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Page 323
firm to fight this time?" He accepted Simon's nod and went on, "I think so, too. Then all the more will there be a need for Rhiannon to serve as an unguent between Henry's too-sensitive feelings and Llewelyn's harsh acts."
A general murmur of approval from all preceded the decision that Simon and Rhiannon had better leave as soon as dinner was eaten. They were safe until then, but afterward there was the possibility that Henry would decide he needed Rhiannon's singing to calm his spirit after all his vexation. It would serve all purposes best if she were gone. This, too, found ready agreement, but going to Alinor's house in London was not as simple as packing one's clothing and leaving.
The house was only a shell. To make it livable, furniture, linen, pots and pans, and everything else must be carried. But Alinor's servants were accustomed to the procedure. While Rhiannon and Simon ate, maids and men scurried about dismantling and packing a selection of what had been brought to Oxford. Before the ladies and gentlemen had risen from the table, one cart was on its way with two maids, two men, and five of Simon's men-at-arms as a guard.
Although Simon and Rhiannon could easily have ridden the full distance to London, they went only as far as Wallingford to avoid outdistancing the baggage cart. Richard and Isabella made them very welcome, and the visit served a double purpose. It permitted the story of Rhiannon's fear of Winchester to be spread from another source. More important, in a personal way, was the other result of the visit. Isabella assumed without asking that Rhiannon would sleep in the women's quarters and Simon in a chamber off the hall. This provided an easy solution to the problem of whether or not they would make love if they slept together.
Alinor had sent to the London house only the one large bed Simon and Rhiannon had shared, but this

 
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