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Page 328
arrived. Sybelle was greeted with fond embraces, and Walter was pounded on back and shoulders with such enthusiasm that Sybelle complained that Adam, Ian, and her papa among them would unseat for a third time his newly healed collarbone. Then it was the turn of the vassals, the closest of whom had also arrived. They greeted Walter with less exuberance but with considerable respect and deep interest, for they knew that it was he with whom they would deal most often. Ian made no pretense about the fact that he tired easily, and Geoffery was so tied to the king and court that he had little time for local problems. Walter, for all practical purposes, would be the new overlord of Roselynde.

 
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