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dragged on John's murderous campaign through the east. Adam's mouth hardened, but he replied that he was not sorry. He had learned a few things. |
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What he had learned came out that evening as they sat before the fire. "If Louis comes, will you hold by your oath to John, Ian?" Adam asked. |
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Ian looked startled. "You know I willand it is not through fear of what you saw the king do. That is an ugly and a terrible thingbut it was not wholly undeserved by those who suffered it. Whatever John is, he is the rightful king and he will stray abroad no more. When Louis is cast out, will the pope, nill the pope, we will bind John to Magna Carta and have peace in this land and a right rule." |
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"You will never have it with John," Adam replied steadily, "charter or no charter. Even those who follow him and are loyal to him hate him. It was not for what he did. You have said, and I have seen, that these things are necessary. It was because he took pleasure in it. I hate him, Ian, and I have never hated any person in my whole life." |
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Ian opened his mouth as if to give a sharp order, and then swallowed. Adam was beyond being commanded. He was not knighted, but there could be no doubt that he was adult and master of his own. |
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"So?" he said bitterly. "And you, Geoffrey, what do you say to this?" |
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"I? There is nothing I can say. Adam is quite right. There will be no peace as long as John reigns. If he continues to be king much longer you will see father pitted against son and brother against brother. But it will not help if Louis wins. There will be no peace anyway. First, he will kill John's heirs so that we will have no rallying point. Then he will set foreign masters over us who do not know our customs. He will find excuses to disseise us and give the land to his own men. And those of us who remain, by his grace and our humbling of ourselves, he will drain to the last drop to pay for his wars in France and Flanders, and Savoy. . . . There will be rebellion again." |
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"But what will you do?" Adam asked, not completely convinced, but certainly shaken. |
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