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for love of you. She would break her heart, but she would not give up Roselynde." |
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"I do not believe it!" Walter exclaimed. "Sybelle is not greedy nor is she proud. I have seen her life day by day, and she goes about among the maidservants as simply as any chatelaine of a single, small holding. I will have more than enough toassure her comfort. She will be denied no pleasure, no luxury. . . ." Again Walter let his sentence drift unfinished as Geoffrey shook his head. |
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"Sybelle does not desire pleasure or luxury." Geoffrey paused and frowned. "I was about to say that the desired power, but that is not trueat least, not in the sense that she wishes to rule the lives of others. She wishes to care for Roselynde and the lands that are hers. No, that is not right, either. The need to care for Roselynde is bred into her blood and bone. Perhaps she took it with the milk from her mother's breast. Someday you will hear her say 'mine, to me!' Perhaps then you will understand. I can tell you tales. . . . But tales are not to the point. Take it from me, who am husband to Joanna of Roselynde, that you may obtain Sybelle and Roselynde, but not one without the other. Do you wish to withdraw your offer? None will know we spoke of this, and I will not be less your friend. In fact, I will pledge myself to help you take your lands for your friendship's sake." |
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"You say you will assist me to curb or replace my brother's castellans whether or not I marry your daughter?" |
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"Yes, because it will serve me well to have your friendship, and I do not think more than your word is necessary." Geoffrey assured him. |
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"But I would not have Sybelle!" Walter burst out. |
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Geoffrey began to laugh. "I was not any happier when Joanna was proposed to me. Of course, the way the property was held was no shock, because I had been Ian's squire. Hoo-haa! You should have heard the pitch barrels bursting when my lord and his lady had some difference of opinion. But when the argument was on a matter of the land, there was nothing womanish in what Alinor said. She was never too angry to listen to reason about the estate. Neither as Joanna. And Sybelle, like Joanna, has been trained from birth. You need not fear that Sybelle will mismanage her property and that you will be helpless to restore order." |
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"I did not think that," Walter answered truthfully. He had, |
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