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Page 85
obtaining his inheritance was greater than his hunger for Sybelle. But if he did not approach Lord Geoffrey, would Sybelle's father think he had lost interest in her? And what did Sybelle think? Walter was startled at the mental question. What did matter what Sybelle thought? She would obey her father, and he would be a good and tender husband so that she would very soon come to care for him. But even as the ideas run through his mind, Walter knew there was something very wrong with this classical formula for marital bliss when associated with Sybelle.
Unbidden, various images of Sybelle came into Walter's mind: Sybelle flaying him for carelessness with regard to his control of his men; Sybelle brightly adding clever and all-too-accurate guesses to an all-male conversation concerning the king's doings; Sybelle flatly contradicting her father and grandfather and boldly offering theories of her own, which the men considered with grave thoughtfulness. No, although Walter still knew what to do about Sybelle, he had a feeling his task would be more complicated than simply gaining her father's approval for the marriage.
That feeling, oddly enough, increased rather than diminished Walter's ardor. He then hastily removed his mind from the question of marriage with Sybelle, since he was well aware that it was uncomfortable to ride a horse in a state of sexual arousal while wearing armor. Thought of his armor recalled to his consciousness the ache in his left shoulder. Something more than bruising was wrong there, Walter feared. The pain when he raised his arm to put on the hauberk had been killingwhich led to the unpleasant thought of getting the hauberk off again, and that took his mind to the arrival at Brecon.
No matter what the relationship was between Richard and Gervase, she must ask what had befallen her husband. Walter would have to explain. As the miles passed, Walter worked out what he believed to be an acceptably brief history of the events. Actually, owing to the slow pace their injuries made necessary, they arrived too late for any conversation with Gervase and Marie. But even the next day Walter found, to his amazement, that his carefully prepared tale was not needed. No curiosity or concern was shown by either Richard's wife or his sister-by-marriage about his and Walter's battered state. In fact, Marie acted toward Walter as if they had hardly

 
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