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Page 364
But Simon was making a problem where there was none. In the end, Gilbert Bassett found him. Simon should have realized the rebel leader would not long remain unaware of a large, armed group traveling furtively crosscountry. They avoided villages, climbing the forested, desolate hills and camping in a fold of the downs about ten miles from Devizes.
There had been game on the way, brought down by the quick Welsh bowmen, and they ate well. Sleeping, however, was another matter. Although neither had mentioned it, and it had been covered by the talk of rescuing de Burgh, both Simon and Rhiannon were hungry for each other. As it grew dark, flickering glances crossed, but did not meet. Rhiannon was aware that she could not accept Simon's lovemaking without reiterating that the question of marriage was closed. To invite Simon to take her without a clear statement of the situation would be a deliberate deception. Yet to make the statement must force Simon back into his original position: no hope of marriage, no physical love.
In this case, Rhiannon had misunderstood Simon. His mind was moving on another track completely. He had assumed that Rhiannon's growing silence and stiffness were owing to unwillingness. As soon as she began to withdraw into herself, he had remembered the bitter challenge she had flung at him in Oxford: We will see whose hunger conquers. He was hungryvery; but a man has his pride. He did not wish to humble Rhiannon. He wanted to think of some device that could bring them to a mutual yielding, which would be equally a mutual conquest.
Unfortunately, the ache in his loins blurred his mind and the ache in his throat blurred his eyes. Eventually, stiff and silent, Rhiannon rose and went into Simon's tent. If he had not been so wrapped in his misery and his need, he could have risen at the same time and taken her hand. A single pressure' of the fingers would

 
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