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Page 167
and added a postscript. ''If Geoffrey is at court and has heard of these matters, you may show him this letter if you think it wise. At all cost, however, do not permit him to attack Sir Henry who, I suspect, is more an unwilling tool than an intending seducer."
The new perspective in which she saw the situation made Joanna revise her intention of leaving for Roselynde at the earliest moment she could. Actually, the change of opinion did not matter, except as it marked the waning of her rage, because the day after Joanna had dispatched her messenger to Lady Ela, Geoffrey arrived. Joanna had been out with Sir Peter when he came into the keep, determining whether a particular stretch of hillside should be retained as common grazing field or returned to woodland, and they came back to find him still in full armor, sitting in a window seat and staring dully at the garden below.
Appalled, Sir Peter began to apologize for his wife's deficiencies, but in truth he did not know what to say. Mary was not the cleverest of women, but she did know what was owing in courtesy to a guest and, more particularly, to the betrothed husband of the next mistress of the estate.
Geoffrey looked blankly at the man for a moment, then sighed and smiled. "Rather it is I who should beg pardon," he soothed, realizing why Sir Peter was stumbling and stammering. "It was most discourteous of me to sit like this as if I expected ill in this place. I swear it is not so. Do you please tell your wife I am sorry if I was rude. I am sorely out of temper, but it is no fault of hers nor of yours."
The remark made Joanna lift her brows, but she did not reply to it directly. There was plenty of time for her to tell Geoffrey what she thought. The most essential thing, as far as Joanna was concerned was to obtain some privacy. Then if Geoffrey wished to quarrel, they could do so with decency.
"Since I must learn to put up with your tempers, my lord," Joanna said dulcetly, "do you come and let me unarm you so that your appearance will no longer be an offense to our host."

 
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