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"Right y' are," he agreed "You there," he said to Belgarath "Get the poor girl a cup or sonarled brother, then wordlessly fetched a silver tankard from a sideboard

Beldin dipped deeply into the cask with the tankard, swiped off the bottoood health,from the cask

"You're so kind," she hiccuped Then she drained off about half the tankard with foa out of the coown

"We were very sorry to have missed his Grace," Silk said, obviously a little nonplussed by Beldin's rough-and-ready approach to a highborn, though tipsy, lady

"You didn'ther reen toad with all the char to decipher his proximity to the imperial throne Kal Zakath has no heir, so all the i for one another to die and trying to cehness? It's an absolutely ghastly place Frankly, imperial crown or no, I'd sooner live in Hell" She drained her tankard and handed it wordlessly back to Beldin Then she looked around brightly, her eyes slightly unfocused "But my dear Prince 'Kheldar," she said, "you haven't introduced etful ofhis hand to his forehead He rose formally to his feet "Your Grace, I have the honor to present her Grace, the Duchess of Erat" He held his hand out grandly to Polgara, who rose and curtsied

"Your Grace," sheto rise, but not quite succeeding

"There, there,down on her shoulder to keep her more or less in place " Tis early, an' we're all friends There's no need at all fer us t' be goin' through all these tireso at Beldin with one hand and dipping out more ale with the other "Can I keep hiht need hi at the ancient sorcerer She grinned roguishly "I'll wager I could hness, Princess Ce'Nedra of the House of Borune," he said, "and the Margravine Liselle of Drasnia The young man with the sword is known as the Lord of the Western Sea--an obscure title, I'll grant you, but his people are an obscure sort of folk" Garion bowed deeply to the tipsy archduchess

"So great a sword you have, my Lord," she said, "It's a family heirlooed to carry it"

"The others have no titles they care to acknowledge," Silk said "They're business associates, and we don't worry about titles where money is concerned"

"Do you have a title?" the lady asked Beldin "Several, me little darlin'," he replied in an offhand way, "but none fronizin' the nao" He raised the cask again and drank noisily

"What a dear littlesort of voice

" 'Tis h " 'Tis always been me bane, this charmin' quality about me Sometimes I must actually hide myself t' keep off the ain, then belched

"We ested