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Page 333
accustomed as she was to the brilliant colors commonly worn by men and women alike. Her eyes opened even wider as she examined the embroidery and realized that real tiny emeralds and rubies made the eyes and tongues of the fantastic beasts worked among the silver leaves of the trees that climbed the fronts and circled the collar of one heavy silk robe.
"You did not strip out the gems?" she asked, amazed.
"I could not." Alinor's voice shook. She was herself startled by the pang of loss that stabbed her. Simon had been dead for over twenty years, and she loved Ian deeply and passionately. But Simon was her first, and he had taught her the strength and wisdom that made Roselynde what it was. Then she smiled. "We are rich enough. If we had needed them, I would have taken them, but no need came."
She paused, watching Sybelle lift and shake out the gown, which was of a rich, heavy silk that retained few creases, and thinking of the many, many times over the years that she had taken it from the chest to air. Simon had only worn it three or four times. Over the period that John had been king, Simon had not needed court dress, and the gown was too rich for such ordinary affairs as meetings with neighbors and vassals. But with care in the cool damp of the keep, the cloth had not aged.
It was superstition, perhaps, to give the gown to Walter, but Sybelle was young and she would need, very badly, the kind of strength, humor, and wisdom that Simon had provided for a young Alinor. The whole weight of Roselynde, Alinor feared, would soon fall upon those slender shoulders, for her own time must come soon and Joanna would be tied to Geoffrey and the court.
"Tell me, Sybelle," she asked suddenly, "are you yet a maiden?"
Sybelle blushed. "Yes, but . . ."
Alinor's laugh acknowledged the meaning of the blush and the "but" and relieved her granddaughter of the need for completing her statement. "Yes," she said, "take the gowns. More and more your Walter reminds me of my Simon. That one you hold, Simon wore at our wedding. It was my gift to him."
"And it will be ours to Walter," Sybelle said eagerly. "Thank you, Grandmama."
She turned to leave the room, carrying the gown, but

 
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