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Page 172
been better pleasedNo matter. It was at Northampton that I saw shadows of things to comeevil shadows."
The words were full of foreboding, but Geoffrey's voice was more relaxed, sad still, but not so desperate as he had sounded in the hall. Joanna had been badly frightened by the controlled hysteria under the words he had said then. It was that emotion to which she had responded by asking if she must call up her mother's vassals. Now she realized that it had been fatigue and the inability to talk to anyone that had come close to unbalancing Geoffrey. The warm water, the soothing attentions she gave him, the opportunity to say things aloud and hear a response to his ideas were permitting him to see the situation ahead in better perspective.
"You said the Welsh would break loose again. Why?"
"Because John now thinks to rule them with fear and power. When he first spoke of this campaign, he said he would keep England outside of Welsh affairs as the balancer and the settler of problems, thus also giving the princelings there no need to unite. I was well content with that. Nothing could be better. It was what Llewelyn was trying to do but with the advantage that John would be arbiter in Llewelyn's place and thus the Welsh would have no strong central leader who could weld them into one."
"But if Llewelyn failed, why do you believe John could succeed?"
"Because John is not Welsh. Do you not see? Gwenwynwyn, Maelgwyn and his brother Rhys, and all the rest of the petty princes see Llewelyn as one of themselves, raising himself over their heads with no more right to lead than they have. That John is greater than any of them, they do not contest. Thus, had he kept himself apart from them, after proving he could overpower the greatest among them, they would have obeyed him gladly. They would even, I think, have paid a reasonable scutage to keep the king's favor, and they would certainly have been strong allies in any war against the French or the Scots or anyone.
"Get out, Geoffrey, I am finished with you."
Joanna stood back holding a large square of linen, which

 
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