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begging wordlessly with tear-filled eyes. Simon accepted the knife and ungritted his teeth just long enough to get the piece of fish into his mouth. His eyes were fixed on the table, his lips grim, every fiber of his body braced to resist the expected upheaval of his stomach. |
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The taste, to his amazement, was exceedingly pleasant. The bitter-salt flavor cleared the coating of slime from his mouth like magic. Simon chewed, swallowed, speared another piece and popped it into his mouth. The queasy, quivering sensation in his middle diminished. |
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"Thank you, my lord," Simon exclaimed as the color began to come back into his face. |
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Richard laughed again. "Do not eat the whole fish," he warned. "As soon as the taste becomes less inviting, give over. And do you, not being accustomed to fighting in the hot sun, be sure to carry salt meat or fish with you, or you will be taken with the same disease again." |
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He turned back to Berengaria, who was praising his wisdom, and explained how he had learned the trick from a vassal of his mother's who had been on Crusade with her. Simon breathed a quivering sigh of relief and washed down several more pieces of fish with the wine in his goblet. Then he really smiled at Alinor and began on his dinner with restored appetite. |
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Altogether the evening he had dreaded turned into a great pleasure. When Alinor saw that sufficient weakness remained to make dancing somewhat less of a joy than usual, she drew Simon away to see the glories of luxury in the captured palace. At first Simon suspected her motives, but Alinor was truly entranced with what she had found. Simon was suitably astonished at the sunken marble baths bordered by mosaic tile terraces to which she led him. It took him a couple of minutes to realize that the bits of stone formed pictures when one stood at a sufficient distance; when |
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