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arrived at the end of the second week of August, a week after the news of the disaster at Bouvines. The personal effects of this catastrophe, which made anything Joanna wrote about the reception the king would have irrelevant, had stunned Alinor into numbness and disbelief. |
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The first communication direct from France, from Philip himself, which arrived two days after the initial news, had lit a spark of hope. Salisbury was not dead. Hoping and praying, Alinor had waited for further news. This day it had come. Now she had a thing to tell Joanna that tore her heart violently so that a pain made her press her arms across her breast and rock to and fro moaning. When the spasm passed, Alinor wiped the tears that ran down her face and obscured her vision and picked up her pen. |
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"My dearest, my most sweet and beloved daughter, I pray that the Mother of mercy will give you strength to bear the news I write. I pray also that you will not in your bitterness despise me for being the sender of these tidings or for exposing you to this sorrow by urging your marriage. Geoffrey is lost. Beloved, beloved, have courage. I'do not know what else to say. I cannot even comfort you by bringing you his dear body to lay to rest nor even by telling you where to go to weep over his grave. Heart of my heart, my pain is nothing to yours, yet it racks me apart so I can hardly write." |
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The evidence of that was plain. Alinor's usually firm and flowing hand was tremulous and the ink was splotched and smeared with the tears she could not catch, which had fallen on the parchment and had been blotted away. For a while she stopped writing again. The new messenger who had arrived was a nobleman close to Philip. Ian had gone to speak to him personally. Perhaps they had found Geoffrey's body after all. The only thing they knew for certain was that he was not among the prisoners taken. Alinor sobbed disconsolately, crying so hard that she could not see. Her maid Gertrude crept to her side and patted her hand. |
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"Madam," she whispered, "your lord comes. You bade me warn you." |
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Desperately, Alinor wiped her eyes and face and strug- |
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