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Page 265
satisfaction in that knowledge, only a vista of tense, endless waiting.
A notion crept into Joanna's head, a wild, foolish notion far more fitting for Alinor, who was incapable of waiting for good or evil, than for Joanna the sensible. Geoffrey will kill me if he ever finds out, she thought, more especially after what I said to him about the childishness of going to watch things burn. Joanna erased the idea from the surface of her mind, but it continued to work busily from below until, at last, what seemed like a good reason for activity took fast hold upon her. Salisbury's house was much nearer the pall of smoke than hers, and there were only servants there. Surely it was her duty to make certain all was safe there, if not from the fire then from the thieves and looters any disaster let loose from their normal haunts.
She did not get her way completely without argument. Beorn expostulated that it would be sufficient to send some men to Salisbury's house, but Joanna was able to counter that because Salisbury's servants would have no reason to trust a band of men-at-arms who arrived from nowhere and began to give orders. If Joanna was present, there could be no doubt as to the legitimacy of her authority in a crisis. Next Beorn objected that she would thus leave her own house unprotected. That provided Joanna with just the opening she wanted. Beorn with fifteen men should stay. Knud and the remainder of the men, the older, more experienced ones, would go with her.
In the long run, whatever objections Beorn had would need to give way before Joanna's orders, but he did not even argue very hard. Unless caught up in a jest, the young mistress usually had more sense than her mother. She was most unlikely to run into danger in a fit of temper or just to amuse herself.
Before very long, clothed in her oldest and darkest garments, Joanna set off. She did not take Brian. Something was making the dog very uneasy and hard to manage. It seemed safer to leave him tied in the stable. At first there was little to mark the trouble except the dearth of wagons

 
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