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Page 238
the first meeting, Walter had been well pleased. There was a rocklike solidity about Sir Roland that bred confidence, and that confidence had been reinforced by the fact that Sir Roland's children ran to him with glad cries and that his wife bore no bruises and did not cringe when he raised his voice.
In contrast, as he rose to his feet and stood again nearly beside Sir Roland, Sir Heribert could have modeled for the statue of an angel. However, the willowy appearance did not imply feebleness, for Sir Heribert had moved down the hall toward them with an easy litheness under his armor that showed he was accustomed to its weight. Blond and blue-eyed, with a fine-cut nose and perfect lips on which smiles came and went, fluidly, Sir Heribert's whole appearance should have given unalloyed pleasure. Unreasonably, Walter suppressed a shudderand then was ashamed, telling himself that his immediate distaste for so handsome a man could only be a result of envy.
"I have brought with me the full tithing of men from Knight's Tower," Sir Heribert said as soon as he was erect, "since I did not know what your summons portended. You are, I have heard, the Earl of Pembroke's man. Do you call me to war in his party?"
A soft trill of laughter came from Sybelle. "My lord has summoned you for a far happier purpose, to tell you that he is to be married."
Either Sir Heribert had truly not noticed Sybelle because his attention was fixed upon his new overlord, or he wished to seem not to have seen her so that he could now produce an aspect of first surprise and then marveling. This, too, Walter found distastefully redolent of the acting of jongleurs, but Sybelle smiled and lowered her eyes, seemingly pleased with the fulsome compliments. Next Sir Heribert turned to Walter to congratulate him on the capture of a prize of such beauty. Walter had to unclamp his set jaw to respond with civility and to introduce Sybelle, who held out her hand to be kissed with such eagerness that Walter's jaw jammed shut again.
This did not matter for the moment because Sybelle began to prattle and ask questions about Knight's Tower and Sir Heribert's journey. Walter was well aware that his looks were nothing out of the ordinary, and it sprang uncomfortably into his mind that the usual reason for a woman to be indifferent to her man's infidelity was that she herself did not care for

 
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