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Page 434
"It is out of love that I have neglected to give you your heart's desire," Richard continued. "We have lost so many noblemen over these two years that I can make you rich beyond the value of the woman's land. I will give you a good fruitful estate in a land where the sun shines and damp does not warp the bones."
Not knowing what else to do, Simon turned his head away obstinately.
"Man," Richard's voice cracked with its intensity, "she will break you and destroy you. Take what I offer and leave the woman alone. She is eighteen, and you arewhat?"
Simon's head snapped back, and he smiled. With little else to do, the King had obviously been considering the problems of his liegeman and had come to a logical and considerate conclusion.
"I am forty-eightan old man. But Alinor knows that. As God is my witness, I have told her often enough. I have even painted her a picture of me old and feeble and her in her prime. She laughs and says she has lived all her life with old men and likes them."
"Will she still laugh in ten years?" Richard asked.
It was a cruel question, but kindly meant. Simon shrugged. "My lord, I see these things also. I do not lie to myself. Alinor and I are not fitting in age, but in all else we are. In some ways she will benefit from my age also. I am no expensive young buck who will waste her patrimony, nor do I desire it for myself or to lavish gifts on other women." Simon grinned wryly. "I will scarce have strength to keep her content, let alone wasting my substance elsewhere."
He paused and looked away from the King again, not angrily but with dreaming eyes. "Moreover, my lord, I love that land of mists and rain. I have come, these two years, nearly to hate the sun. In England, when the sun shines, one thanks God for it with a joyful heart. One does not need to chew salt meat or stinking fish to stay alive. If you refuse me the guerdon

 
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