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Page 556
"Ian, do not waste your breath on nonsense," Alinor remonstrated, but she could not help smiling. No preoccupation could blind her to her daughter's glow.
He nodded, still smiling, gathered strength for a minute, and said, "I do not know what will be asked of us, but my levies will answer also, even those in the north. Louis will never sign nor acknowledge Magna Carta, and all know it. I will give you a letter so you can summon them if they are needed before I am strong enough."
The last words were a bare whisper. Joanna and Alinor both said, "Enough!" with one voice.
"Wait" Ian whispered.
"He does not go tonight," Joanna said firmly. "Tomorrow you can tell him what else is necessary."
With those words, she propelled Geoffrey out the door. She withdrew herself, but only into a shadowy corner, waiting the few minutes while Alinor soothed Ian and his eyes closed. Then'she drew her mother away and insisted that Alinor sleep also. It was late, far later than Joanna expected when her mother woke and returned to watch beside her husband again. She hugged Joanna hard but quickly.
"I am sorry, my love, to sleep away so many of the last few hours you will have with Geoffrey," Alinor murmured hurriedly. "He is whole again, I see. Thank God for it. I will not ask you to tell me now how it came about nor waste more of your time to thank you for my Ian's life. Go now. Go to your husband."
Because there was nothing else she could do, Joanna did go, but she was torn between eagerness and fear. To watch a sleeping man breathe, alert to help him if he should seem to be in difficulty, does not occupy the mind. As dusk slipped into night, Joanna had grown less and less sure of the continuation of the miracle she had prayed for for so long. If Geoffrey had changed, slipped back again, she thought she could not live.
That fear, was nearly swallowed in disappointment when she found Geoffrey fast asleep, but enough was left to make her undress very quietly and slip gently into bed. If he did not wake, she would not need to know. However, as soon as

 
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