The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean - Страница 83

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That day he entered the Tower to be with his brother.

In his prison at Sheriff Hutton Lord Rivers heard occasional scraps of news as to what was happening throughout the country. That the Protector was in command was obvious. It had been a masteriy stroke to arrest him at Northampton for it had given Gloucester a free hand with the King.

Yet how near the Woodvilles had come to success. Once the King had been crowned none could have taken charge of him, young as he was, and Edward was well enough primed to insist on keeping his Woodville relations about him. That would have been the end of the Protector. He would either have had to join the Woodvilles, and quite clearly become an inferior member of the party or go back to the North. No, that would have been too dangerous. Gloucester had the North with him. It would very likely have been his head for he—Plantagenet that he was— would never have taken a subsidiary role with the Woodvilles.

Oh yes, a master stroke. But then Gloucester was a master at the art of strategy and justice. Edward had thought more highly of him than of anyone else. Elizabeth knew that and had always resented it; but she had realized there was no one to change the King's opinion and that he would have turned against her if she had tried to.

Gloucester was indeed capable of governing. Rivers conceded that. But oh how the Woodvilles longed to!

And he. Rivers, was at the head of the family. He would have been chief adviser to the King.

Gloucester knew it; that was why Rivers' fate was inevitable.

Of course Gloucester might have had his head on the spot as he had Hastings'. That would not have been wise. He might have had the country against him if he had. He wanted to go cautiously, which he had done. He had by the arrest of Rivers and Grey taken over the King; he had delayed the coronation; he had set himself up as Protector, and as the last thing the people wanted was a bloody conflict, for heaven knows they had had enough of that with the Wars of the Roses, they had accepted him. They saw in him a good and steady ruler, and that was what they wanted.

So now there was only one logical fate which could possibly await Rivers. The only question was when would it come, and he guessed it was at hand when the Earl of Northumberland arrived at Sheriff Hutton.

The trial was brief. He was accused of treason and condemned.

It would not have been so easy for them to find him guilty if a quantity of arms had not been found in his baggage which indicated clearly that he was ready to do battle.

He spent his last night in making his will, praying and writing poetry.

'My life was lent Me to one intent. It is nigh spent. Welcome fortune. . . .'

He wrote and found some pleasure in musing and writing down how Fortune had treated him and at last brought him to the state in which he now found himself.

He had been told that he would be taken to Pontefract where Richard Grey was being held and Thomas Vaughan would be brought there from Middleham, so that they should all lose their heads in the same place on the same day.

Lord Rivers then asked that he might be buried beside his nephew. Lord Richard Grey.

The request was granted and on the twenty-fourth day of June Lord Rivers, Lord Richard Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan were beheaded at Pontefract.

KING RICHARD THE THIRD

Buckingham was growing impatient. A volatile man, impulsive, always seeking excitement, he wanted events to move fast and if they appeared to lag he was always ready to act in such a way as to speed them on.

Richard told him of Stillington's revelahon and Buckingham now suggested that Richard should make this known to the people and then take the crown.

This was a big step which Richard had had in mind for some time, but he hesitated to take it. In the first place it seemed disloyal to the brother whom he had revered for to declare his sons illegitimate would have enraged the late King. On the other hand he must have known the truth—who more than he? And he had had Clarence despatched when Stillington had let the truth slip to him; and Stillington himself had been imprisoned in the Tower.

It was the truth and the fact was that Edward the Fifth had no right to the throne.

The trouble with the country now was that there were rival factions conspiring against each other which was due to the minority of the King. But if the true King were proved to be a grown man, a man who had the ability to govern, what a boon that would be for the country!

Buckingham was right. He should state the truth and tell the people; then he would be proclaimed Richard the Third.

It would save the country from possible civil war—and the country had had enough of that.

He discussed the matter with Buckingham; he pondered the position deeply. It was right that the truth should be known. It was best for the country.

How should the secret be revealed?

'Let the Lord Mayor of London make the announcement from Paul's Cross/ suggested Buckingham. 'The Londoners will listen to their Lord Mayor as to none other and Sir Edmund Shaa is a good man for the job.'

'My brother knew him well and thought highly of him.'

'Indeed he did. Shaa is a prosperous goldsmith and you know how your brother liked such men. Didn't he find Jane in a goldsmith's shop? Shaa is a member of the Goldsmiths' Company and now Lord Mayor, so let us see him and tell him what is required of him.'

'Yes/ said Richard. 'Send for him.'

Sir Edmund Shaa came to Baynard's Castle for the Protector had moved there from Crosby Place about the time when young Edward had taken up residence in the Tower.

Shaa listened. He had known the late King at the time of his obsession with Eleanor Butler and he could well believe that a marriage had taken place. Yes, he saw that if that were so, the true King was Richard and what a good thing it would be for the country if this was generally accepted to be the case.

'There is another matter,' he said. 'I had heard that your brothers, Edward the King and George Duke of Clarence, were not the sons of the Duke of York, and that so incensed was the Duchess of York when the King married Elizabeth Woodville that she said she would make it known that she had taken a lover while the Duke was away on his many campaigns and that Edward and George were the result of this liaison.'

Richard shook his head, but Buckingham was excited. 'It strengthens the case,' he said. 'Both the late King and his son bastards! My lord, we have to think of the country. We want a good case. We must end this strife, for if it goes on it could well result in civil war.'

'That,' said Richard, 'must be stopped at all events. England is more important than anything. A boy King is the biggest danger which can threaten us.'

Buckingham nodded to Sir Edmund. This was tantamount to the Protector's consent to give the full details at Paul's Cross.

Buckingham was exultant. The plot was going to work. Within a few days Richard would be proclaimed King of England.

'I would not wish it without the people's consent," said Richard.

'My lord, they will be begging you to take the crown.

Fron\ St Paul's Cross the Lord Mayor spoke to the people. He had grave news for them. A great discovery had been made. The little King who had not yet been crowned as Edward the Fifth was not the true King after all. King Edward the Fourth had already been married when he went through a form of marriage with Elizabeth Woodville.

This had been proved and the King's real wife was none other than the Lady Eleanor Butler, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury—a lady of higher rank than Queen Elizabeth Woodville at the hme of her mock marriage. Of course everyone knew how the Woodvilles had risen since that time but let the people consider, they owed their rise to a ceremony which was invalid and should never have been performed at all. The truth was that the young boy whom they called King Edward the Fifth was a bastard and therefore should never have been called King.

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