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Page 277
his hand. If Geoffrey fulfilled his oath to Pembroke, what would happen to the boys? Normally Henry was soft to them to a fault, and it was true that he probably could not bring himself to harm them, no matter how furious he was with their father. However, de Burgh had convinced Henry to put Cornwall's stepson, the child-Earl of Gloucester, into his care rather than leave him with his mother as Cornwall's ward. Could Winchester convince Henry to give him Geoffrey's sons?
"Now, wait," Simon said, looking at his sister's blanched face, "there is a way, easy enough. I can go to Richard and tell him what is planned. He need only go to Usk and knock on the gates on September twenty-third. If the keep is not yielded, the truce will have been broken and he will not need to come to the conference. Then he can be in no danger of imprisonment."
"He would have the right to call upon me to help him recover Usk," Geoffrey pointed out, but he no longer looked like a graven image. There was life in his eyes, and Joanna's color began to come back.
"He would not do that, even if he needed your help, and I happen to know he will not need it. No, do not look so surprised. Richard himself knows nothing about this little device. It was the doing of the castellan of Usk, who doubtless did not wish to face the danger of losing his position permanentlyand I could not see that there was any dishonor in it." He told them briefly about the castellan's son and the men-at-arms still in Usk.
They were still laughing about this clever initiative and wondering how the castellan would explain what he had done to the very upright Richard when Walter came in. While the men recapitulated the conversation for his benefit, the women saw to the setting up of tables for dinner. Walter joined them with no more than a brief glance at Sybelle. She did not invite him, but she did not repulse him either, and he sat down, very much a part of the family.

 
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