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was a bond on all of them. If, in mercy, Richard did not call on Geoffrey to help him, the family must at the least refrain from giving any support to his enemy. It was not likely that the king would attack so powerful a clan when he already had one war on his hands, but others might use the family's passive resistance as an excuse to nibble at their rich holdings. |
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One personal problem was generated by the arrival of the family. Ian and Alinor would expect Simon and Rhiannon to share a bed as they had at Oxford. Neither of them was willing to do this, but neither was willing to explain why. By unspoken mutual consent a quarrel about nothing was generated, which ended with Simon complaining bitterly that Rhiannon changed her mind about everything just to spite him. This led Ian to take his son to task for his maladroitness, saying he had never known Simon to be so clumsy in the handling of a woman. Whereupon Simon, with a single flickering glance at Rhiannon, which left Alinorwho was the only one who noticedmute with surprise, took the excuse to remove himself to Geoffrey's house some half a mile down the road. |
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Simon might have suffered from his half-sister's tongue had not his mother bade her daughter hold it. Alinor did not understand what was going on, but she had seen enough to tell her that Simon was not at fault. There was something wrong between the pair; Rhiannon was clearly oppressed and nervous, but for once in his life her self-centered son was sacrificing himself to another's need. Age had increased Alinor's patienceat least a littleand for once she decided not to meddle but to let nature take its course. |
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The course, however, was dreadfully painful for Rhiannon. She had said she would not marry Simon, yet in his family she had found the only women, aside from her mother, who were willing to accept her and be her friends. They did not fear her independence, and if they found her strange, that was only another |
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