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ashamed to show a tear-stained face when the Lady Berengaria can smile?" |
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"Oh, tra la," Alinor whispered bitterly, "she and I have different needs. For her it is enough to dream of love. For me it is needful to bed my man and bear his children. Her love is fulfilled already in that they are betrothed. If the King should die in battle, she can live on dreams. She Oh, curse my tongue and my temper. She is a good, sweet maiden. I have no right to missay her." |
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There was a silence and then Simon asked in an undertone, "Have you missaid her?" |
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The question could not be mistaken. Simon was asking for serious, probably political information. Alinor drew her scattered wits together and considered what she had said in political terms. |
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"I think not," she murmured. "It is difficult to say. We were raised so differentlyI, to speak my mind, and she, to speak what is proper. I cannot be certain, but if you are asking me whether she will urge the King to do his marital duty" |
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"In God's name, what makes you say a thing like that?" Simon muttered in her ear. "Why should you think he will need urging?" |
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"Why should you once have said, 'if the King is earnest in his work' when you were speaking of filling Berengaria's belly. Oh, Simon, let it be. I know why you drank and whored away so long in Sicily. To the pointI do not think she will urge him. She does not think of the need for an heir; she is too much filled with romances to think in terms of babes. Perhaps if he were to give her a taste for futtering But, Simon, if he has no taste for it himself, how can he breed that in her? He will haste to do his business and be gone, and she" |
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"By God," Simon grated furiously, but managing to keep his voice low enough not to disturb the King's |
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