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Page 326
had made for responding to his brother's appeals as soon as leaving England would not damage the rebel cause. The day after he received Geoffrey's letter, Richard and fifteen knights set out for Ireland.
Richard did not take Gervase and Marie. For one thing, Grevase pleaded to stay at Clifford and he knew she could make no trouble for him in England, where she had no property and no friends to whom to appeal. For another, Richard did not expect to have time for her in Ireland, nor did he expect to be there for long. They had been getting along so much better since she had been released from Pembroke that Richard had again begun to hope for an heir. It would be stupid to make Gervase turn sullen and need to put up with her whining and bad temper when she would be safe enough in England.
Geoffrey's second letter was much shorter and went to Sybelle and Walter in Knight's Tower. It said only that peace was at hand and that Geoffrey had obtained King Henry's permission for the marriage of his daughter to Walter de Clare. Geoffrey urged Walter and Sybelle to make all haste to Roselynde, where he would explain more fully how the king had been induced to change his mind. If it was agreeable to them, he continued, they could be married at once in a small, private ceremony because this was no time for large, joyous gatherings. It would be most unfortunate, he ended, if the king should mistake their happiness in being united for a victory celebration.
If Geoffrey's first letter was received with satisfaction, his second was received with an enthusiasm that amounted nearly to hysteria. Although both Walter and Sybelle had tried hard to control it, the sexual tension between them had mounted painfully. While they were in the same keep, Walter would not seek relief even from a whore. Partly he felt it was unfair for Sybelle to suffer desire when he could quench his; partly he knew the quenching would be ineffectualhe had tried that before with Marie, and it had not reduced his desire for Sybelle; but mostly he did not try the expedient because he was relatively sure Sybelle would notice and her jealousy would be aroused.
And Walter's frustration sparked Sybelle's. Had they been apart, she would have missed him more for the companion-

 
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