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with me now. Come, before he returns and is angry!" |
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"You and Léon are fools!" the old woman spat, "and Louis is so lily-livered he will take the chance of the prize slipping through his fingers so as to be clear of any suspicion. They are devils, I tell you. There is no honor when one deals with the devil." |
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Gilliane had now seized the woman, turned her about, and was drawing her forcibly toward the stairs leading to the women's quarters. Joanna stood transfixed. She was not sure why, but a terrible chill passed over her. The woman's words were incomprehensible. Nonetheless, there was hate and an enormous threat in them. Fear grew and movement came back to Joanna. That was a knife in the old woman's hand! She ran headlong into Geoffrey's chamber and, throwing back the bed curtains, began to examine him feverishly. |
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Startled awake, he seized her hands. "Joanna! What are you doing?" |
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"Are you hurt?" she whispered tensely, "Are you hurt?" |
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"Hurt? Are you mad? You have been tending my hurts for a week." He saw she was trembling. "What ails you, Joanna?" |
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"Do not begin that again!" Geoffrey snapped, irritable from being wakened too suddenly and remembering how furious he had been when they parted. "I tell you, we are safe here. Sir Léon and Lady Gilliane wish us no harm. |
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"Yes, that is true, but the old woman" |
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"Sir Léon's mother? I have never seen her, except" Geoffrey's voice grew uncertain as he remembered the vague dreams of delirium, of being tortured by an old woman. He pulled Joanna closer. "Why do you fear her?" |
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"She had a knife. I did not see it clear, but I am sure it was a knife, and she was coming in here. Gilliane was frightened too. She almost dragged her back to the women's quarters. Gilliane said the old woman was sickbut, Geoffrey, she was not, not weak or pale. I fearShe saidshe |
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