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Page 449
even to sit still. Above and beyond her own unease was the problem of what to say to Joanna. Dared she even offer a hint of the hope that tormented her? Such a hope would be ten times worse for Joanna. Then her pacing stopped short. What an idiot I am, Alinor thought, wondering what to tell Joanna. I must tell her. She must be prepared to pay. First, however, we must counter the queen's offer. Ian must somehow get a message into France that Geoffrey's wife will pay three times, five times, ten times his ransom to have him returned safe and well.
Lady Alinor need not have feared the effect of her letter upon her daughter. Joanna was already aware of everything Alinor wrote except for Isabella's offer. That added a trifle to her cup of bitterness, but not much. Anyone who would murder a helpless prisoner out of greed would be just as willing to keep him alive when a greater bribe was offered, and Joanna was aware that the news of the greater bribe was already abroad in France.
Joanna had been apprised of her husband's almost certain death at nearly the same time her mother's messenger had taken ship for England. King Philip of France was not, generally speaking, a cruel man. He could be immoderately vengeful when he believed himself to have been slighted or injured, but he was not baselessly vicious. Thus, he was not unkind to Salisbury, whom he knew well from John's sojourns in the French court in the past. When the distraught father pleaded with tears for news of his son, Philip had commanded that an earnest search be made for Geoffrey. He had even permitted Salisbury to write to his bereaved daughter-by-marriage the sad news that Geoffrey had not been taken prisoner and must be presumed dead, although his body could not be found. Perhaps if Philip had not been so sure the young man was already dead, he would have prevented the circulation of Isabella's double ransom offer, but under the circumstances he did not see why he should not oblige John's wife. He might want a small favor from her some day.
Salisbury's letter could not be transmitted direct because

 
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