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already abed when he came. She had not heard his arrival, of course. The keep walls were too thick and her chamber faced the sea, not the bailey. Now she remembered a maid had wakened her to inform her. Alinor insisted on knowing every event that took place when it happened, even if she had given instructions beforehand, but she had been too sleepy to pay much heed. |
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The heavy, sinking sensation that had plagued her disappeared as if conjured away. Her eyes brightened and the corners of her generous mouth curved upward. The door of the great world had not closed. And beyond that, here at hand was a delightful, most fascinating, and most necessary task. If it were possible of achievement, great good would accrue to herself and her vassals. If she could conquer Sir Simon as she had conquered her grandfather and her men, the Queen's ear, and possibly the King's too, would be open to herthrough Sir Simon's mouth. |
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Alinor had been about to ask for one of her grandest dresses, but she realized at once that was stupid. Sir Simon was no petty knight from the country. A man in daily contact with the Queen and her great ladies would scarcely be impressed by grandeurparticularly inappropriate grandeur. A lady in her own keep did not wear Court dress. He would laugh at her as at a child trying to impress him. Homespun then? No. Her grandfather had liked to see her so rough clad when she worked, but her grandfather had not been a courtier. |
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"Make ready a plain white linen tunic, but of the better sort, and that pale green silk bliaut that is the color of new leavesand a white veil, the thinnest you can find. And be quick, or I will be late to Mass." |
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She was on time for Mass, a thing that gratified the family chaplain but had no affect on Sir Simon, who was not there. He had ridden out already with Sir Andre, Sir John informed her at breakfast. |
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