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against his old mentor and hoping, cruel treatment would kill the old man and remove him permanently as a rival. |
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The whole subject would never have entered Simon's mind had they taken the shortest route back to Wales. They would have gone northwest toward Northampton and on through Coventry and Shrewsbury. However, Ian's request that they stop at Kingsclere changed that. On the northern road, they would have been too far from Devizes for de Burgh's plight to have any pertinence. But Kingsclere was only thirty miles as the crow flies from Devizes. There was some rough country between and no direct road, but that would be child's play compared with the trackless mountains of Wales. |
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There had been nothing in Ian's face to suggest any ulterior purpose in mentioning de Burgh's release just before he asked Simon to go to Kingsclere. The first was information Llewelyn would be interested to hear and Simon should know; the second was a personal matter entirely. Of course, Simon knew his father felt just as he did about de Burgh. Could he have meant. . . . No, Simon told himself, you cannot blame such a mad escapade on anyone. If you do it and get caught and get everyone into terrible trouble, you cannot tell yourself that Papa hinted . . . he did nothing of the sort. He would probably be horrified at the idea. |
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Still, the notion kept coming back. If he could find Bassett and obtain his agreement, the Welsh could rescue de Burgh from the church and deliver him to Bassett. Simon himself could then return over the hills to Kingsclere, and no one need ever know he had been involved. But it would not be fair to Rhiannon. Even. if he left her at Kingsclere, she would be tarred with his black brush if he were caught, and all her effort to ingratiate herself with Henry would be wasted. In fact, probably the king would blame Llewelyn as well as Rhiannon for Simon's mischief. |
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