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Page 108
had remembered to hold herself lowly before the ladies of higher rank, even though some of them were paupers compared with herself. Partly that was the cause and partly she had given them a bad impression by exhibiting her masterful management of what she considered hers.
It had started innocently enough when she had taken a small account book, a ready-cut quill, and a stoppered horn of ink from the bottom of one of the baskets that held her possessions. With her eating knife she had trimmed off a strip of parchment and had penned a message on it. One of the younger ladies gasped a trifle. Alinor had ignored the mark of surprise, a little annoyed at the idea that her skill should cause any comment. Then she had sent Gertrude to fetch a page.
''What is your name?" Alinor inquired kindly of the fair-haired child that bowed to her.
"Guillaume, my lady."
"And do you know your way to where the men-at-arms are quartered?"
The child looked a little startled, which should have warned Alinor that she was doing something unusual or forbidden, but she was tired and flurried, and the boy merely said, "Yes."
"Good. Then find the men of lady Alinor Devaux. They wear red and gold and my pennon has a red ship on a gold field. Ask for my master-at-arms. His name is Beorn Fisherman, and tell him to send a man to Sir Andre at Roselynde Keep with this message."
Enlightenment had begun when the darker and sharper featured of the two Isobels said nastily, "One is not supposed to send messages out of the Tower of London."
"Why not?" Alinor asked.
"It is not my business to question the Queen's commands."
Alinor did not like the tone, so she turned to the

 
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