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not seen him. With considerable warmth, they invited Sybelle to wait for him with them, insisted on her company, in fact, but she excused herself with equal determination despite the fury that showed for an unguarded moment on Marie's face. |
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The next idea that occurred to Sybelle was that Walter would be with Richard, but inquiry proved that also wrong. Then she realized that he must be either in the stable, making sure of the cattle to draw the wain and seeing that their horses were ready, or giving instructions to the men-at-arms. But Tostig, her father's master-at-arms who had been left with her to ensure a wise head for her protection, had not seen Walter, either. Puzzled, she went on to the stable. It was most reasonable that Walter should give orders to have the horses and oxen ready, but how could that take three or four hours? |
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At first Sybelle thought he was not in the stable, either. The grooms were Welsh and did not speak French; therefore, she tried asking for Walter by saying his name, speaking more loudly than normal in an unconscious effort to promote understanding by raising her voice. This did not have the intended effect, of course, but Walter himself heard her and came out from among the horses. |
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"I came to tell you that all is ready," Sybelle said, after exclaiming about how he had apparently appeared from nowhere. "I am sorry I am later than I said, but Lady Pembroke and her sister delayed me a little, and then I was so foolish as not to realize you would be here. It must be nearly time for dinner now. Shall we stay and eat, my lord? Since we do not intend to wait for the baggage wain, it can take little more than three hours to ride to Clyro. Even if we leave as much as an hour after Sext, we will still come there in daylight." |
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Under other circumstances, Sybelle's first expectation would have been correct; that is, she would have found Walter pacing the hall and grumbling about the inefficiency of women that made them so slow over a small matter like retrieving and packing all the items their men had strewn over their chamber, their friends' chambers, the hall, and any other place in the keep they had happened to be. However, Walter had narrowly escaped being caught by Marie. |
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After he had spoken to Sybelle, Walter had gone to Mass and then to his room to say over his prayers of penance. Coming down to the hall to break his fast at last, he had been |
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