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Page 541
"Then I will not go, if you do not wish it," Joanna assured him soothingly. "Come and sit down. A little wine will settle your stomach. Tell me, Geoffrey, please tell me what is wrong."
But Geoffrey told her nothing. He sat and drank his wine as she directed, but when she asked where he had been, he said, "With the king," and looked so sick she thought he would bring up the wine he had just swallowed. That path was closed. She asked then if he or Adam had been hurt. Geoffrey closed his eyes and took a breath and then "made" a horrible travesty of a smile. A few bruises and scratches, he said, nothing that merited the effort of undressing to be tended.
It was Adam who finally answered her. The wine had put color back into his face and, when Joanna turned to him, unable to bear either Geoffrey's numb despair or false good cheer, Adam saw her fear and confusion.
"I am sorry we frightened you, Jo," he said, sounding more natural. "There is nothing to fear, really. It was" he passed a hand across his face. "The whole east,'' and his voice shook again, "the whole east is a burned-out wasteland full of stinking corpses. First we took Rochester." His eyes brightened momentarily. "That was good fun. They held out fiercely and the walls would not yield to the catapults and mangonels. We had to set the men to mining under a tower, and then we burnt out the timbers shoring up the tunnel and the tower fell, and so we breached the walls."
The light died out of his eyes. "Then Salisbury settled to keep the rebels in London," Adam continued slowly. "I was just thinking that I had better get back to Kemp because" He glanced toward Geoffrey, looked at Joanna, and mouthed "later," " because there were already rumors of invasion. But the king came and," his voice faltered, "and commanded that Geoffrey and I come with him. He said we had well-trained troops and would be useful."
There was a short silence. Joanna looked from one to the other. Geoffrey was staring down into his wine, the goblet clutched so tight in his hands that the knuckles showed

 
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