l be your cousin,
Count Simon. She will surely be the only Jewish girl in all Europe who
is related--if only by marriage--to a great baron of France."

Sophia frowned at Lorenzo. Cousin? What was the man talking about?

Raising his head from his scroll, Simon saw her look and smiled. "I have
just discovered, Sophia, that Lorenzo Celino here is my uncle."

Sophia felt somewhat irritated. Were the two of them playing a sort of
joke on her?

"No, it's true, Sophia," said Lorenzo. "My wife came from Languedoc
years ago as a refugee from the war that was being fought there at the
time. Her maiden name was Fiorela de Vency. And her older brother,
Roland de Vency, went back to France and eventually married Simon's
mother, making him Simon's stepfather. So you see, I am Simon's uncle by
marriage."

Simon smiled broadly. "Roland told me long ago that he had a sister
Fiorela who was married to a high official of Manfred's. I would far,
far rather have you for an uncle, Lorenzo, than Charles d'Anjou, whom I
have often called Uncle." He gave Sophia a meaningful look.

She understood. Simon might like Lorenzo, but not well enough to tell
him that Roland de Vency was more than a stepfather to him, and
therefore Lorenzo's wife more than an aunt by marriage.

_Only his mother and father and his confessor know that, he once said._

_And I._

Weighed down with grief though she was, she managed to smile back.

Simon put down his quill, closed the lid on the ink pot, and blew on the
parchment to dry it. He poured red wax at the bottom of the sheet, took
a heavy ring off his finger, and pressed it into the blob. He handed the
document to Lorenzo to read.

"You have been well educated," said Lorenzo. "You write as handsomely as
a monk."

"Charles will have his men out looking for you, as one of Manfred's
ministers," said Simon. "I advise you not to wait for them to catch up
with you in Palermo. Of course, Charles may offer you a chance to work
for him. The help of men acquainted with Manfred's regime will make it
much easier for him to take over."

Lorenzo's mustache twitched as he smiled sourly. "Work for him? I know
you do not know me well, but I hope you jest. Otherwise I would have to
consider myself insulted. Manfred and his father, Emperor Frederic,
built a fair and civilized land here. Learning and the arts of peace
flourished, unchecked by superstition. Charles will doubtless destroy
all that. I propose to make it ver