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Page 347
tion to the present wartime garrison of Clifford that no one raised any objection. Marie had not sense enough to realize that the situation would change when peace came, nor did she stop to think that if Heribert gained his purpose of depriving Walter of his estate, Heribert himself would regain control of Knight's Tower and return there. In fact, Heribert spoke so constantly of Marie's revengeas if his only interest in Walter were through herthat he had thoroughly obscured in her mind the fact that he had his own reasons for hating Walter.
Thus, Marie's first reaction to the news of Walter's arrival was not satisfaction that Walter was within reach of her vengeance but irritation for depriving her of her cavalier flagorneur. Had he left immediately, she would simply have sent word to Heribert to return and said she could not discover where Walter planned to move next. However, Walter had no intention of leaving Bassett and Siward to their own devices, particularly when he knew Sybelle could not yet have reached Clyro. So when he woke, he settled down to discuss what moves, if any, could be made that would push the king toward peace.
Marie had thought she would simply ignore him for the brief time he was in Clifford. This she expressed by an icy glance and a turned back in answer to his soft greeting. It was most unfortunate that she did turn her back, for she would have misinterpreted Walter's stricken expression of guilt for sorrow or regret. That, plus her own self-conceit, might have convinced her that Walter was longing for her and suffering, dissatisfied with the choice he had made of staying with Sybelle. In her present mood, that might have been satisfaction enough.
However, she did not see, and her seat near Gervase was close enough for her to hear snatches of the conversation among the men between the desultory comments Gervase made to her. From those snatches, Marie managed to determine several unpleasant facts: One, Walter had already married Sybelle, and to Marie he sounded as swollen with pride as a cock on a dunghill. He spoke of what "we of Roselynde believe" as if that family were the pivot of the sun and stars. Two, Walter seemed to be urging Bassett and Siward to some action in the war, and that meant all the men would leave and she and Gervase would be bored to death again. Three, it did not seem, after all, that Walter's stay would be brief. Appar-

 
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