§ 26. Nor must I omit to mention the miracles of the holy father which have been wrought in our own days. In the reign of our late religious King Edward, a miracle happened similar to those which I have mentioned, by which, through the punishment of one man’s presumption, many were deterred from the like. For whilst the well-known Count Tosti was ruling the county of Northumberland, a certain bad fellow, named Haldanhamal, was seized by him and placed in fetters. This man had committed many thefts, robberies, murders, and burnings; and though he had often offended the count, yet he never before could be taken. His parents and friends, in compassion for his case, offered large presents to the count if he would exempt him from punishment; and promised still more. But because he had so often provoked the count by such heinous crimes, he vowed never to take any compensation for his life. The criminal, in despair, considered his only chance to lie in his being able to get rid of his fetters and flee to the sanctuary of St. Cuthbert; for his prison was in the same town where the saint rests, namely, in Durham. He therefore tried every means which his ingenuity or strength could devise, but without effect, for the fear of the count made the guards doubly solicitous to keep him securely. He groaned in agony, and as his conscience made him now fear more for his soul than for his body, he in humility of heart offered up a petition to God’s beloved confessor. Whilst he promised repentance and amendment of life, if he only might escape, he suddenly saw himself released from his fetters, and the road of safety open before him. Joyful at this event, but still solicitous how he might escape the guards, he trusted all his hope of safety to the protection of the holy father. Meanwhile the guards were occupied in other matters, and had no suspicion of what he was doing; wherefore, seeing a chance of escape, he shook off the chains, and ran with all speed to the monastery, which he entered alone, and made the doors fast with bars behind him. It happened, too, by accident, that when the brethren had left the church after Prime, he found no one therein but himself.