A FEW days later, half the infected tooth fell out, leaving the other half firmly attached to a healthy root; as he turned the fragment over in his fingers, Ranulf was taken aback to see not a jagged break but the regular marks of some serrated tool. Ranulf at once called for his horse and rode back to the Abbey, where he presented the custodian of the shrine with the excised portion of tooth. The custodian retold all this afterwards, just as he heard it, and could not restrain his tears. It is quite amazing, how Cuthbert surgically removed half the tooth like a skilled physician, leaving the healthy part in place.

All this shows clearly that whatever we ask from him in sincere faith, in no doubt of his mercy, he will obtain for us. What a favour we enjoy here in our land! — to have such a father and patron, one who knows how to treat the pains of the body as well as the distempers of the soul.