|
|
|
|
|
|
That was a telling remark. Richard frowned thought-fully. What came across to Alinor was that it was the satisfaction of the Welsh to which he objected, not the delay of his coronation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
''Hugh is quite correct," William Braose said. "There is no need for a great army, and the land will not support one. I remember when" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Pardon, my lord," the Queen interrupted. "I agree, and I wish to remind you, Richard, that if you victual an army there will scarce be broken meats left for the coronation feast. whenever you have it. That would give a most unhappy impression of poverty." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Your Grace, I have been thirty-five years in your father's service," Simon added, "and I have dealt with the Welsh more than once. It is their desire to draw attention to themselves. If you gratify that desire, you will never have done with them." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It was fortunate that Richard was really not concentrating on the advice itself but on the value of the advisors. He trusted his mother implicitlyexcept in one thing. If she could, without precipitating political disaster, prevent him from going to war, she would. Simon was another Richard trusted. Despite his mother's fears, he had long since come to value the restrictive hand that had rested so irritatingly on him when he was younger. The only trouble was that there was also an exception to the trust that could be placed in Simon. Whatever the Queen desired, Simon would try to accomplish, right or wrong. As for John Richard shied away from the thought of his brother. He did not trust him at all, yet he was aware that John had a sly intelligence that often saw more than he did. If John's own interests were not involved, his suggestions on political matters were often acute. The difficulty there was in determining when John thought he had something to gain. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The two lords of the Welsh Marches were another problem. It seemed odd to Richard that they were not |
|
|
|
|
|