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Page 274
King again and have a letter with a later date. Or, why should he send to the King at all? He has the seal. If he signs the King's name, who will know it is not Richard's hand?"
"Signs the King's name!" Simon exclaimed. "He would not dare."
"Would he not? Who will call him to account?"
"Alinor, what are you saying?"
"It is rumored in the Court that he has done it already. Where is the danger to him? He holds the letters he says he has received from the King. If some chance should bring Lord Richard back or if some complainant should go to the King, Longchamp need only destroy the forgery and say the man lies, that the whole was fabricated to damage him in the King's eyes. What is more, Simon, the King will not care. You know what he thinks of the English barons. He said it aloud in Court. He will be well pleased if Longchamp wrests our livelihood from us."
"Not from me or from you," Simon said. "If the King tells me before my peers that I must yield, I will. It is my duty. But I do not think the King will look me in the face before a concourse of barons and take from me what he has only just given me and what you have barely paid for." His voice stopped abruptly. ''I am sorry, my lady, that you have been troubled," he said flatly. "I will see that you suffer no hurt from this."
"Simon, Simon," Alinor whispered, catching his hands, "I will do what you want, anything you want. Do not be so cold to me. I cannot bear it. I love you."
She had not really realized how much she loved him until they were again involved in working together to keep her lands safe. She would give anything to keep that warm rapport, that ready understanding. He is a man, she thought, and he does have honor. It is only that the honor does not reach as far as women.

 
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