A fowl shower dropped from the dark sky.  When a third bird hit the Saxon keel, the old monk looked up and wondered at its meaning, but   Laurentius put into words what all were thinking.  “An omen surely portends our doom at the hand of the Pagans,” he stammered, quickly adding, “Brother Augustine, we should turn back to Rome again for instruction.”

Augustine, his right palm turned up as if to catch the next unfortunate sparrow or crow, turned his left hand toward his young protégé.  His charge was to convert the Kentish King, and the party carried a letter for the Queen from Pope Gregory himself.  Could this be another test of his resolve, like the challenge at Arles had been two months earlier?  He could not face his superior in failure agai...

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