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away from Lord Geoffrey. My lady, you have the right to flay me or even kill me, and you can order Sir Guy to be punished also. Nonetheless, if you do not go of your own will, we will drag you.'' |
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There was not strength enough in Joanna for rage to come. She wept, but when Sir Guy picked her up and carried her out, she did not struggle. She lay, wrapped in three cloaks, sobbing softly and listening for Geoffrey's voice. He seemed much quieter, now that she was gone, and she wondered guiltily if she had violated one of her mother's maxims and allowed her own anxiety to make her patient uneasy. Exhaustion did not permit guilt, or any other notion, to torment her long. It was just as well because, if she thought about it she might have guessed another reason for Geoffrey's silence. Edwina, far less tender than her mistress, was muffling his cries with a firm hand over his mouth. |
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Not everything was bad. At least they were not pursued. Sir Guy continued to avoid towns and villages because there was more likelihood of French being there, and the French might ask awkward questions. As they came deeper into Flanders, the country folk were less to be feared. In spite of sporadic enmity over the question of who should grow and who weave wool and where the greatest profit should be, the Flemish preferred the English to the French. Besides, just now the outrages of the French were freshest in their minds. They would give no voluntary information to the conquerors even if they did guess that an English knight had passed. |
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This was fortunate because as they came nearer to Oostende there were many people and villages. True, they looked aside as if they saw nothing, but Sir Guy was aware that the port city must be full of French and that, if they did not actually guard the gates, they would have spies there. They would not be looking specifically for Geoffrey; their purpose would be to watch what goods came in and to whom those goods went so that the taxes would be paid. Nonetheless, it was unlikely that a man in Geoffrey's condi- |
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