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into the belief that a priest was any more than a man. For that matter, she knew that bishops and popes were also men, and she had no hesitation in expressing her doubts of their good sense, not to mention their infallibility. But Joanna did believe in God and the Devil, did acknowledge the active participation of the Highest Good and the Greatest Evil in the affairs of men. |
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Somewhere deep in Joanna's mind there was an intimate connection between King John and the Father of Evil. The king had been the enemy in her home since the day she was born. Her memories of her father were now very dim, but one of them was of Simon in a real rageto be clearly distinguished from the brief tempers Minor drove him intocursing the king as the misbegotten spawn of Satan. It was all becoming too real. |
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Geoffrey and Joanna had managed to avoid the court, but Lady Ela kept Joanna well supplied with newsand most of it was not good. Nothing of great importance had happened since the pope's emissaries and Renaud Dammartin had departed, but many minor incidents, far too many, showed the king's contempt for his nobles and his indifference to their opinion of him. |
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Joanna spent Christmas alone at Roselynde. She had not known whether she was pleased or disappointed when she returned there at the beginning of the second week in December and found Geoffrey's letter saying that he could not be with her. There was no doubt in her mind that she missed him, that she longed for his conversation, the sound of his sweet voice singing, his touchbut, since they had almost come to coupling in Clyro, there had been a marked constraint between them. |
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They had met twice for a few days and, while they discussed business and exchanged news, they were very happy together. The ease, however, did not persist. When they touched, even by accident, it was as if lightning passed between them. There was a shock, painful in intensity. Joanna could feel her heart check and then begin to hammer. Geoffrey would flush a little and withdraw stiffly. Joanna did not |
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