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Page 274
your part if Sir Walter takes out his rage by beating you. He might not even allow me to give you sanctuary. I fear"
"I do not expect to gain Sir Walter," Marie interrupted impatiently. "I will find another. Sir Philip Bassett is not wed, and to speak the truth I find him more to my taste, if not as rich as Sir Walter."
"Then why" Gervase stopped abruptly.
She knew why. In Marie's opinion Walter had cast her aside for a richer woman, even though he liked that richer prize less. Gervase no longer agreed with Marie; she had watched Walter and Sybelle with eyes less blinded by prejudice than her sister's. Gervase no longer thought Walter was marrying Sybelle for her dowry, and the loss of a woman he desired would not be forgiven.
Marie's statement that she did not intend to marry Walter removed Gervase's doubts. She did not like the women of Roselynde. The fawning devotion of Lord Ian and Lord Geoffrey to their wives infuriated her, and the mild contempt Sybelle could not hide when Gervase had told her Walter was greedy had added to the dislike she already felt. Gervase would not mind making Sybelle and the whole Roselynde clan unhappy, not at all. Nor, in her present mood, was she averse to placing Richard in a position that would doubtless embarrass and infuriate him.
The idea of infuriating Richard gave Gervase second thoughts, however. She did not wish his wrath to descend upon her. The outcome of that would be that he would send her back to Pembroke and keep her there, or in some even more isolated castle in Ireland, forever.
Marie had been answering Gervase's aborted question, but Gervase interrupted abruptly, saying, "I cannot lie to Richard for you. No, do not be angry, Marie, I would do it gladly and I will gladly say all that I know is true, such as that he courted you when he came to Pembroke and on the road to Brecon, but I cannot say I heard him offer you marriage and I cannot say that I knew he lay with you."
"You fear him," Marie sneered.
"In a way I do fear Richard, and so should you," Gervase admitted, although her lips thinned with irritation and her resolve hardened not to sacrifice herself for so ungrateful a sister. "Think what will happen if I prove so ill a keeper for my sister that I consented to such an arrangement."

 
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