Chapter 20
EormenburhEtheldreda lay ill at Whitby for some time, but when she recovered she returned to Bamburgh. She was much paler and thinner than when she had left, but she was calmer. She had resolved to ask Egfrid to allow her to leave the castle and become a nun, realising that for his peace of mind as well as for her own, the arrangement they had had for more than ten years could not go on. She was also sure that she could not do justice to either world by straddling both as she had before.
The king was away when she arrived, and, hearing that Wilfrid was at Lindisfarne, she decided to go there at once to ask his advice.
The holy island was only an island at high tide. At low tide miles of pale sand stretched out towards it and it was possible to walk to it. On the mainland shor
