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Page 367
woman two or three paces ahead. But Walter was not at all annoyed. In fact, he was rather amused by Sybelle's haste. They had been apart for four nights, and she had shown sufficient delight in the joys of the marriage bed that he wondered whether she intended to slip in a short coupling. Thus, he did not lengthen his stride to overtake her, wishing to allow her time to arrange whatever seemed suitable to her.
Unfortunately, this most laudable intention had a dire effect on Sybelle. To her, it seemed as if Walter were lagging behind out of reluctance to be alone with her. The cold within her struck deeper, and she picked up Marie's letter from where she had laid it out of sight of the other gentlefolk in the keep and turned, extending it toward Walter at the full length of her arm as he entered the room.
"This letter came for you soon after Sext," she said.
"A letter?" he echoed.
Walter could not guess who had written to him, but his wife's rigid stance implied trouble, and he seized the parchment with an anxiety that appeared to Sybelle as eagerness. Nor did he bother to look at the seal before he broke it. This was, of course, reasonable. Walter could discover who had written the letter much faster by reading the opening than by trying to make out the device on the seal. However, to Sybelle it seemed as if he must not only know the writer but have been eagerly expecting the letter.
So strong a pang a grief pierced Sybelle that tears filled her eyes. But pride would hot permit her to allow Walter to see such weakness. She turned away, walked to the fire, and stood beside it, rubbing her hands together. However, the cold was inside her, and no external beat could warm it. Worse yet, her movement prevented her from seeing her husband's expression, which changed from a frown of displeasure when he saw Marie's name to the pallor and rigidity of horror when he read what she had written:
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I have no right, I suppose, to address you, but I no longer know where to turn for help. Despite the command the Earl of Pembroke gave to me to tell no one what passed among the three of us, he informed my sister of it, and she, in her terror of being again immured away from all life, ordered me not to recognize you. I tried to obey her, as you know, but, alas, my feelings

 
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