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"Have you invited anyone else to this wedding?" Geoffrey asked when the first furor of greeting was over and the men of the family had drawn together in relative private. |
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Walter laughed. "I am afraid I was too eager to stay a moment longer than necessary, even to write invitations." Then he shrugged. "I have no one to invite, really. My parents and brothers are dead, young Richard . . . I do not even know where he is just now, and Richardoh, a pox on all these RichardsPembroke is either gone off to Ireland already or will be leaving any day. He will be sorry not to see me married, but Gilbert has been begging him to come for two months, at least, and when I spoke to him last he said he would go as soon as Wales was safe. I suppose I should have written to Richarddamn! I mean, Cornwalland Isabella, but" |
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"He could not have come," Geoffrey said. "He would not leave Henry at this time because Winchester still comes to the king constantly for one reason and another, and he is not like de Burgh, who made his own case worse each time he spoke to Henry. Winchester is as smooth and sweet as fresh cream, and he has a hundred new plans for conciliating the barons. Richard, I mean Cornwall, must constantly remind his brother that nothing except Winchester's dismissal is acceptable now." |
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Walter's brows rose. "Is Cornwall the right person for this purpose? He is the best man in the world, kind and just and wise also, but Henry's indecisiveness can drive him into a rage faster than good sense can hold him back." |
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Geoffrey looked slightly uneasy, but Ian said quickly, "We have all warned Cornwall to be careful, and all signs show the king to be firm despite Winchester's devices. When Henry stopped in Saint Edmund's, where de Burgh's wife is in |
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