his hands, as was apparently his wont with travellers. He asked him to remain till the third hour of the day, that he might then be refreshed with food, and be better able to face the snowy blasts which he would meet. The stranger said he could not stay, for he had very far to go. Cuthberht still pressed him to remain, and when the hour of tierce had arrived and mealtime was at hand, he laid the table and offered his guest food, and bade him refresh himself while he went out to get some newly baked bread. When he returned his guest was gone, and he saw no footprints in the snow. Thereupon Cuthberht, who greatly wondered, replaced the table in the inner apartment, on entering which he perceived a sweet fragrance all about, and looking round he saw three loaves of uncommon whiteness and beauty, and he said to himself that an angel of God must have visited him. He had come to feed and not to be fed, since the loaves were such as earth cannot produce. They surpassed lilies in whiteness, roses in smell, and honey in flavour, and must have come from the paradise of Eden. From that time so greatly did his sanctity and zeal