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Page 40
raged behind his quite face. A series of impractical notions that seemed to offer a hope of seeing Sybelle sooner continually invaded his thoughts. By removing the possibility, some of Walter's unrest was soothed, and the need to devise a polite way of telling Lady Gervase she must not insult Prince Llewelyn or his clansmen completed the calming process. It was an interesting challenge, and Walter was feeling quite cheerful when he arrived at Pembroke keep.
Set in rather low-lying lands, the great round tower, some seventy-five feet high, could be seen for leagues. I served as a warning from afar, and the remainder of the castle fulfilled that threat. A stone wall strengthened by large semicircular towers had been thrown completely across a narrow spit of rock the protruded between the two small rivers that emptied into the harbor.
The town crouched at the foot of these walls. From a distance through the gray pad of rain, it looked a poor, muddy place, but as Walter rode through, he saw that the houses were better built and more commodities than one would have expected so far to the west. In fact, near at hand, Pembroke town had a smug look to it, almost like a fat, insolent steward who knows himself to be essential to his master and thus protected.
Owing to normal Welsh weather, Walter arrived wet and muddy; and owing to the fact that the servants in Pembroke were devoted to their master and not given to great formality, Walter had been brought to Gervase without a moment's delay when he identified himself as Richard's messenger. The combination made the challenge Walter faced even greater since he appeared dirty and bedraggled before the ladies, scarcely the image of an elegant courtier. The initial meeting also gave Walter considerable sympathy with Richard's attitude toward his wife.
There was nothing charming about Lady Pembroke's manner although the picture she made, seated at the exact distance from the fireplace to obtain the best warmth, playing a board game with her sister, was most attractive. Gervase was dark, plump, and pretty. Walter was able to identify her immediately because her gown, gold on rose with a trim of ermine, and her wimple, embroidered and bejeweled headdress, and ring-laden hands were finer than her sister's. Moreover, Gervase's manner was higher. She waved Walter to a halt and

 
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