So that Fra Sebastiano
gathered great store of alms, part of which he redistributed amongst the
poor, part of which he was saving to build a bridge over the Bagnanza
torrent, in crossing which so many poor folk had lost their lives.
I listened intently to the tale of wonders that followed, and now the
peasants joined in again, each with a story of some marvellous cure of
which he had direct knowledge. And many and amazing were the details they
gave me of the saint--for they spoke of him as a saint already--so that no
doubt lingered in my mind of the holiness of this anchorite.
Giovannozza related how a goatherd coming one night over the pass had heard
from the neighbourhood of the hut the sounds of singing, and the music was
the strangest and sweetest ever sounded on earth, so that it threw the poor
fellow into a strange ecstasy, and it was beyond doubt that what he had
heard was an angel choir. And then one of the peasants, the tallest and
blackest of the four, swore with a great oath that one night when he
himself had been in the hills he had seen the hermit's hut all aglow with
heavenly light against the black mass of the mountain.
All this left me presently very thoughtful, filled with wonder and
amazement. Then their talk shifted again, and it was of the vintage they
discoursed, the fine yield of grapes about Fontana Fredda, and the heavy
crop of oil that there would be that year.
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