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Page 481
what she could for the men, she found her brother asleep. She moved away knowing she would disturb his rest if she sat and stared at him. Probably she should follow his example, Joanna thought, but she was too keyed up to rest and, after a moment's consideration, sought out the prize that all this effort had won.
Sir Léon was sitting with his back against a tree with Knud's eye upon him. When Joanna approached, obviously about to speak to him, Knud prodded the prisoner roughly to his feet, hissing, "You stand and bow when the lady comes near, hear!"
"That is not necessary, Knud," Joanna said caustically, "Sir Léon is not my man, after all. If his manners are of the gutter, it is no affair of yours or mine." She waited a moment, but the man simply gaped at her, and she shrugged scornfully. "Ah, well, I see the 'gentleman' is too proudin spite of the fact that I have just bought him free. I will accept your courtesy, Knud."
Having been his mistress's escort many times, Knud knew what was expected of him during a rest period too short to bother unpacking. He whipped off his cloak and laid it doubled on the ground for Joanna to sit upon. "Shall I make a 'rest' for you, lady?" he asked.
Joanna smiled. "No, move the cloak to the tree. Go and lie down. I will give warning if our 'guest' should take any odd notions."
Obediently, Knud moved a little distance away, too far to hear low voices but near enough to get at Sir Léon should he try to run or make a threatening gesture toward Joanna.
"Madam," Sir Léon said at last in a voice made thin by bewilderment, "what do you mean 'you have bought me free?' Who are you? What is going on? Was that fight over me? If so, someone is badly mistaken. I am a simple knight, of no value to anyone except my own family."
Joanna's cold expression softened somewhat. Perhaps the man was not deliberately rude but simply bemused. It was true that she had not told him anything, but she assumed he would have been told by the castellan that his ransom was being paid. She gestured to him to be seated.

 
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