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Page 425
over, delighted at the idea of years of sporadic fighting to come. The resolution pleased everyonewell, not everyone. Only a few days after the agreement had been reached, Conrad was assassinated.
No matter how often or how vehemently Richard swore he had no part in it, he could not pretend to be overwhelmed by grief. Conrad's wifethe true heiress to Jerusalem's thronewas willing to take Richard's nephew Henry of Champagne as her next husband. The Latin princes also favored Henry. With a sigh of relief, Richard agreed that Henry should marry the widow and rule the Holy Land.
The miserable winter wore away. The spring brought better weather but no better news. In April the Prior of Hereford Abbey arrived with letters from William Longchamp and rumors about the doings of Philip in France. Simon listened with an unmoved countenance while Richard raged at the ousting of his chosen Chancellor by his treacherous brother and the rebellious nobles of England. What the King said about Philip, who was at once wooing John and preparing to attack Normandy, made Simon blink with admiration. He was fast coming to believe that Richard had a better fund of invective than old King Henry. However, as soon as Simon was didmissed, he wrote urgently to Alinor. When anyone should return to England from Acre, he told her, she was to send letters to her vassals strictly enjoining them to continue in their path of neutrality. They were not to allow themselves to be seduced by John's growing power to join him.
''The King is greatly enraged by the black picture Longchamp paints of the situation," Simon continued. "I offered no palliating speeches, less because it would have drawn his wrath upon me and because he would not have listened than for what might be called selfish reasons. If he thinks all goes awry at home, he may be the less eager to remain here. And, the truth is, ac-

 
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