|
|
|
|
|
|
all leaders bothered, of course. Many let the vassals manage for themselves completely; some required the men to come to them to report. Ian's method was not easy, but in a few days he knew them allat least as far as their spirit, cheerful or complaining, and their intention, to work or to shirk. Thus he knew whether a complaint needed to be attended to or sloughed off, and he knew also how much he could count on each man when it came to fighting. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After all that, Ian spent half the night writing irate letters to his wife, demanding moremore money, more supplies, more armsor complaining that what he had received was bad quality or late in coming or should have been sent to some other place. Geoffrey's thoughts checked at that point. In his case, it would be Joanna who would receive those letters. This was the first time Joanna had come into his mind as a serious consideration since his father had mentioned his role as Ian's deputy. He had listened to and replied to what Ela said about her with half his mind, the other half already occupied with alternating dreams of glory and nightmares of failure. Geoffrey thought of the wagon trains that had rolled into camp bearing casks of salt meat, grain, fish, rounds of cheese. Most of them, except what Ian purchased locally, bore the stamp of Lady Alinor's seal, and the accounts were in her own hand. Joanna was whatfourteen?no, fifteen. Could he depend upon her for equal efficiency? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Was it even safe for her to attempt the traveling from demesne to demesne to urge, gather, inspect? Lady Ela did not perform those tasks, but Lady Ela had trained bailiffs and stewards, and there were few or none such men in Lady Alinor's household. Each farm had its bailiff, of course, each household its steward, but it was Lady Alinor herself who oversaw them all. Yet if Joanna failed, Geoffrey knew he must fail also, no matter how hard he tried. Urgently, he summoned up memories of Joanna, but none he had were at all to the point. Mostly, he remembered her laughing, aiding and abetting him in playing silly tricks on pompous squires of his acquaintance, romping in wild games of hoodman blind or hot cockles, andthe latest ones |
|
|
|
|
|