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so late that Marie and her sister were already at the table. By good fortune, he had seen Marie a split second before she had seen him, so he was already in the doorway on his way out when she called. This permitted Walter to pretend he had not heard. He did not wish to hurt Marie more than he had already hurt her. |
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Since Sybelle seemed to have put aside whatever had raised doubts in her, Walter's anger at Marie had evaporated. He believed the cause of her spiteful hinting was her own fear that she had soiled herself, but he knew no way to erase that feeling except to devote himself to her, which was impossible. At this moment, however, Walter believed that anything he said or did would be hurtful, unless he expressed deep grief at leaving her and undying affection, which would be crueler in the end. Thus, both for Marie's sake and for Sybelle'sfor Sybelle was probably the one at whom Marie would lash outWalter intended to avoid Marie. |
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Walter's flight from Marie had prevented him from breaking his fast, and he, too, would have preferred to stay and eat. But Sybelle's mention of Gervase and Marie had reminded him that it was impossible to do so. He blenched slightly at the thought of all of them sitting together at the high table now that they were the only gentlefolk remaining at Builth. Nonetheless, he was hungry and annoyed at being unable to satisfy his appetite on tasteful dishes, sitting in comfort at a table rather than eating travel rations on the road. |
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"No, we will not stay to eat," he said with slightly more emphasis than necessary. "I will have our horses saddled and have the pack animals brought out. While that is being done, I will speak to the men-at-arms. Do you order your servants to carry out whatever you wish to take with us, and do not linger in the hall chatting with this one and that." |
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The sharp protest that Sybelle had been about to make was swallowed unspoken as the significance of Walter's final phrase connected with Marie's early predilection for him, with the hints of intimacy she had given the past two days, with his expression of distaste when she mentioned being detained by Gervase and Marie, with his haste to be gone, with his unwillingness to sit down to dinner among those who remained in Builth, with his absence from the hall, with the length of time spent in the stable during which nothing seemed to have been accomplished. Once all these facts came to- |
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