24 The Pilgrim of the Night

was not to reproach him, but to beg that he
might be remembered in his prayers.

Now the one great longing of Isidore’s
life was to visit that hallowed and happy
country beyond the sea in which our Lord
lived and died for us. He longed to gaze
on the fields in which the Shepherds heard
the song of the Angels, and to know each
spot named in the Gospels. All that he
could save from his earnings Isidore hoarded
up, so that one day, before he was old, he
might set out on pilgrimage to the Holy
Land. It took many years to swell the
leather bag in which he kept his treasure;
and each coin told of some pleasure, or
comfort, or necessary which he had denied
himself.

Now, when at length the bag 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 wel-
come, and gave him such homely fare as he
might— bread and apples and cheese and thin
wine, and satisfied his hunger and thirst.