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Page 160
are few except the foreign mercenaries who favor this attempt to crush Richard. He has friends, I am sure, who would be glad to warn him of a move by the king to entrap him. However, the Bishop of Winchester is a most subtle man. He knows all this as well as you and I. It is possible that he would send out false information in this guiseonly I cannot see how it would benefit him."
"In that he may hope my eyes will be fixed so firmly in the south that I will not notice Henry's army slipping through the passes northward," Llewelyn pointed out.
Simon looked startled and then laughed. "They would not be such fools, not after you, stopped Henry dead and starving only two years ago."
"Men sometimes do not wish to remember events just as they were, and Henry is notoriously given to blaming others for failure, rather than looking at facts clearly. I have heard he says it was de Burgh's fault, not Welsh skill, that turned back the army."
"That is true," Simon agreed, "but the king's spite is very strong and he is bitterly angry with RichardPembroke, I mean." A shadow passed over Simon's face. ''I cannot seem to become accustomed to the fact that my own Earl of Pembroke, Lord William, is dead and his brother is now earl. Yet Richard is a fine man."
"One's heart clings to the most familiar. You will grow into acceptance," Llewelyn comforted, but he was obviously thinking of something else. After a short silence he brought his eyes into sharp focus on Simon again. "You had better go to him as soon as may be. Do not take too many men, only as many as might be reasonable when traveling across country in which a war is brewing."
Simon's eyes glittered. "If I should be caught by the king's attack in Richard's company, I hope you will not be angry with me if I lend him my aid."

 
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