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Page 235
come back to the house so she could sew the tear. He did not argue, merely telling her to go ahead and he would follow. He then rescued his boatmen, who had been taken prisoner along with the others and told them to secure both crafts until he was sure what to do about the larger one. Finally, he told Beorn to take the prisoners where their screams would not disturb him and Joanna and find out what they knew. When Joanna was finished with him, he sent off a message to his father, which naturally brought Salisbury and Ela up to Joanna's house in anxious haste. They found one victim calmly embroidering, the other lounging in a cushioned chair with an angry frown on his face and a number of pieces of black cloth in his hands.
"You are hurt, boy," Salisbury said, judging correctly Geoffrey's posture.
"A slit in my hidenothing," Geoffrey replied, holding out the crude masks. "Look here."
Salisbury instead looked at Joanna, who nodded and smiled, confirming that Geoffrey's hurt was slight. A faint expression of satisfaction appeared in Salisbury's eyes as he looked back at his son. "You will not be able to take part in the tourney then," he said.
To his surprise, Geoffrey cocked a brow at him, but did not offer any argument. Instead he said, "You need not fear that Braybrook and I will come to blows. It is heI would almost wager my life upon itwho will not take part."
"Was it he?" Salisbury asked anxiously, referring to the attack on Joanna. "What have you done to him? With him?"
"I have done nothing." Geoffrey grinned nastily. "But I believe Brian has had a mouthful out of his assa big enough mouthful that Braybrook will not sit a horse for some time to come."
"Brian?" Salisbury looked at the dog who, hearing his name, lolled out his tongue with an idiotic expression of good nature and began to thump the ground with his tail. "Does it have courage and sense enough to bite its own

 
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