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Aelfden gives an unexpected answer

'You're too late, Father.'

“You’re too late, Father,” Cedric called.

The feet stopped abruptly, and the black robe swung forward and back against the legs like the stroke of a silent bell.

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Sigefrith sees the next-to-last man

'Hark!'

“Hark!” Sigefrith said softly, and he held up a hand to halt Malcolm in mid-sentence.

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Sigefrith plans a party

Malcolm had mapped out a finely-shaded protocol.

For all the apparent informality of Sigefrith’s court, Malcolm had mapped out a finely-shaded protocol governing the manner in which his subjects were permitted to greet him.

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Cearball meets a man

Malcolm had mapped out a finely-shaded protocol.

Maire’s heavy-browed, broad-cheeked face was as round as a copper moon: as like her half-brother’s as the night sky was the same over every sea and shore.

On second glance, however, Cearball was struck by a silken, slant-eyed exoticism, so unlike Murchad that the effect was like seeing the moon rise in a foreign land and finding it changed.

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Hetty reads the one word

'Almost every afternoon.'

“She does almost every afternoon,” Hattie was giggling somewhere far off. She paused, then, as one rarely paused while reading aloud, and in any case she was no longer speaking German. Nevertheless Hetty could not quite bring herself to wonder why.

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Adalbert sees the evil

'What is it?'

The Abbot lifted his head and barked, “What is it?”

His voice was sharp and snappish out of self-defense; he felt vaguely confused, as if some time had passed without him, and he feared he had been napping in his chair. It was one of the axioms of Abbot Adalbert’s existence that it were better to be found disagreeable than be found at a disadvantage.

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Gwynn gives another word

'It must be the most romantic thing!'

“It must be the most romantic thing!” Gwynn sighed. “I wish you would ask Osh to do my hair.”

“It wouldn’t be so romantic if he did every lady who asked him,” Flann smirked.

“Not every lady… just his dearest friends… and just for the party…”

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Gwynn finds the friend of her heart's desiring

'Don't get up, don't get up, ladies.'

Britamund laid a heavy hand on Flann’s shoulder as she passed and waved the other at Cat and Hetty.

“Don’t get up, don’t get up, ladies,” she said breezily. “I will not have expecting mothers standing on my account, and I will not ask the rest of you to partition yourselves accordingly, lest you be forced to reveal any little secrets you would rather keep.” She winked down at Flann.

Hetty makes a savage reply

Gwynn caught Hetty's arm just outside the door.

Gwynn caught Hetty’s arm just outside the door and dragged her to a halt.

“Wait! Wait, Brit!” she squeaked.

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Gwynn meets the Blocky Boy

Cynewulf leapt up.

The moment Britamund’s slipper crossed the threshold, Cynewulf leapt up and blurted, “Britamund, Cat, Flann, Gwynn — no, wait! Cat, Condal, Flann, Gwynn, Hetty, Lasrua, and… no — Kraaia, Lasrua, Leila. Is that everybody? Margaret! Of course!” He laughed deliriously. “My own sister!”

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