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Page 35
king. He was trying to drive a wedge between Henry and his brother Richard also, taking young Gloucester into his own care instead of letting him go with his mother when she married Cornwall. And too much of the kingdom's money was finding its way into de Burgh's coffers instead of Henry'swhich made the king cry poverty and squeeze us."
"I know that. So then why is there now such a great outcry on de Burgh's behalf?"
"Because the king has gone too far. It was reasonable to deprive de Burgh of his power and of his ill-gotten gains. I suppose it was even necessary to keep him under control. There were so many who regarded him as a benefactor or who feared him, that he might have regained his power if he were at large. We all agreed to that, and Ferrars, Cornwall, Warrene, and Richard Marshal went surety for him to place him in honorable confinement."
"So that was what Walter meant when he started to rave about Henry not trusting to the honor of the two men dearest to him. He meant Cornwall and Richard Marshal! Walter was so angry that I could hardly make head or tail of what he said, but I gathered that the king dismissed the guards assigned by de Burgh's wardens and set others in their place."
"Walter told you that?" Simon remarked, grinning. Until he had met the women of Roselynde, Walter had been prone to say women had no room for anything but the roots of their hair inside their heads. Now he was discussing politics with Sybelle.
"Never mind Walter," Sybelle insisted. "Why did the king change de Burgh's guards?"
"It is beyond me," Simon admitted. "God knows Richard Marshal and Richard of Cornwall had no love for de Burgh. They were at his throat all along. Warrene and Ferrars were less opposed, perhaps, but their first loyalty is to Henry and certainly neither of them would have countenanced de Burgh's escape or

 
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