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that he had not known what evil was intended. Walter accepted that, said he would make no complaint, and dismissed the man. |
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Sybelle watched her husband anxiously. His easy indifference seemed unnatural. At last she asked him if he had taken some other hurt than the cut on his left side. He smiled and shook his head, saying he did not believe that Marie or Heribert would have confided their plans to a bailiff and if the man was innocent, there was no purpose to blackening his name with an investigation. |
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"I am tired," he admitted. "What with the ride to Almondbury and the lively time I had in that inner room, I am most eager to see the troop from Clyro." |
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They had no long time to wait. Scarcely half an hour passed before a shout, and the sound of the gate opening, and then of horses in the yard drew Sybelle to the door. She cried out, and Walter jumped to his feet in alarm, but Sybelle ran out, and a moment later Geoffrey came in with her. For a little time there were many questions and no answers, Walter fearing a political disaster and Geoffrey asking why so many men were needed. At last, however, each determined that there was no emergency and full explanations could wait until they were back in Clyro and Walter was more comfortable. |
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Thus, it was not until the evening meal that Walter's tale was toldwith suitable deletions, for although he had no desire to protect Marie, he did not wish that Richard should be embarrassed by the bad behavior of his sister-by-marriage. He would have said nothing at all, except that it was necessary that Sir John know he need not watch for treachery seeded in Knight's Tower by Sir Heribert. |
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Then Geoffrey explained the reason for his coming was the raid on Almondbury. He wanted to know who had conceived the idea. |
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"If it is blame, you had better blame me," Walter said. "I could not persuade Bassett and Siward to ignore the king's presence at Huntington. They would do something, so I said it was Henry's ministers who were to blame for the trouble and that it was they who should be punished. That set the notion into Sir Gilbert's head; he remembered Almondbury was Seagrave's land." |
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"Oh, no one is seeking a scapegoat," Geoffrey chortled, "not even the king. We had word that there was burning in |
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