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but happy and loving Roselynde clan Simon had described. Still, he had no claim on them, and Walter believed a man with one small, unprofitable estate on the south coast of Wales could not present himself as a suitor to a daughter of that wealthy and powerful family. |
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Has brother's death had changed Walter's status. If he could take hold of the estates, he would be a good match for any woman in England. Conversely, with the backing of the Roselynde clan, no castellan in his right mind would stand out against him. However, Walter was not to prepared to take a girl sight unseen for the sake of profit. Nor did he know whether there was a suitable girl available, and he was not willing to wait five or ten years for a girl to grow to marriageable age. He wanted a hearth and home he could call his own. |
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Thus, within weeks of his brother's death, Walter had presented himself to Simon's parents as a friend of their son's. He was warmly welcomed, since Simon had been as free with talk of Walter de Clare at home as he had been with talk of home to Walter. Any faint doubts that Walter had about Simon's tales representing an idealized family picture painted by homesickness were instantly put to rest. The picture sprang to life, and it was true as gold. |
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Now, what Walter had intended was to investigate delicately whether he would be acceptable to the family and whether they had a marriageable girl uncontractedand then he had seen Sybelle. That he did not offer for Sybelle within five minutes of his first sight of her was because there was no one to whom he could present such an offer. Neither of Sybelle's parents was in Roselynde keep, and that check reminded Walter that he could not make an offer anyway until he had stated clearly what his own situation was. |
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Unless he explained to Sybelle's father that his side of the bargain might be worthless, he could not ask for an alliance. But having started to think about a possible marriage, Walter immediately began to suspect his own impulsiveness. Desire stimulated by great beauty was not, in Walter's opinion, a sound basis for marriage. It would be necessary, he told himself, to determine Sybelle's character and her fitness to be his wife. Walter lingered for several weeks in Roselynde keep, spending as much time as possible with Sybelle. |
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It took that long for the gentle amusement of his host and |
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