 It seemed as if her prayers for her son were being thrown back into her face by heaven. Augustine recalls the heart-wrenching scene as he prepared to board the ship to Italy. She cruelly wailed over my leaving and followed me to the seaside, but I deceived her, even as she hung on to me by main force, begging me to go back with her or to let her come along with me. I pretended that I had a friend I did not want to leave before the wind rose for him to set sail. So did I lie to my mother, to such a mother as mine, and I got away. And still she refused to leave without me, and I hardly managed to persuade her to stay the night in a place nearer to our ship, but that very night I sneaked off and got aboard, leaving her behind to weep and to pray. Monica was, of course, devastated. She had begged God to keep Augustine from leaving, but her prayer went unanswered, or actually, as her son later realized, her greater prayer for her son's salvation was in the long process of being answered.