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Page 221
fend his befouled cub and further anger the king. Then your father will have a free path to the king's ear. And the queen will give us all the aid in her power. You know that."
Braybrook bit his lip. It did seem an almost perfect plan and it would benefit everyone except those two he hated. Tentatively he agreed and confessed that he had had a similar idea. He already had in mind the men he would hire. Moreover he was well aware of Joanna's movements from the spies he had set upon her household. He was also aware of where the guardsmen were and what they did. The only way to seize the girl for the short time necessary was from the river. FitzWalter encouraged him; the plans were finalized. When the sun came out on the fifth of March, Braybrook felt that fate was favoring him and he summoned his hirelings and planned to move as soon as the tide was right.
The mild morning of the fifth of March changed Joanna's plans for the day also. It drew her out into the rather neglected garden, where a brief survey set her to clicking her tongue against her teeth. There was no hope that such a small patch of land could provide food, but there was no reason why it should not provide pleasure. Joanna summoned the caretaker and spoke sharply and to the point. Perennial beds were to be weededat once. Beds for annuals were to be dugat once. And the little hut that had sheltered a boat and boatmen in her great-grandfather's time was to be cleared and patchedat once.
The remainder of the morning passed pleasantly in wandering around the markets of Chepeside to buy seed. She then returned home to see how the work she had ordered was progressing and to set the hardy, slow-germinating seed herself. She became so involved in this task and so very dirty that she had a bath when she returned to the house and then a leisurely dinner.
In the early afternoon Joanna received a message from Geoffrey that put her into the best of humor. He would come, he said, at the end of slack water to take her down-river when the tide should turn. At once she took pity on the

 
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