< previous page page_519 next page >

Page 519
stupid, dangerous thing about which to lie." Then he shrugged. "You will not run or walk evenly or as fastbut you know that already from what Joanna has told you, and an armed man does not run well in any case. It might a little affect your jousting. I will need to try you before I can speak as to thatbut for a jouster such as you," he added with loving contempt, "who could tell the difference?"
"At least there were few men who could unseat me before this," Geoffrey protested. "Will I be less firm in the saddle?"
"No, not that," Ian assured him. "It is in the forward thrust that you might be limited, but, of a truth, I do not think so."
Geoffrey's mind was relieved; he was not really a vain young man. So long as it did not impede his ability as a fighter, he would not have cared much if he walked like a crab. Now that his personal anxiety was over, however, there were other matters he wantad to talk about.
"I am almost glad of it," he said, "because it gave me occasion to ask to see you alone. Joanna will tell me nothing of what is happening in the world. Or, if I demand an answer, tells me what I greatly fear are falsehoods."
"So?" Ian said, "She is not unwise in that. What purpose can there be in fretting you over what you cannot help?"
"Then there is trouble," Geoffrey said tensely.
Ian could have kicked himself. He knew his wife and stepdaughter would be fit to flay him alive for his awkward answer. Only now he realized that Geoffrey's opening gambit about being kept in ignorance was a trap for his unwary tongue, and a trap he should have recognized. Geoffrey was too clever by half. Ian knew Joanna would not be so crude as to refuse to answer or to tell obvious falsehoodsnot Alinor's daughter. Probably what she had said to Geoffrey was very convincing; Geoffrey had almost been deluded into believing all was well. Stilltoo clever by halfthere had been a doubt in his mind raised by the memory of the disastrous defeats. If only, Ian thought, I had said all was

 
< previous page page_519 next page >