The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean - Страница 27

Edward laughed. 'Not long ago they were fighhng against me.'

'Nay, my lord/ said the suave Archbishop, 'you are mistaken. My brother's great concern was for your safety. He told the people of London that he was riding to your aid. Your brother the Duke of Clarence joins him in this.'

Richard who was with the King said: 'You are traitors all of you.'

Edward laid a hand on his arm.

'I see/ he said, 'that you are determined to make me your prisoner.'

Richard stepped towards the Archbishop and again Edward restrained him.

'What would you have of me?' he asked.

'That you accompany me to my brother.'

Edward knew that he was in their power. He had been foolish and foolishness could be disastrous. He had been dilatory; he had refused to see danger when it stared him in the face. Well, now he must answer for his folly. It was a temporary set-back. He was sure of that. Warwick was not a great general. Edward had little respect for his performance in the field. It was cunning strategy at which Warwick excelled. He had the ability to turn defeat into victory by some acrton which was totally unexpected by the other side. He must try to imitate Warwick's strategy. Therefore he would go along with him. He would pretend to believe in his fidelity even though his betrayal was clearly obvious.

'I will come with you,' he said. 'I will see Warwick.'

The Archbishop bowed his head. 'Then we should leave without delay.' He turned to Richard and Hastings who had taken up their stand on either side of the King.

Richard was a boy of seventeen or so and he looked younger because of his delicate stature. Warwick had said 'Let Richard go.' As for Hastings, well he was Warwick's brother-in-law. He had always thought that with a little persuasion he might win Hastings to his side. That was if he saw that Edward's cause was hopeless. So George Neville had had instructions to send Richard and Hastings away. Let them go free, find their way to where they wished to go. It was only Edward he wanted.

Sadly Richard said goodbye to his brother and rode away with

Hastings, and Edward allowed himself to be conducted to Coventry where Warwick awaited him.

Warwick was naturally triumphant.

'Here is a sorry state of affairs/ he said. 'You know, Edward, I wish you no harm.'

'Nay,' replied Edward easily, 'you only wish to make me your prisoner.'

'You and I should never have allowed a wedge to be put between us.'

'I do not put it there, Richard.'

'Oh 'twas others, 1 grant you. The merry Woodvilles. Edward, it is no use. You know what happens to kings who honour their favourites to the detriment of the realm.'

'What has the realm suffered?'

The realm has suffered because power has been placed in the hands of those incapable of handling it . . . and they are concerned only for material gain.'

'So many of us are, Richard.'

'There are some of us who love our country and would serve it asking no reward.'

'Show me such a man and I will make him my chancellor.'

'You are not in a posihon to make or unmake at this time, my lord.'

' 'Tis true. So I am your prisoner. What will you do with me? Have my head as you have that of my father-in-law?'

'It wounds me that you should even think of such a thing. I am your friend. I put you on the throne and you have spurned me for a pack of avaricious nobodies.'

'You put me up and you could put me down, is that what you mean?'

Warwick looked at him steadily and did not answer.

He is a power, thought Edward. I could not have governed in those first weeks without him. It is a pity that there should be this rift but it was either him or Elizabeth. Warwick was half resentful, half admiring of his attitude. Edward showed no fear. He could take him outside to the block and have his head as he had had those of Rivers and his son, and Edward knew it; but he sat there smiling blandly, accepting defeat which he was implying could only be temporary.

And if the tables were turned, what then? What would Warwick's fate be?

He would be forgiven, that was clear. Edward never liked dealing death. He only did it when it was expedient to do so.

'We are leaving for my castle of Warwick/ said the Earl, and within an hour the King was riding out beside the Earl, Warwick's prisoner.

There was a smile of triumph about Warwick's mouth. He had shown Edward that the King could not remain the King without the help of the Kingmaker.

For a short while it seemed as though Warwick was the ruler of England. He considered what had happened when previous kings had been desposed. In the cases of Edward the Second and Richard the Second Parliament had been called and there the fall of the King was solemnly declared.

He was not sure what should be done. The ideal action would be to put Edward back but as a puppet of the Warwick regime. Edward was the man for king—providing he followed Warwick's rule. The Woodvilles were being dismissed. That should be a beginning.

But Warwick had miscalculated somewhere. History did not necessarily repeat itself. Edward the Second and Richard the Second had been unpopular kings; Edward the Fourth was far from that. Although his favouring of the Woodvilles was similar to the action of the other two kings with their favourites, Edward had that essential masculinity, those outstanding good looks, that ability to charm his humblest subjects.

The people might not like the Woodvilles but they liked Edward very much.

Events therefore did not move to the pattern Warwick had expected. 'Where is the King? asked the people. 'The King is a prisoner,' was the answer. Then, decided the people, there was no more rule in the country. Rioting broke out in London and in some of the main cities and the country was soon in uproar.

Warwick moved the King to Middleham. Revolt was breaking out in the North; the Lancastrians started a rising of their own. This was disaster. Warwick had expected events to follow a pattern and they were making a new one of their own.

Edward, hearing what had happened, declared that he held nothing against the House of Neville. He knew his one-time

friend and mentor Warwick cared deeply for the country and as Edward did too their aims were as one. When this unhappy matter was over the Nevilles should lose nothing. They should keep his respect as they always had.

He was moved to York which he entered in state as the King should and he set up residence at Pontefract Castle.

No sooner did the people see the King and Warwick together as friends than men began to flock to the royal banner in order to put down the Lancastrian revolt. They wanted no more civil war in the country. They had hoped the Wars of the Roses had come to an end when Edward seemed to be safe on the throne.

Warwick now saw that Edward could bring men to his banner as he, Warwick, could not. Edward had the hearts of the people. It was Edward the people wanted; and Warwick had learned that it was the people who finally settled who was to be their King.

The Londoners were clamouring for him. There was no help for it. Edward must be free to go to London to show the people that he was no one's prisoner and that Warwick had been right when he had said that his aim was to stand beside the King and bring him to safety.

With great rejoicing the King was united with the Queen. Warwick remained in the North with Clarence. He had learned a lesson. Just as he had turned defeat into victory at St Albans, so Edward had at Edgecot.

Well, had not Edward been his pupil?

There would be another time though, Warwick promised himself, and then he would be wiser.

It should not happen like this again.

Edward was in command of London but Warwick was in the North and with him was Clarence. It was a dangerous situation.