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did
her Uncle Hugh, and another who was sworn to the Earl of Leicester, as was her
own father? There must be no battle, Barbara thought desperately. Surely
someone would find a way to make peace. She clutched Joanna closer, and Joanna
shuddered again.
    “Let us go in, you are cold,” Barbara said.
    “No.” Joanna found a smile, released her grip, and sat back,
but she did not move away or reach for her work. “The sun is coming from behind
the cloud now. And it was not cold that made me shiver. I was thinking of the
king.”
    Their glances met and shifted guiltily because of the
unspoken thought in both minds. Henry III of England was old. Why could he not
die? Why did he live on and on, bringing misery to all? Barbara thought again
of what she had said, and it was true. The king was selfish, petty,
spiteful, vindictive, and spendthrift. Unfortunately he was also both more and
less than that. Henry was more in that he was clever, often brilliant, in
devising political expedients to escape the consequences of his blunders and to
thrust the blame for them onto others. He was less in that he was basically
weak and had, despite his fifty-seven years of age, a kind of hopeful innocence
that seemed to prevent him from learning from his mistakes. Barbara bit her
lip. It was the weakest part of the king’s nature that was the most dangerous,
that hopeful innocence made even Henry’s worst enemies wish to help him and
protect him.
    The bitten lip did not dam speech for long. Barbara burst
out, “How can Uncle Hugh allow himself to be seduced over and over by that
man?” And then she choked on a sob that was half laughter. “How can I be so
stupid as to ask when Henry does the same thing to me too each time I speak to
him.”
    Joanna’s lips almost curved into a smile and then drooped
again. “The king is not an evil person. His faults are those we all understand
too well. Those he loves, he loves too much, so he is blind to the wrong they
do. He is of expansive spirit, generous, and gives away what he should not,
then when he feels the pinch he seeks a way to get back what he gave so
blithely. He is easily frightened and under duress promises what he knows is
wrong.”
    “He is not fit to be a king,” Barbara snapped. “He needs a
governor, and you know it.”
    “That does not make it right to govern him,” Joanna said
slowly. “It was by God’s will that he was crowned. It is not for us to question
God’s will. If His holy purpose is served in some way by our suffering then we
must endure with patience.”
    Barbara jumped up and stamped her foot. “You cannot tell me
Hugh believes all that. I know he agreed with my father when Leicester first
urged the barons to accept the Provisions of Oxford, and he knew quite well
that the purpose of the Provisions was to govern the king.”
    Joanna shook her head. “To help the king govern. That is the
difference between what happened when the Provisions were first signed and now.
In 1258 the king was willing to accept the Provisions. Henry was truly
distressed when he learned of the terrible abuses that had crept into his
government and desired that they be amended. But the king became dissatisfied
with the reforms over the next three years.”
    “You mean he missed his greedy and accursed lick-spittle
relatives more than he cared about his kingdom,” Barbara retorted. Then she bit
her lip. “Not that I care. I only care for Papa and Uncle Hugh. Good God, I
know Leicester is just as seductive as the king, but could not my father and
Uncle Hugh at least have been seduced by the same man?”
    “Neither Henry nor Leicester had much influence on Hugh’s
decision. In the beginning Hugh supported the Provisions of Oxford with all his
heart. But when he saw how they were being used, not only to cure ills but to
overturn the natural order, how the king’s right to rule was being taken from
him against the will of God by Leicester and his party, Hugh had to side with
Henry. I