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Page 37
It was fortunate for Walter's men that their master had a fine sense of humor and that the youngest of three brothers does not long retain an exaggerated sense of his own importance in the world. By the time Dai had determined which of the men had been on the patrol that went astray, wrested their loot from them, and returned the items to a few of Sybelle's men who had waited for that purpose, Walter had passed from a fury of embarrassment to an impersonal appreciation of the ridiculousness of the situation. Thus, he did not have the erring men tortude to death or hanged, as he might have done in his first rage. Each man was punished with fifty lashes, the leader of the troop with one hundred, and everyone was satisfied with the justice done.
Still later, Walter found himself roaring with laughter when he reviewed the picture of himself standing like a stick of wood and gaping as Sybelle told him his duty. It was funny, Walter realized, even if the joke was at his expense. Simultaneously, however, he was shockednot at Sybelle's language, although that was far beyond what a well-bred maiden should know, let alone usebut by the fact that she had accompanied the men, seemed quite ready to see battle joined, and had told him his duty with all the assurance of his old master. It was unwomanly, that boldness and assurance. But most shocking of all was that Walter realized at least half of his inability to reply to Sybelle had been caused by the intensity of his joy and desire upon seeing her unexpectedly.
Walter began to suspect that marriage to Sybelle would not be as simple as he had assumed. He could not believe her merely a shrew. He had spent enough time in her company and seen her demeanor toward servants and serfs in her grandparents' keep. She was loved and respected, not feared. And she had been very angry when she lashed out at him. However, it was not the temper that disturbed Walter. It was the air of command and the fact that he had found himself desiring her just as hotly as everhotly enough so that he did not dare relax his grip on his bedrobewhen he should have been disgusted by her behavior.
The personal contretemps had been swiftly submerged in the total breakdown of any hope of a quick solution to the rebellion when the king broke his oath concerning the return of Usk to the Earl of Pembroke. In the tense anxiety that

 
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