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Page 351
more difficult by bouts of irrational and immovable stubbornness.
Still Winchester struggled on. Partly, he admitted it was because he loved power, but there was also a real desire to reform and improve what he considered a chaotic and unworkable form of government. He had expected resistance, but not so muchand most of it was Henry's fault. Like a child, the king seized an ideal envisioned for the future after years of slow preparation and expected it to work immediately. Then he reacted in fury when men objected to having their "rights" infringed on. He did not stop to think that he had not shown them first the great benefits that would ensue if they yielded to their king.
It was Henry's impatience and lack of restraint that had necessitated the use of force. Now they were committed to that path, which was the worst and most chancy. It was made even less certain because Henry was moved by odd impulses of chivalrya total foolishness. One must use every weapon available.
That thought recurred to Winchester one afternoon as the king fretted over his injuries. At the moment he had no outlet for his frustration; he had already sent out the summonses for the levy to punish Pembroke, and his ordinary pursuits bored him. He mentioned pettishly that Winchester's presence even deprived him of his newest delightthe singing of Lady Rhiannon.
Instantly Winchester remembered that the girl was not only an entertainer but Lord Llewelyn's daughter and betrothed to Lord Ian's son. He cursed himself for forgetting her, but there had been so much haste and worry. . . . He was a fool for not laying hands on her at once, but Henry had been opposed to itanother chivalric idiocy. It would not have been necessary if they had been able to seize Pembroke. Now that hope was gone, Lady Rhiannon might be very useful.
She would be a strong weapon in the armory with which he intended to threaten Llewelyn to keep him

 
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