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Page 377
Then she had not specifically sent everyone away? Where, then, were all the household? Walter could not remember ever having seen a house utterly deserted as this one was. The hairs at the back of his neck prickled. Instinctively, he pulled away and looked back at the door.
"What is wrong?" Marie cried, her voice shaking. If Walter uncovered the trap before he fell into it, he would betray to Richard what she had done, and her life would be over.
"Nothing. Nothing at all," Walter responded, ashamed of himself for having alarmed her.
Doubtless Marie had asked the household to leave her alone for some stated length of time, but he had come later than she expected. He remembered that Sybelle had said the letter came around Sext. Marie had not known that he intended to stay at Clifford and join Bassett and Siward on the raid. She had probably expected him soon after she sent the letter out. Then there was a sound outside the door, the scrape of a foot. Marie gasped.
"Come," she begged, "please come."
She does not want anyone to see me, Walter thought, and he snatched up his shield and followed her. It seemed as if his assumption was correct, for once he was in the room she drew the door shut and leaned back against it, smiling. She seemed much less nervous, too. That seemed odd because they had not yet decided anything, which meant that the unpleasant part of their meeting was still ahead. However, Walter dismissed the small oddity. All he wanted was to settle with Marie as quickly as he could so he could go back to Clyro and calm Sybelleif she would let him in.
Walter closed his eyes and swallowed, recalling the level, icy tones of his wife's voice when she said if he went to Marie just then she would not permit him to come near her again. Those were not the insensate shrieks of rage or the shrill ones of peevishness; it was the voice of a deep and bitter anger well under control. If he lost Sybelle over this . . . Walter bit his lip and opened his eyes. His wife was a reasonable woman. She would not destroy their marriage over a single slip, and Richard would confirm his story about Marie's pregnancy.
Marie had to bite back a chortle of glee when she saw Walter close his eyes and look so unhappy. She took it as a

 
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