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Page 151
Clyro, for I will return to this place as speedily as I can."
That was really all Joanna had to say, but she sat with the quill in her hand, then dipped it and added, "I was most desirous of coming to you myself, only for the pleasure of greeting and the pain of parting, but I knew there would be no place for me in Oswestry. I comfort myself for this loss in meeting with the thought that we may soon have the pleasure of greeting without the pain of parting. God keep you safeand do you not be such a fool as to put Him to extra labor by exposing yourself more than is needful. Written this twenty-fifth day of June by Joanna of Roselynde, your loving and dutiful wife."
When the letter was handed to Geoffrey by Knud, he barely glanced at it. Finding the information he needed written directly after the greeting, Geoffrey thrust the letter into a safe place with the intention of reading it more carefully when he was at leisure and could enjoy it. However, Geoffrey never was "at leisure" any more. The vassals who served under him had had time to take his full measure. They no longer cared that he was twenty years old, all they cared about was that Geoffrey seemed able, and willing, to solve their problems. Before he woke at dawn, those who had the night watches were waiting to speak to him. More often than not he was on horseback while the others ate their dinners, and, when he returned to snatch a dry, cold, unappetizing meal, still others were waiting with new troubles. Lacking Ian's experience, he allowed the men to take advantage of him. Where Ian would have answered with a brief sentence of advice, knowing that what was done was not of great importance, Geoffrey felt obliged to go and see for himself. Worse, where Ian would have told a man sharply that he should attend to such a thing himself, Geoffrey took the burden on his own shoulders.
Above and beyond the effort demanded by his own men, Salisbury and the king drew heavily on Geoffrey's time. There was no lack of advice on how best to conduct a campaign in Wales now. A number of Welsh princes, who hoped to see Lord Llewelyn's pride abated, were with the

 
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