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singing, "you know a great deal of the matter. More, it seems to me than any maiden can know." |
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"Do not be a fool," Alinor responded just as low and just as hotly. "I am a clean maid. I am telling you what I was told by a woman very wise in such matters. She did not wish me to be affrighted by the pain I must suffer at first nor to lose, through fear, the pleasure love can bring. Can I not speak wisely of war? Have I ever gone mailed with sword and lance in hand? Bide your time. You will know what I am." |
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"I wish I could know what you are now," Simon said in her ear. |
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The complete change of tone made Alinor giggle. Simon turned his head, kissed her quickly and then bit her chin. Alinor wriggled in his lap. |
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"Stop that, you little devil," he hissed. "Can you not see the torches are guttering. The King will rise to go at any moment." |
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"So, if you do not sit still, youand all the other ladieswill see me displayed like a rutting stallion." |
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That made Alinor giggle again, although the reminder that they would soon have to part and that soon after the parting would come the fighting brought a tight, cold knot into her breast. Almost on Simon's words, Richard's song ended and, to the pleadings that he sing again, he shook his head. |
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"You may lie softly abed," he said, kissing Berengaria's hand, "but I have a trifling piece of work to do on the morrow and I must be well rested for it." |
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In the morning it looked as if it might be more than a trifling piece of work. Comnenus' men had been busy through the afternoon and night. They had blocked the port with every sort of obstacle they could find. Old galleys and abandoned vessels laid the foundation for heaps of casks with hoops, wood, benches, ladders, and even doors and windows wrenched from the port- |
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