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Page 94
opened her mouth to recall him, but Sir Andre's hand flashed up and clamped across her lips.
"Devil!" he hissed. "Let him be. It is all game and jest to you, Alinor, but you are hurting a good man. You will destroy him if you do not have a care to what you do."
"Are you so sure it is all game and jest to me?" Alinor rejoined sharply.
"Alinor!" Sir Andre exclaimed. "It is impossible. Do not be a fool."
"You said he is a good man. And he is high in the Queen's favor."
Sir Andre put up his hands and pulled his hair. "That is a different thing to being of sufficient weight to aspire to your lands and person. He is a valued servant, yes, but he has no family, no influence, and, I suspect, few powerful friends. A man who deals strict justice seldom makes friends."
"He has me," Alinor said slowly, "and, at my command, my vassalswho would, I think, soon obey him for his own sake."
"Alinor, Alinor!" Sir Andre was whispering, his voice suspended by horror. "Do not bring disaster upon him and upon us. If you name this mad preference of yoursor even show it openly so that it comes to the Queen's earsyou will have a new warden and heif the Queen truly loves him, he will be fortunate and only end in prison. If her favor is less, he will lay his head on the block because of your wild foolishness."
"I do not believe you," Alinor said, but her voice was shaking.
"His life and honor are the price. If you wish to gamble with them, there is nothing more I can do to stop you," Sir Andre said stiffly.
For a moment Alinor was silent. Then she said, "I swear to you I will look before I leap and I will go very slowly and with great care. But if I can win the

 
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