|
|
|
|
|
|
although that was great enough by itself. However, neither Simon nor Adam told him more than what was in Sybelle's note, that the robe had belonged to Lady Alinor's first husband. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nor did dressing in it provide any enlightenment, beyond the fact that it was remarkably warm for a garment so light when compared to a woolen gown. A second shock came when Walter entered the hall and Ian sprang to his feet, crying, "Simon! Simon!" In the next instant, before Lady Alinor could catch at his arm or Lord Geoffrey had exclaimed, "No, Ian, it is Walter, Sybelle's man," Ian himself had shaken his head, laughed, and come forward with his hand outstretched. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Do forgive me, Walter," he said, smiling. "I had just been thinking about my lady's first husband, wondering what he would have said to Henryfor Simon was honest, but very wiseand suddenly it was as if he had appeared before me. You are very like him in body and in the way you walk." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"And hopefully in the way he thinks," Lady Alinor added, coming up beside her husband. "It is my fault, Ian. I meant to tell you that Walter would wear Simon's gown. I thought the color would suit him, and it does. But you and Geoffrey distracted me with the problem of our greeting to the king. Let us put it aside now. It is time to see the children handfast." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Walter had had no chance to say anything, and it was just as well, for his impulse was to deny any association with a being who seemed to be venerated by every person in Roselynde. The silk gown, which only moments before had seemed so light, suddenly weighed upon him ten times heavier than his full armor as the significance of the gift became clear. Ian was old; Adam was tied to his own great estates and had no doubt been subtly taught almost from birth that Roselynde was not his concern so that he would never contest his sister's right to the lands; Geoffrey was bound by blood and by political necessity to the court and to the lands for which he was king's castellan, and he would have little time for the management of so great an estate as Roselynde; Simon had always said he would have no part in the responsibility for Roselynde. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It was the first Simon who had initially taken up the burden, then Ian had carried it, and now, Walter understood, it was being handed to him. But he was a third son; little had |
|
|
|
|
|