"It is a little Latin book I brought with me from England."
"In Latin? What's it all about? Is it very dull?"
"Sit on my knee and I will tell you all about it. No, don't ruffle my hair, but attend to lessons. I was reading about a great goddess who rose up from the sea, whose robe was so black that it shone...."
"But I thought she was quite naked."
"Who?"
"The goddess who came out of the foam."
"Why, who has been telling about the goddess who rose from the foam?"
"Father Algio in one of his Lent sermons told us a great deal about her."
Father Algio was an old monk with whom Norman had talked once or twice: a gentle soul, but with an odd fire lurking about his eyes. One realized that if roused by the trumpet of the Church he would have marched like a Crusader to uttermost Taprobane, fighting for the Lord.
"What had he to say about the Lady Aphrodite?"