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would stand by him and protect him so much the more for that reason. |
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Simon cleared his throat. "I am sure you have better advice than I can give on these matters, Madam, so that you have not called me hither for that purpose. How can I serve you?" |
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"First with advice, although as you say, not on this subject. I will leave for Normandy next week and from there I expect to go south to see my own lands. I will be gone a considerable time. What I wish to know is whether I may safely leave Alinor here." |
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It was fortunate that the King's unmentionable difficulty had come up. Queen Alinor assumed that Simon's slow response was because he was still occupied with that hateful idea, and the impression was heightened by the stupid way he repeated, "Safely? How do you mean safely?" |
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To Simon it was a miracle that he got words out at all. So many hopes and fears tore him that after the immediate anguish passed, he felt nothing. Numbly he wondered whether the Queen had divined his illicit passion. If so, she did not disapprove, for there was nothing beyond simple inquiry in her voice. But what an inquiry! Was she asking whether he intended to dishonor his ward the moment her back was turned? Was she suggesting he should do so? How else to interpret such a question? |
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A flash of time set that lunacy out of his mind. It was far more likely that the Queen had discovered that Alinor loved him. But it was not true! Not any longer! Clearly while he was absent in Wales Alinor had thought better of her infatuation. Perhaps the tales of the women he had used had cooled her. She had purchased the appointment in Sussex as a peace offering, as an apology, as a payment of an obligation. Had she not? Then why the tears? Why did she say his name in the same anguished whisper that came |
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