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until Sir Walter was dead or no longer controlled it. Yet he had no chance that he could see of achieving either of those conditions on his own. The other letter the messenger had handed him held out the only hope of retrieving his position or even of saying himself from Walter's future vengeance. Of course, the second letter might also be a trap; it was unsigned and sealed only with formless blobs of wax. However, a long evening of thinkingin between the infuriating attempts of Sir Roland and his family to include him in their entertainments and conversationand a sleepless night made him decide to clutch at this one hope. |
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Since Heribert had already showed Sir Walter's letter to Sir Roland, he knew there would be no difficulty about his leaving on the morning of 31 December. It was most convenient that Clifford was in the same direction Heribert would go if he had been returning to Knight's Tower. He had noticed when coming south that there was a ford of the Wye to the northeast and that another road ran southwest from that ford. Once out of Clyro, Heribert sent one man to tell the remainder of his troop to abandon their watch for Walter and meet him at the ford, where he would await them. |
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Half a dozen times on the road he went over the dangers of what he intended to do, but each time he was on the edge of abandoning the attempt, he realized that he had nowhere to go. There was money in his purse and saddlebags. In fact he had cleaned every coin and jewel out of Knight's Tower as a precaution, but it was not a large hoard. Cheating Walter's brother had not been easy; Heribert had not dared to withhold much, and the amusements his overlord demanded had often been costly. He could not live long on what he had, and he had few friends. Nor was it likely they would remain friends when he was penniless and powerless. It was Clifford or a life of penury. Faced with that choice, since Sir Heribert was not a coward, he would dare whatever danger he must. |
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However, there was no apparent danger in Clifford keep. Sir Heribert was welcomed with due caution, as any stranger might be in time of war, and asked his business. The name he gave according to instructions, Sir Palance de Tours, raised no alarm, although his men were confined between inner and outer walls and could have been killed or taken prisoner without any trouble. And, when he said he wished to see |
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