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Page 87
heads but their bowels will be sore afflicted."
"As you will, lady, butLady Joanna, you will not stay to watch oror pretend to nurse them?"
"No," Joanna agreed. "I am sorry for it, but it would not befit a shy and timid maiden. You hear, Beorn? If you are asked what I am, you must say I am easily frightened and not overclever."
"Lady" Beorn protested.
"That is my order. That is how I wish to be known at courtbut I do not know whether I will be able to sustain it. No matter, for this time it must serve. I do not think the other men will be questioned, but pass the word. They can say I am much shielded by my mother and thus they have not come to know me. So help me, I willI will put sand in their goose grease if they betray me! Now I must go in and change my gown, which is dripping wet, and write the messages I will send. Do not worry about me. Only do your best to see that no one is sore hurt if the wormwood should take hold before the spurge."
Dinner was pleasant if a little dull. To Joanna's intense amusement, Braybrook seemed too weary to have much to say. That was a bonus Joanna had not planned, but it made her doubly pleased with Edwina's efforts. Probably she could have avoided any probing questions Sir Henry might have asked; it was far better, however, that he should not ask. What was more, his langour prevented him from noticing that there were far fewer men-at-arms and servants eating dinner than was natural for a keep the size of Roselynde. Moreover, he said nothing further about the need to leave that day. Joanna had thought of several additional excellent reasons for delaying, but she did not need to use them. Braybrook seemed happily resigned to spending the night.
It was a little less than an hour after the tables had been cleared away that the first disturbance occurred. Two men-servants collided with each other right in the middle of the hall. Each had been walking quickly, looking nervously over his shoulder. The collision brought shrieks of terror instead of low oaths or angry mutters of "Watch where you

 
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