Summary

Chapter 19 takes place in June 998. Aldred is traveling with a letter from Osmund to Prior Ulfric. He is carrying a copy of a book as a gift. He hopes to receive a reciprocal gift of another book to add to his growing library. Osmund has ordered him to drop his quest to clean up Dreng's Ferry, but he is not willing. He stops at Dreng's Ferry and demands that Degbert offer the traditional hospitality owed to a traveling clergyman. He knows that Wynstan will soon be in Combe, and asks Edgar to help him figure out what they are doing. Degbert has come to trust Edgar, and he has no trouble finding a reason to travel to Combe. He follows Wynstan around the city. At the end of the process, he tells Aldred that Wynstan gambled with a man who arrived on a...