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Page 314
can only thank you for not asking it of him. He was not well, I know. In any case, my choice of words and tone was uncivil. I was out of temper and tired, and I struck out at you."
There was a long silence after that. Rhiannon wandered away from the tree, drifting aimlessly here and there. Simon did not follow her, only turning so that he could keep her in sight. The horses, tethered to a low branch, nibbled at the leaves of bushes and at the thin blades of grass that straggled wherever a patch of sunlight fell. Eventually Rhiannon returned and resumed her seat on the log.
"Not all the fault was yours," she admitted quietly.
"It is ever so," Simon replied, equally quietly. "One cannot quarrel with a stone wall. But the initial fault was mine, and so it is for me to take the blame. It is sweeter and easier, Rhiannon, that you are willing to share with me."
"Blame, yes. My life, no."
It was said gently, sorrowfully. Simon breathed in as if he had been cut, but he did not speak for a few minutes. Finally he looked away from her face, which he had been watching.
"That seems a harsh punishment for a few hasty and unwise words."
She stood up and took his hand in hers. "You know I do not mean it so, Simon. I said as many hasty and unwise words. I knew you were tired and had only to hold my tongue and all would blow over. I am as much at fault as youI have said that already. I am sorry to give you pain also, but I am trying in the only way I know to spare us both worse in the future. Dear Simon, it is not what you said to me or what I said to you that brought me to this decision. It is what caused me to answer you with such bitterness when there was no cause to do so."
"Rhiannon, if you think people who love each other do not quarrel, you are truly an innocent. Roselynde,

 
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