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To Walter's way of thinking, Richard's desire to inspect Monmouth was very reasonable. However, the earl did not intend to join the action against the town and surrounding countryside himself, so Walter was disappointed when he was asked to join Richard's group rather than Bassett's after they left Usk the next day. Walter was not particularly interested in the foraging expedition on which Bassett was engaged, but he had looked forward to the attack by the garrison. He had not seen any action since a very minor skirmish with a rogue knight and his band of cutthroats near Upavon. Still, he was pledged to Richard and obeyed him without grumbling, never for a moment thinking that this was another ploy of the earl's to keep him out of any direct conflict with Henry's forces. |
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They were a troop of about one hundred altogether, not large enough to offer any threat to Monmouth keep but too large, particularly as a full thirty of them were belted knights, to encourage any small part of the garrison to attack them. It was Richard's assumption that the purpose of the garrison would be to protect the town, and it was an assumption with which everyone agreed. No English landholder would permit a rich town that owed dues to him to burn in order to attack a nonaggressive group too small to damage his keep. Thus, Richard and his escort watched the gates of Monmouth open without any concern, more interested in examining the mechanism and catching sight of the inner portions than attending to the emerging force. |
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Walter was close by the earl, well in the forefront because he was particularly interested in a personal way in the problem of taking castles. He asked several eager questions, which Richard answered good-naturedly and with the authority of considerable experience. Suddenly, in the middle of an explanation, the earl's voice stopped abruptly. Startled, Wal- |
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