|
|
|
|
|
|
not want Marie's attention occupied. However, it would be easy enough to determine Richard's attitude when they met him at Brecon. Until then, he would have to walk a tightrope between too great and too little encouragement of the lady. However, conditions on the road in November were not conducive to illicit romance, so there was little danger of a too-quick ripening of the verbal dalliance. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Neither rain nor baggage wagons impeded the progress of the party from Hemel. Having decided to go to the wedding, Geoffrey and Joanna set out the very next morning just at dawn and arrived at Roselynde keep late that same night, a day before Ian and Alinor had indicated they would leave for Wales. The keep was safe in Sir Guy's hands, and Adam and Gilliane had agreed to remain in England to guard against the unlikely chance that there would be a major attack on any of the family's property that would necessitate forming an army. From Roselynde the whole party rode nearly due north toward Oxford, much of the time cross-country, ignoring roads and fording streams and rivers. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joanna kept an anxious eye on her stepfather and her mother, but Alinor's vigor seemed little less than her own, despite the fact that she groaned and complained most comically at every rest period of the rheum in her bones. Really Joanna's primary concern was Ian, who had long suffered an affliction of the lungs that shortened his breath and, if he was chilled, came near to choking him to death. It was therefore necessary to keep Ian dry and warmno easy thing in an English November, and in particular when the object of her concern was frequently with his weakness. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
However, Alinor and Joanna had their devices for protecting Ian. There were endless changes of clothing for him, and the women took it in turns to find some excuse to caress him so that they could thrust their hands beneath his cloak and outer garments to be sure he was dry. One thing Ian could never resisteven when he guessed the purposewas a display of affection from his wife and stepdaughter. There was also a clever garment of thin, oiled parchment, which could be worn over his cloak to shed water when the rain was heavy. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The party stayed at the abbey at Abingdon that night, and the next morning, at Oxford, they gathered up Geoffrey and |
|
|
|
|
|