The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean - Страница 33

The barge started up the river to Westminster.

'I pray we shall be in time,' said Lady Scrope.

They had reached the tall square keep beside St Margaret's church near the graveyard and west door of the Abbey.

It looked cold and uninviting and Cecily began to whimper.

'Hush my precious,' murmured Mrs Cobbe and Elizabeth said in a shrill voice: 'I want to go back. I don't like it here.'

'I don't like it/ added Mary, who repeated everything Elizabeth said.

'Now now children/ said Lady Scrope, 'we are all very happy to be here. It is nice and safe and that is the best of all.'

'/ don't think it's best of all/ said Elizabeth. 'It's cold and I want to go.'

'Be silent, children,' said Jacquetta. 'You will do as you are told and you are all going to sleep soon.'

They were a little in awe of Jacquetta and said nothing more.

But all the adults could well understand the children's revulsion. The Sanctuary was not made for comfort.

There were two storeys in the Tower. On the upper floor was the church and the lower floor had been turned into a dwelling for fugitives who feared that they were in danger. It was considered to be holy ground and no one would dare touch them while they sheltered there. The place was dark and cold and the only light that came in was through narrow arched windows of which there were only two cut into those thick stone walls.

Mrs Cobbe looked round. She wondered if she could go back to the Tower and bring a few more articles with her which they would need. She had managed to bring a certain amount but she would need more.

Elizabeth was reluctant to let her go but Mrs Cobbe overruled her objections. 'Who would harm a poor midwife?' she asked.

'Warwick would . . . if he knew you were mine.'

'Trust me, my lady. And who knows, your pains could start at any time after all this upset. I shall go back.'

And go back she did, for which Elizabeth was to be grateful for the good woman brought back several articles without which their sojourn in the Sanctuary would have been even more uncomfortable . . . and possibly dangerous. Moreover she brought food with her for on the way she had met the good butcher who supplied the Tower, one William Gould with whom she was on particularly good terms. He told her that Warwick's army was on the outskirts of London and that they had escaped from the Tower just in time. They were going to be hungry in the Sanctuary, so he had given her some beef and mutton and some of his very special pork pies.

'He is a good man, my lady,' said Mrs Cobbe. 'He has promised me that he will keep an eye on us while we are here and see that we do not starve.'

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In Sanctuary 135

'And you are a good creature, Mrs Cobbe/ said the Queen.

'I do not know what we should do without you/ added Jacquetta.

They tried some of the excellent pork pie and to their astonishment found they could eat even overcome by anxiety as they were. Elizabeth was wondering what could have happened to Edward and if she would ever see him again, and whether her brief glory was at an end. Jacquetta was silent. She hated Warwick. There was a very special fear in her heart for he had tried to accuse her of witchcraft and just after the death of her dear husband and beloved son had shown an image to the King which he had said she had made of him.

Warwick had implied that Edward had been forced to marry Elizabeth through witchcraft which was practised by her mother and that the image was meant to be the King and that she was plotting against his life.

Edward had laughed that to scorn. It was all so ridiculous. Why should she plot against his life when all the blessings the Woodville family enjoyed came from him? It showed though how Warwick hated her. How she hated them all! Indeed this war between Warwick and Edward was about the Woodvilles. It was because they had ousted the Nevilles from the King's favour. So assuredly Warwick hated them—her, her sons and Elizabeth . . . Elizabeth most of all ... and all the little children.

How wise they were to throw themselves into Sanctuary. They must remain here. Warwick would never dare to touch them then. But how vulnerable they would be . . . here in Westminster while Warwick took London.

We must be safe, though, she thought. Elizabeth must have her child. Warwick would never dare to harm us.

It soon became clear that they had come just in time. Warwick reached London where he was well received, and Mrs Cobbe, having paid another visit to the butcher Gould, came in with the news that King Henry had been taken from his prison in the Tower.

'They say he was in a terrible state,' she said. 'Not as a king should be by any means. They say he was dirty and frighted in a way, wondering what it was all about and muttering prayers and things like that. The Earl had him washed and fed and put into purple and ermine. They've put him in the royal apartments, my

ladies. They say his bedchamber is the one that was made ready for our little baby.'

Elizabeth closed her eyes. She was filled with rage to think of all the care that had gone into the making of that apartment—the damask hangings, the feather bed ... for Henry of Lancaster! It was infuriating.

'Gould says there's to be a procession to St Paul's. He is to be the new King, my lady, so they say. Don't you fret. My lord King Edward will not stay long away from you.'

Jacquetta was tight-lipped, seeking to see good omens and refusing to accept bad ones. But the future looked dark indeed with Edward in exile and Warwick back in command putting a new King on the throne.

But soon for a while they ceased to think about what was happening outside for Elizabeth's baby was about to be born.

In spite of all that had happened it was a comparatively easy birth and to the delight of Elizabeth and her mother the child was healthy and a boy.

It was ironical that this longed-for event should come while Elizabeth was in Sanctuary and Edward far away.

'We'll call him Edward,' said Elizabeth.

She would look back on those days as some of the strangest in her life. Jacquetta perhaps suffered most. She was getting old and was unused to discomfort. Elizabeth was better able to endure them. Her calm nature was a great asset in such circumstances and she was firmly convinced that Edward would soon come back and defeat the traitor Warwick and put imbecile King Henry back where he belonged. The children grew accustomed to life in the Sanctuary very quickly and Mary at any rate could scarcely remember anything else. As for Cecily she was quite unaware of the change in her surroundings. Young Elizabeth now and then asked when they were going home, but at length she too accepted the Sanctuary as home.

Elizabeth the Queen declared she would never forget the services of Mrs Cobbe and the butcher. One she declared had saved her child and the other had saved them from starvation.

Warwick had quickly show^n that he was not going to concern himself with them. He would be very unpopular if he attacked a woman and her little children. He regarded Elizabeth as of no importance now that Edward was in exile.

He could go straight ahead with his plans which meant that he

would be ruling through Henry. Margaret would in due course come to England with her son the Prince of Wales and Anne; and in due course his daughter would be Queen of England. A notable achievement for a Kingmaker.

So why bother with Elizabeth Woodville? Let her stay in Sanctuary with her brood. She was no concern of his.

It was not dificult for messengers to get to the Sanctuary. Elizabeth was considerably heartened to hear that Edward had reached Bruges and was being given shelter there by his sister Margaret, the Duchess of Burgundy. She should be of good heart for he would soon be back with her where he belonged.