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Page 457
desirable, find myself again in your arms."
There was no help for it. Alinor certainly did not blame Simon. The Queen was ill to follow even when you knew a sure destination. On progress she changed her plans every day and sometimes even in the middle of a march. Sadly, Alinor put away the twelve gifts she had made ready for her husband. She did not even know where to send them. It was disappointing, but there would be other twelve-days. A week later she had another letter with better news, although not the best. Simon had found the Queen, but was not yet on his way home.
"She was not best pleased at my news," he wrote. "I am glad, very glad, that the King's name and seal were on our contract. Else, I fear she might not have honored it. The troubles that Longchamp began have raised a stubbornness in the people as I feared. It is none so easy to collect the monies the King demands. Thus, it is not easy for her to give up the rich revenues that flow from your lands. I bide in her company a little time to smooth things over. She loves me and remembers you with much affection. I will, a little later, offer her a fine for that we married without her leave. Strictly, this is not needful because the King's will overrides all else, but I think it well worth the price to have her good will and, thanks to the richness of my booty, I can well afford to pay.
"Beloved, beloved, I ache for you. I am like a boy who is tormented by his new manhood, sleeping for comfort with a pillow between my thighs. I wish I could bring you that gift which we must give each other to receive pleasure, but I can only send instead these few poor tokens of the love I bear you."
A small chest accompanied the letter. The gifts were arranged in order, from a trifle of a fine kerchief for the first day to another river of gold and pearls and gems, rubies this time, for the twelfth. Alinor touched them fondly and put them aside. She had received an-

 
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