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Page 96
In fact Sir Andre had judged Alinor's state of mind quite accurately. Although she was very skilled in handling men, she was almost totally inexperienced in dalliance. She knew only those symptoms of "love" described in the poems of the troubadours or the romances she had read or the exaggerated sighs and ogling glances exhibited by the squires of the men who came to visit her grandfather. And in the last year, when she would have known better how to gauge the value of sighs and oglings, there had been none. Sir Andre had permitted no guestings. He was too cautious to allow a potential enemy into the gates.
Thus, the idea that Simon had a different feeling for her than Sir Andre had was new to Alinor. When she had originally decided to reduce him to a state in which he would ask her permission "to draw breath" she had been thinking of her grandfather's and Sir Andre's paternal love, which could really deny her nothing, and of Sir John's nervous devotion. Her initial response to Sir Andre's accusation that she was playing with Simon had been mostly a defensive denial. Sir Andre's horrified reaction had spurred her interest, and by the end of the conversation she was, for the first time, considering Simon as a male creature rather than as a person, male or female, that she liked and enjoyed being with.
It was an exciting, a delightful, and a completely uncomfortable idea. When it was time to get ready for dinner, Alinor had changed her gown three times and reduced her maids to tears before she took herself in hand. She comforted Gertrude and Ethelburga, stripped off the jewelry she had foolishly donned, and sat down to think. The period she had left for reflection was unfortunately too brief to accomplish much so that Alinor descended from the solar still unsure of what she should say or how she should act. She found instead that all her preparations and qualms were wasted. Simon had ridden out and would not dine with them.

 
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