Joanna (4 page)

All in all, there was nothing to displease a young woman in Geoffrey’s appearance. Salisbury suffered another qualm of doubt. There was also nothing in particular to attract a girl who was accustomed to looking at Ian de Vipont. But that was ridiculous. There was not another man in the country with a face to match Ian’s. Joanna must be well aware of that. Perhaps she would be glad of a more ordinary-looking husband. She could not have failed to notice how the ladies of the court clustered around her stepfather like ants around a honey pot.

For the first time, Salisbury himself wondered what Joanna felt about the proposed marriage. He had said he knew her well, and in one sense that was true; however, Joanna was a singularly reserved girl. She was not given to idle chatter and almost never spoke of her own feelings about any subject, even those in which she was obviously interested. Salisbury suppressed still another qualm. He
was
sure that Alinor and Ian would not force Joanna into anything. She must then at least be willing.

“There is sense in what you say,” Salisbury repeated, “but I assure you a poor, ugly wife is no greater guarantee of happiness. Joanna is a good and dutiful girl. I do not believe she will play you false.” He paused. “Geoffrey, what are we talking about? You know I desire this, yet I will not press you to do what you hate. Only let me say one thing more. You know the situation in which Ian finds himself?” Salisbury hardly waited for Geoffrey’s nod before he continued. “The reason for offering Joanna to you at this time is partly so that she will be protected if the Welsh war should spread unrest in this country and partly so that a responsible man with a blood-bond to the family can lead Ian’s and Alinor’s and Adam’s vassals.’’

“Lead” Geoffrey’s face paled a little. “Ian wants me to lead his menall his men? Oh, papa, I am not sure”

“I will help you, my son, in every way I can, yet the burden will be a heavy one. Still, what can he do? He must   have someone he can trust, and you are dearest to him.”

Geoffrey swallowed. The pain in his father’s voice dragged at him. King John was almost never mentioned between father and son. It was the one forbidden subject, the one thing they could never discuss. William of Salisbury loved his brother; Geoffrey hated his uncle. Each had what he felt were good and sufficient reasons. Geoffrey realized that his father had come as close to saying that John could not be trusted with Ian’s vassals or with Ian’s stepdaughter as it was possible for him. For Geoffrey to take Ian’s men would save face all around. The king would have his due and, since one of the king’s own kinsmen would be the man chosen to lead the men, Ian’s distrust would not be obvious to anyone who did not already know how matters stood between King John and his vassal.

“Then there is no further question,” Geoffrey replied. “I will marry Joanna and will do my uttermost to fulfill Ian’s will.”

“It will not be so terribly hard,” Salisbury encouraged. “The older vassals will advise you, and you would do well to listen to them. The main trouble lies in their rivalry among themselves when one of them is chosen to lead the others. Because you are outside the group and known to them as Ian’s squire, you will have less trouble.”

“How will the men know I am chosen? Will they be bound to obey my summons?”

“I am not yet sure of the details. Ian has asked that we come to Roselynde to settle everything, and this seems reasonable to me. He says, of course, that he will come here if I cannot come to him, but he must be far busier than I. It will be pleasant for Ela to see Alinor again also”

The son’s eyes met the father’s and gravity evaporated. Both began to laugh. Ela would certainly want to see Alinor and would surely accompany them, but the fuss and bother of getting Ela started on a journey could only be approximated by a major natural catastrophe.

“Well, I am glad to hear you both laughing.” It was a faint, high-pitched feminine voice that somehow carried   almost the full length of the great hall. “Otherwise I would suspect some dreadful event had taken place. What
are
you doing in full armor, Geoffrey?”

“I was practicing at sword play with William, my lady. These days I need my armor. He improves apace.”

As he spoke, Geoffrey fetched a chair and set it near his father’s. Lady Ela, who had traversed the great hall, sank into it as if she could barely keep to her feet. Then she waved a languid hand at Geoffrey. “Go and take it off, my love, do. You know it makes me short of breath to see you carrying all that steel.”

“Let him be, Ela. It improves the strength to wear mail, and Geoffrey will need his strength.”

There was no change in Ela’s expression, but shockingly alert pale blue eyes flashed toward Salisbury and then dropped. “So you have pushed him into picking up Ian’s burden,” she sighed.

“How the devil do you know that?” Salisbury exclaimed.

“Do not shout at me, William. You make my head ache.”

In fact, Salisbury had not been shouting. Now, however, he not only lowered his voice still further but used a less aggressive tone. “How did you know, Ela?” he repeated.

“Alinor wrote some weeks ago to ask certain questions about Geoffrey. It was not hard to put two and two together.”

“But Lady Alinor knows me” Geoffrey began.

His stepmother’s tinkling laugh cut him off and made him flush. “Dear heart, she did not ask me about your honesty or your military qualificationsand she knows of your ability to sing and play the lute.”

“Whatever you answered must have been what she wanted to hear,” Salisbury said heartily. “I have an offer of Joanna from Ian.”

Ela sighed.

“Do you not approve, my dear?” Salisbury asked.

“I cannot see the future, William.” She raised her eyes   to Geoffrey. “I only know that Joanna is not what she seems.”

“Good God, Ela, of what do you accuse the girl? I thought you liked her.”

“Like her? I love her dearly, and I do not accuse her of anything. Oh, William, I am not impugning her virtuehow silly, and how unimportant. You knew Simon, William. Joanna is his daughter, and her mother has done nothing to tame her.”

“Tame her! Why, I never came across a more obedient, meeker child.
I
could have wished for a little more spirit in her.”

Ela shook her head gently, her eyes remaining fixed upon Geoffrey. “My love,” she urged, “if you are determined on this course, think long and hard before you cross Joanna.”

“Joanna is notI mean, I have no choice, my lady. If Ian needs me, I must do whatever is in my power to help him.”

“Mary have mercy!” Ela cried, sitting bolt upright and pressing a hand to her breast. “Bite your tongue! Never say that again nor allow the thought into your mind!”

Then, as she saw the jut of Geoffrey’s jaw, Ela wished she had bitten her own tongue. She did not often set a foot amiss in dealing with people, but her guilt concerning her stepson made her overanxious for his happiness, and that occasionally made her clumsy.

“Geoffrey,” she went on, more calmly, “you cannot desire to hurt Joanna, to make her cheap in her own eyes. How must a girl feel if she is told her husband accepted her only out of a sense of obligation to her stepfather?”

“There is no danger of Joanna thinking she is undesirable. Unless she is stone-blind, she must see all the men leer at her and follow her as if they were dogs and she a bitch in heat.”

“Joanna thinks no such thing!” Salisbury bellowed. “She is a good, modest girl, as I have told you.”

“William! My heart beats so! Do not shout at Geoffrey.   And you, Geoffrey, are quite wrong. I do not say that Joanna is not aware of her appearance. Ian is aware of his also. Does it give him much pleasure?”

That made Geoffrey’s eyes flicker. In despair, Ian had more than once threatened to cut off his own nose. Ela watched Geoffrey in satisfaction. She knew quite well that a woman placed a great deal more store on her personal appearance than a man and that Joanna was not averse to using her beauty when necessary. Geoffrey, however, need not know that. Also, he feared and distrusted beautiful women. Ela wished to be sure that he would neither blame nor make disparaging remarks to so proud a girl as Joanna.

“Moreover,” she continued, pointing out another problem, “you must remember that Alinor has told that child since she was born that if she had been a cross-eyed hunch-back with the legs of a goat she would have been equally desirable because of her dower and her inheritance.” Ela shook her head again. “You see my doubts. I tell you Joanna’s nature is deep and strong, and, for her husband who must steer between jealousy and the need to prove she is not merely the means by which he intends to come at her landsyou will have a stony row to hoe, Geoffrey.’’

“For God’s sake Ela, shut your mouth!” Salisbury hissed.

“It does not matter,” Geoffrey said flatly. “I will not change my mind. My lady has said nothingnothing that I did not feel and could not find words for. When do you plan to be at Roselynde, my lord?”

Salisbury glanced at his wife. “Let us say a fortnight from today. Why?”

“Because if you will give me leave, I would like toto attend to some private matters. Unless you need me, I would prefer to meet you at Roselynde.”

“Private matters? Geoffrey, you have not lied to me? you”

“No, my lord. I have been most honestmore honest, perhaps, than I should have been for I see I have made you unhappy. It has come to me that if I must deal with Ian’s   men I will have little time for my own. I wish to look in at my keeps.”

“Now that is a most excellent thought,” Salisbury said approvingly. “Ian has chosen wellbetter than even he or I guessed, I believe. Go, by all means, but do not be late in coming to Roselynde.”

Geoffrey started to turn away. His father added, “Wait. Do you have enough money?”

“Sufficient to take me to Hemel, and there I have more than enough.”

Salisbury opened his mouth to say something more, but his voice was drowned in Ela’s shriek. “Roselynde? In a fortnight? I can never be ready! Never!”

Geoffrey bit his lip. Salisbury raised his eyes to heaven and nodded and waved dismissal at his son, who bowed farewell to Lady Ela and moved away. The shrill, complaining tones followed him across the great hall, detailing all that must be done before she could be ready to travel, and her feebleness and inability to accomplish so much in so short a time.

Geoffrey, however, was already oblivious to Ela’s complaints by the time he reached the stairs. Like any young man, he was taken up completely with his own affairs. This was the greatest, most important, most fearful thing that had ever happened to him. Ian’s vassals, Alinor’s and Adam’s, that would makeGeoffrey’s eyes widened. God help me, he thought, I will have near as many under my command as my father who leads the royal armies.

How did one manage such a force of men? How did one know where each vassal and castellan was camped, whether supplies were sufficient, whether assigned duties were being performed? The questions were merely a panic reaction. Geoffrey knew quite well how it was done; he had seen Ian at the work often enough. While others drank, gambled, whored, and slept, Ian rode through the camp, stopping to speak to each vassal and castellan, somehow finding time to look at the situation even of the least important, speaking also, whenever he could, to the common men-at-arms. Not   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   flirting with men who nearly drooled as she mocked them.

There were a few more serious memories: the tears pouring down Joanna’s face as she substituted for her mother as chief mourner in the burial of an infant sister; the tenderness with which she received Brianand an ugly sight he was, blind and half-dead from being taken too soon from his mother. But laughter and sorrow and tenderness could not point to the answer Geoffrey wanted. Could Joanna support him as he would need to be supported if he was to lead Ian’s men successfully?

He told himself not to be a fool, that Ian and Alinor would never leave that responsibility on such young shoulders. But it was not possible to delude himself with that comfort for long. If Ian was willing to trust him with so much, it would not occur to him that Joanna might be unfit. Perhaps he should suggest that idea himself? Before he had finished formulating the notion, Geoffrey shuddered. To suggest to Ian that Joanna was not perfect, from the longest hair of her flaming head to the tiniest nail on her smallest toe, could produce nothing but a burst of rage. Besides, Geoffrey was not sure Joanna was unfit. She had been left behind more than once to care for the lands while Alinor went abroad with her husband. Geoffrey had been with Ian and Alinor, of course, so he could not know how much management had been in Joanna’s hands, how much in those of Sir Guy or others.