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Page 187
her placid face, and her hands and voice were steady when she said, ''Well, my lord, then you are come to a point of decision. Will you stand with us, or must I tell my mother that the son of her dear friend and most trusted vassal, your father, has chosen to desert her?"
The situation was deliberately phrased in the ugliest possible way that still carried no threat. Shock and revelation showed in the young man's eyes.
"I never said that," Sir John replied indignantly. "I only said I did not believe the pope would go so far. My vow to your mother is nothing to do with hers to the king."
Since she had succeeded in making Sir John see where his thoughts were leading him and there could be no doubt that, having seen that path he had turned aside from it, Joanna put out her hands and took his. "Do not be angry with me. Forgive me that I misunderstood you. You know it is not out of great love for the king or blindness to his faults that we are determined to stand with him. Whatever offense the king has given the pope, the Holy Father is not considering us, also his children, I fear. He is ready to take away our king, but he has nothing to offer us in exchange. However much your head hurts you, it is better to keep it than to have it chopped off."
It was well worth a few days to confirm Sir John in his decision and Joanna spent them gladly, using the opportunity to warn her vassal about the possibility that Philip would invade England. She pointed out that this time the French king might have allies from the Low Countries, who would know well how to negotiate the bogs that protected Mersea from most invasions. However, she did not prolong her visit more than necessary. Partly this was because she did not wish to seem suspicious or to be watching Sir John, but mostly it was because Joanna was frightened and longed for the security of the great walls of Roselynde keep.
It was all very well to circumvent slyly the interdict by the pope. It was also all very well to drag a simple priest off her land at her horse's tail. Joanna was no credulous serf to be awed by the ability to read and write and chant in Latin

 
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