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Page 351
few hesitant words with lowered eyes, which lifted suddenly in a flashing glance.
Walter was distressed by these further signs of what he mistook for lingering desire. He did his best for Marie, pretending not to notice anything unusual and attending to what she said with a grave courtesy that held no suggestive overtones. However, his voice was soft with guilt and his eyes troubled. This, Marie took for regret, but it was too late for that satisfaction to content her. That Walter suffered was not enough; Sybelle must suffer, too, must learn to hate the husband she now loved so that life would be a hell for both of them.
After dinner the huntsmen returned, and Walter excused himself with considerable relief to listen to what they had to say. Marie made no protest. She was eager to be alone, for she needed to plan. Sybelle had not reacted to any of her hints about her relationship with Walter, so something stronger than words were needed. Marie decided that she and Walter must be caught in so compromising a situation that it could not be ignored.
But that would ruin her as surely as Walter. No, it need not. Not if she said she had appealed to Walter for help and then claimed that he had responded by seizing her by force and raping her. If she said she could not live without one more passage of love to remember and pleaded with him, surely he would be fool enough to take her to bed. And even if he would not, she could tear her own clothes and scream for help.
Of course she would need a reliable witness, but she was certain she could trust Sir Palanceno, Heribertshe called him Palance in public so that she often forgot his real nameand he was perfect because he and Sybelle knew each other. Heribert, Marie believed, was clever enough to find an explanation that would satisfy that fool Sybelle for not coming to Knight's Tower when he was expected.
The timing might be difficult, for Marie was uncertain just how long Walter intended to remain in Clyro after Sybelle came. In any case, it would be best if Walter came to her soon after his wife arrived. That way, it would be a greater insult. And where should they meet? It must be near but not here in Clifford. No one would believe Walter would try rape in Clifford.

 
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