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Page 241
fears, nothing happened. John continued to flaunt his power in the faces of his subjects. Joanna had a taste of it herself after she returned to Roselynde when she learned that the sheriff of Southampton had instructions to enclose the dock at Portsmouth with a strong wall. This in itself was not bad, but if fortifications were to be added to the wall, those fortifications would command the entrance to Roselynde harbor. It was a first step in a direction Joanna did not like at all. There was nothing she could do, except protest, and she was too wise to do that. The king had a right to build upon his own property, and it was most reasonable to build a structure that would be a protection to any ship that docked at Portsmouth. It would also be a protection against reavers or invaders from France. The only bad part was that the king could not be trusted. John's character was such that, instead of being glad that the country would be protected from attack, Joanna felt the structure to be a threat against the king's own subjects.
The news of the construction at Portsmouth arrived during the last week of May. Joanna sent a messenger posthaste to Alinor in Ireland and herself rode south to see what was being done. The visit and various conversations with the builder overseeing the work told her little. Nothing obviously threatening was being built, but she remained uneasy. Her feeling was shared completely by her mother, who replied by a letter that arrived in the third week of June. Alinor suggested that, if John was not in London, Joanna should betake herself there and use her feminine wiles on the officer of the royal Exchequer who was responsible for the purchase of materials and payments for the construction.
''From him, if you are sufficiently clever," Alinor wrote, "you will be able to determine what is truly intended. He will not tell you in words, but if more stone is ordered or more workmen than are reasonable for a wall, you will know that more than a wall will be built. Also ropes and timber fittings for trenchbuts and mangonels will point in which direction the wind blows. I do not need to explain these matters to you more fully, I am sure, but send to me

 
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