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Page 92
Chapter Six
When Lady Joanna left Roselynde the next morning, Brian ran beside her stirrup on one side and Braybrook rode beside her on the other and the troop that rode behind them was her own. After visiting his men, Sir Henry acknowledged they were in no condition to walk, much less to ride or guard anything. His mood was not of the best, but Lady Joanna was as sunny and good humored as could be in spite of a cold, persistent drizzle. She said again and again how happy she was to escape the keep where such a frightening sickness had come and how much she was looking forward to a gay time with the queen and her ladies.
Gradually, under the influence of Joanna's persistent cheerfulness and pleasant conversation, Braybrook grew pacified. Even when they had a difference of opinion about the route, he did not relapse into ill humor. He had wanted to ride north to Oxford and then northeast to Whitechurch. Joanna protested that, since they were riding generally northeast, she would like to visit Lady Ela at Salisbury. Sir Henry complained that the route through Salisbury was longer and less safe, but not with much conviction and he yielded readily when Joanna said that Lady Ela was her foster mother and she had not seen her for some time.
This easy compliance convinced Joanna that either Braybrook was indeed innocent of any plot against her, if there ever had been such a plot, or that the substitution of her troop for his had made whatever plan he had unworkable. She leaned toward the former notion more and more as they progressed because of the lightness of Sir Henry's spirit. He was, in her opinion, a silly man, but harmless. A long but uneventful ride broken by several pleasant, if

 
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