The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean - Страница 24

News came that Lord Desmond had been executed—more than that, Worcester had seen fit to kill his two younger sons with him. This had shocked many people because the boys were still in the schoolroom and it was hard to see how they could have been implicated in their father's treason. There was a story that one of the boys had a sore place on his neck and he had pathetically asked the executioner to be careful of it when cutting off his head. This story was repeated and people were beginning to hate the Earl of Worcester and to say that he had learned his cruelty in Italy and it would have been better if he had stayed there and never brought his wicked ways to England.

Edward was distressed that Desmond had been executed and was especially so when he heard what had happened to the boys.

'Worcester is too harsh,' he told Elizabeth.

She did not agree nor disagree; she just sat with her eyes downcast.

'/ did not give my signature to the death warrant,' he said.

'He is dead now,' was all Elizabeth answered.

And so he deserved to be, she was thinking. How dared he advise the King that it would be a good thing for the country to rid himself of his Queen.

He had paid dearly for that remark. And so must all pay who tried to harm Elizabeth Woodville.

The King shrugged the matter aside. Whatever he did now

Desmond was dead. At least he had not been forced to make a decision.

At the end of the year Elizabeth gave birth to another child. Once more it was a girl and they called her Cecily.

Three girls in a row was disconcerting when each time they had believed there would be a boy. But the King loved his children and to the astonishment of everyone he continued to be devoted to his wife. He was perhaps straying more to other women but he always went back to her and he did not appear to regret his marriage in any way; and cool, aloof, more regal than any of royal birth, Elizabeth held sway.

IN SANCTUARY

Warwick was growing impatient. He had endured enough. He had seen the Woodvilles rise from their humble station to become the most powerful family in the land. The King had insulted him by marrying this upstart widow while he, Warwick, was actually in the process of arranging a match for him with the French King.

Nothing could have been calculated to wound him more. Yet with superhuman control he had buried his resentments. He had attended the Queen; he had not reproached the King.

But what he would endure no longer was the power of the Woodvilles.

Almost immediately after the marriage he had sounded the King's brothers. Richard was a young idealist and Warwick quickly realized that there could be no shifting him from loyalty to his brother. It was different with Clarence. Clarence was shifty, envious, grasping and it would not be difficult to make him change his allegiance; on the other hand he would be an untrustworthy ally, ready to turn his coat according to which way the wind blew. But even a momentary betrayal of his brother would be worth while.

He had tempted Clarence by offering him marriage with his elder daughter. His two girls, even dividing the vast Warwick estates between them, would be the richest in the kingdom.

Clarence thought of what marriage with Isabel would mean and he liked what he saw. Moreover he liked Isabel. Neither of the Warwick girls was as physically strong as their father would have liked them to be, but they were attractive, both of them. Anne and Richard of Gloucester were close friends; and George and Isabel had always had a fondness for each other. The girls were worthy brides for the two dukes, and before the Woodville

marriage Edward would have agreed with the Earl on this. Now he was trying to stop Isabel and George marrying. That should not be so. Warwick had decided on the match.

Moreover the King wanted marriage between his sister Margaret and Charles Count of Charolais, the eldest son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy. This of course was the last thing Louis King of France wanted because he did not want a firm alliance between England and Burgundy. Louis had been Warwick's friend and if Warwick took action against Edward, it was from Louis that he could look for help.

He had not let Edward know that he was doing all he could to prevent the Burgundy marriage. Indeed he had ceased to confide in Edward and although he kept up a show of friendship, it was nothing more than a facade. Warwick had finished with Edward. He would never forgive him for his ingratitude, and was determined that one day Edward was going to be filled with regret; he was going to see the great mistake he had made in thwarting Warwick, humiliating him, and setting up the family of Wood-ville to out-rival that of Neville. Edward would have to learn that Warwick was still a power in the land.

In the meantime the great Duke of Burgundy had died and Charles of Charolais had become the Duke. Edward declared that there was no reason why the marriage should be delayed and the Earl of Warwick should conduct his sister on the first part of her journey to France.

Still keeping his own counsel Warwick agreed and on a June day he set out for Flanders. There had been a ceremony at St Pauls and Margaret seated on the same horse with Warwick rode through the city of London.

The people were pleased, believing this was a sign that Warwick and the King were as good friends as ever. They did not know that even as he rode to the coast with Margaret Warwick's head was teeming with plans to take the crown from Edward.

Margaret said a farewell to Warwick at Margate and crossed the sea to Sluys where she was greeted by the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy and a splendid company.

The Duke met her and they were married at a place called Damme. After the ceremony the celebrations were so grand that those who partook in them declared that they had only been rivalled at the Court of King Arthur. The bride and the bridegroom appeared to be well pleased with each other and the only

incident which marred the occasion was when they were nearly burned to death in their bridal bed in the castle near Bruges.

Fortunately they escaped in hme and the fire was proved to have been started by a madman.

Edward declared that the marriage was a good piece of work, for it had strengthened the alliance between the houses of York and Burgundy.

Warwick was by no means pleased but he knew he had the friendship of one who was as powerful as the Duke of Burgundy: the King of France himself. Louis would be annoyed by the match, and he was already favouring Margaret of Anjou who was in France in exile; he would be a useful ally to his old friend the Earl of Warwick.

Ideas were teeming in Warwick's head, for the moment of action was coming nearer.

The King was at Westminster and Warwick had installed himself in his castle of Middleham where he was joined by his brother George Neville, Archbishop of York, and by the Duke of Clarence who was ready, as soon as the Pope's dispensation was received, to marry Isabel.

Warwick had made up his mind. Edward had now escaped from him; perhaps he always would have done so, for he was no puppet; he was a strong-minded man who knew how to rule and he was going to rule in his own way. He had come out in his true colours at the time of his marriage and had shown so clearly then that he would not be led. Edward was a ruler. He would have no master. Warwick had been deceived by his desire to avoid conflict—except in battle—to take the easy line, which Warwick had to admit was often the wise one to take. Edward was pleasure-loving, easy-going and not unkind by nature; these characteristics had been misleading because they had overshadowed the strong man beneath them.

Well, Warwick would have accepted that. He had wanted no weakling. It was the rising power of the Woodvilles in all key places in the country which he was going to put down.