n. He was fishing on his own beaches, and he showed us the
beacons and turf-heaps that divided his lands from the Church property.
He took us to his own house, gave us a good dinner, some more than good
wine, sent a guide with us into Chichester, and became one of my best
and most refreshing friends. He was a Meon by descent, from the west
edge of the kingdom; a scholar educated, curiously enough, at Lyons, my
old school; had travelled the world over, even to Rome, and was a
brilliant talker. We found we had scores of acquaintances in common. It
seemed he was a small chief under King Ethelwalch, and I fancy the King
was somewhat afraid of him. The South Saxons mistrust a man who talks
too well. Ah! _Now_, I've left out the very point of my story. He kept a
great grey-muzzled old dog-seal that he had brought up from a pup. He
called it Padda--after one of my clergy. It _was_ rather like fat,
honest old Padda. The creature followed him everywhere, and nearly
knocked down my good Eddi when we first met him. Eddi loathed it. It
used to sniff at his thin legs and cough at him. I can't say I ever took
much notice of it (I was not fond of animals), till one day Eddi came to
me with a circumstantial account of some witchcraft that Meon worked. He
would tell the seal to go down to the beach the last thing at night, and
bring him word of the weather. When it came back, Meon might say to his
slaves, "Padda thinks we shall have wind to-morrow. Haul up the boats!"
I spoke to Meon casually about the story, and he laughed.

'He told me he could judge by the look of the creature's coat and the
way it sniffed what weather was brewing. Quite possible. One need not
put down everything one does not understand to the work of bad
spirits--or good ones, for that matter.' He nodded towards Puck, who
nodded gaily in return.

'I say so,' he went on, 'because to a certain extent I have been made a
victim of that habit of mind. Some while after I was settled at Selsea,
King Ethelwalch and Queen Ebba ordered their people to be baptized. I
fear I'm too old to believe that a whole nation can change its heart at
the King's command, and I had a shrewd suspicion that their real motive
was to get a good harvest. No rain had fallen for two or three years,
but as soon as we had finished baptizing, it fell heavily, and they all
said it was a miracle.'

'And was it?' Dan asked.

'Everything in life is a miracle, but'--the Archbishop twisted the heavy
rin