"Ho! you poor women, ignorant and simple-minded, you shall be set in
Heaven above Brother Bonaventure."

And the Seraphic Doctor, hearing the good Brother's proclamation, smiled
sweetly where he stood among the lilies of his garden.


IV

THE LOAF ON THE FLAT STONE

Forasmuch as the good St. Francis had bidden his sons to "Go, beg your
bread from door to door," Fra Giovanni was one day sent to a certain
city. Having passed the Gate, he went up and down the streets to beg his
bread from door to door, according to the rule of the Order, for the
love of God.

But the folk of that city were more covetous than the men of Lucca, and
harder than they of Perugia. The bakers and tanners who were dicing
before their shop-doors, repulsed the poor man of Jesus Christ with
harsh words. Even the young women, holding their new-born babes in their
arms, turned their faces from him. And when the good Brother, whose joy
was in dishonour, smiled at the refusals and insults he received,

"He is laughing at us," said the townsmen to each other. "He is a born
fool--or say rather a vagabond impostor and a drunkard. He has
over-drunk himself with wine. It were a sin and a shame to give him so
much as a crumb of bread from our hutch."

And the good Brother answered: