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here,” he told his sister. “I’ll climb up and get it.”

Lord Raimond stayed at the door of the cottage as Alice and Roger ran to their mother’s bed.
    “You’re back!” Zara exclaimed. “Your mother’s fever is gone, but she still isn’t—heaven’s mercy!” The old woman clapped her hands when she caught sight of the figure filling the doorway. “You did bring him!”
    Releasing Alice and Roger from her weak embrace, their mother raised herself on the bed. “Raimond?” she asked. “Is it you? I thought I dreamed it!”
    With three quick strides he crossed theroom to kneel beside her. “I’ve come to take you home, Blanche,” he told her. “To make you strong again.” He took her hand gently. “I judged wrongly. Your husband was a good knight, a hero. I saw him fall at Acre trying to save his men.”
    “We waited for him to come back. We waited so long….” She wept.
    “Don’t cry, Mother,” said Roger. “Everything will be fine now. Uncle Raimond and I made plans while we rode here. We’ll live in his chateau, where you’ll get well. We’ll take Zara with us too.”
    Old Zara threw up her hands. “Not I!” she exclaimed. “My old bones belong in my own cottage, with the sound of the stream outside to soothe me. Thank you just the same, but I’ll stay here.”
    “I hate to leave, too, Zara,” Alice said. Slowly she walked around the cottage, touching the rough table, the wooden bowls, the bench where she’d always slept beneath a soft sheepskin. “I won’t enjoy having to dress like a lady all the time. I’ll still want to climb trees and run.”
    Lord Raimond frowned at his niece. WhenLady Blanche saw the frown she spoke quietly. “Unless you’re allowed to climb trees, Alice—and to marry whomever you choose—we’ll all stay here. None of us will move to the chateau.”

    The baron turned abruptly to pace the small room. Then, with a slight bow toward Roger, he said, “There stands the next baron. Lord Roger. I have no children of my own, so I’ve made him my heir. Roger will decide what his sister can or cannot do.”
    “Alice?” Roger grinned when he looked at her. “She can do just about everything she tries. Since it’s up to me, she won’t have to marry anyone unless she wants to, and she can climb every tree for miles around the chateau.”
    Roger straightened himself to stand tall, no longer worried about his shabby, outgrown clothes. “I’ve already chosen the design for my banner,” he told them. “On the right a nightingale will soar. And on the left… can you guess, Alice?”
    “I hope it’s a monkey.”
    “It is.” Roger clasped her hand. “It will always be your banner as much as mine.”

About the Author
    GLORIA SKURZYNSKI is an award-winning children’s book author. About
The Minstrel in the Tower
she says, “I’ve been interested in the Middle Ages since I was in my late teens. This period in history is so rich and exciting that I was fascinated by the idea of writing about it for younger readers. I hope they enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.”
    Gloria Skurzynski lives with her husband in Salt Lake City, Utah. They have five children and five grandchildren.

About the Illustrator
    JULEK HELLER was born in Poland and studied painting at the Royal Academy of Art in London. He specializes in illustrating tales of fantasy and legend.
    Julek Heller lives in London with his wife and two children.

Text copyright © 1988 by Gloria Skurzynski. Illustrations copyright © 1988 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
    www.randomhouse.com/kids
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Skurzynski, Gloria.
The minstrel in the tower / by Gloria Skurzynski ; illustrated by Julek Heller.
  p. cm.—(A Stepping stone book)
SUMMARY : In the year