White Boar and the Red Dragon, The (19 page)

‘Once he gets there, I will never see him! I must get to London to see him before he goes. I cannot wait any longer.’

‘Will you tell him about his baby? He should provide for him, even if he does not intend to continue with your affair.’

‘It was far more than an affair, Joanna, as I keep telling you. And I just do not know whether I will tell him. It depends on how he behaves towards me when we do meet. I know I cannot go home, as my father is there and would be furiously angry with me—and Richard, if he found out about the baby. I would not put it past him to go after Richard and try to kill him! And I do not belong here—whatever you say, I am a burden to you. Tomorrow, Ruth and I will leave with the baby—for London.’

‘What will you do? Where will you stay?’

‘I do not know yet. But I will find work and somewhere to stay. Ruth can look after John while I am working. There should be no problem—and in my free time, I can try to make contact with Richard when I hear he is back. I must be nearer to him. It is too far from London here!’

‘I cannot help but think that you are very foolish to go on your own to London—you have no idea of its dangers! A woman alone is just not safe in so large a city which is known to be full of wickedness.’

‘But I will not be alone—I will have Ruth,’ insisted Kate. ‘She will look after us both!’

‘Well, I cannot stop you—but I wish you would listen to reason. Young people always think they know best and never listen to advice!’

‘Stop worrying, Joanna. I will be fine! Perhaps you could write to Mother for me and tell her where I have gone? The letter will reach her more quickly from here than from London. I will pack tonight and tomorrow we will be on our way to London. I must admit I am very excited by the prospect. I have never been there, and I have heard there is so much going on that one would never have a dull moment!’

‘Maybe so, but there are many evil men there, and a young girl is easy prey to their dissembling and wicked ways!’

‘I promise I shall take great care, Joanna—the only man I want anything to do with is Richard.’

‘Very well, but I am not happy about it—you were entrusted to my care, remember.’

Raglan Castle, Gwent, 18 October 1470

Woking Old Hall,

Surrey,

10 October 1470

My Dear Son,

Such wonderful news! At last the tide has turned in our favour!

You have no doubt heard that God has seen fit to look at us favourably again after all these years. The Lancastrians are in the ascendant again. And your time draws ever nearer.

As you know, your Uncle Jasper has been in France until September, in the service of King Louis. He hoped to obtain his aid in supplying forces to supplement those he can gather in Wales and the parts of England which support the Lancastrians to fight the Yorkists once more. All of it takes a lot of time, effort, and money. But Uncle Jasper is dauntless and determined in your service and, it seems, never lacking in new energy after so many setbacks. He is an admirable man!

As he can now return to Wales, he can come and see you, Henry, without hindrance. King Henry VI has been reinstated by his great ally, the brave and resourceful Earl of Warwick, and is now back in his rightful place on the throne at Westminster Palace.

That usurper, Edward, has fled in fear into the Low Countries with nothing but the clothes he stands up in. And it serves him right! Pray that he never returns. Warwick, who made him king, is now his sworn enemy and is firmly on the Lancastrian side. This can only be to our advantage. He is a very powerful man with enormous resources—the richest man in England. Queen Margaret and the earl have made an agreement between them for Warwick’s younger daughter, Anne, to marry her elder son, the Crown Prince Edouard, which will certainly cement the alliance. The queen will be returning to England soon with a large French force to support her husband. She is a strong and determined woman and fights like a lion. The king does need her—she has always been the strong one. He has always relied on her indomitable strength and courage, especially since his breakdown and sickness of the mind have incapacitated him so greatly, poor man.

When your uncle has visited you, he has to depart again almost at once to gather his forces, but we have arranged for you to stay with Sir Richard Corbet for a short while. He will bring you very soon to visit me and then take you to your uncle in London, when he is ready to have you by his side again permanently. After that, I believe he intends to take you to Harlech Castle, in North Wales.

No doubt you will be sad in many ways to leave the Herbert household. I know you have been happy there and that it is the only real home you have ever known. You can blame the usurper Edward for keeping you apart from me all your childhood. It was not my choice, I am sure you realise that now. But living with the Herberts in the wilds of Wales has been a kind of exile for you nevertheless—from now on, you will occupy your rightful position in high places. Now you will be the Earl of Richmond and spend much of your time at court. You will be given lands and houses—hopefully those belonging to the House of Richmond, which Clarence, that acquisitive brother of the erstwhile king, appropriated. He has held on to them tooth and nail, in spite of all my pleas. However, his position has weakened greatly, now that his brother has fled the country, and he may be more easily coerced into relinquishing what was rightfully yours from birth.

I look forward to our meeting again, my son, after so long, and to your stay at Woking Old Hall in the near future. How wonderful that you can now show yourself in public, unafraid, and come to London! I am sure Edward would have had you killed without compunction if you had dared to emerge from your Welsh backwater before now. You have always been a threat to him with regard to the rightful ownership of the throne of England! Keeping out of the public eye in the quietness of Raglan was the right thing for you in the circumstances.

Expect your Uncle Jasper any time now. What a joyful reunion that will be—followed by another very soon, with me—your absent, but ever-concerned mother! You always loved and admired your uncle as a small boy, before he was forced to leave you, and I am sure that love, trust, and admiration for him is still in your heart, despite the long separation. He has waited and suffered over the years with just one aim and ambition—to see you take your proper place in the scheme of things.

Your arrival here is awaited with great anticipation not only by myself, but by my entire household. I live quietly—not being in the best of health; otherwise, great entertainment would have been planned for you. I am sure you will understand that I must have peace—whoever my guests are. Also that, for health reasons, I am unable to come and get you myself. The journey is just too long and arduous for me.

Your very loving mother,

Margaret Beaufort,

Countess of Richmond

Henry read this latest missive from his mother, disbelieving what he read. It had been so long, nearly ten years, since he had set eyes on his beloved Uncle Jasper and nearly five since he had seen his mother. He had to think hard to picture either of them in his mind. Indeed, he would be very sad to leave Raglan Castle, especially Maude, and Anne Devereux, who had been like a true mother to him since his own had deserted him as a tiny boy. Also, he would greatly miss his horse, Owen.

But already a great excitement was bubbling up inside him, taking over his whole being. London! He had never been there!

Maybe he would meet the king? But a sadness also lay at the back of his mind—he would not see Richard, who had become his great friend in so short a time, and whom he had missed so much since the duke’s visit to Raglan in late February. Richard was in Burgundy with his brother Edward, maybe in exile for always. ‘What a pity he is on the other side,’ he thought for the hundredth time—a Yorkist—and so far away.

But Henry stirred himself at the initial excitement caused by the imminent big changes in his life, turned, and ran indoors to find Anne and her family, flourishing this most exciting letter—which he knew would have the same effect on them—excitement and sadness at his leaving. He felt secure in their affection—they had been his real—his only—family.

Would these changes, exciting as they were, be for the better? For the first time, he began to give some credence to his mother’s certainty—and steady assurance—of great things being ahead of him in the future.

Kate, Southwark, London, October 1470

Kate was leaning out of the overhanging tavern window, pushed and jostled by other tavern employees and customers who had found their way upstairs to the staff quarters to try and get a better view of the procession—this unexpected, this grand, but rather pathetic sight of the confused, half-crazy Henry VI on parade through the streets of London after his sudden readeption. He was propped up by cushions, but he sagged forward like a doll losing its sawdust, in spite of two strong men on either side of him. At the same time, he looked uncomprehendingly all around him—as if not connecting the waving, cheering crowds with himself.

As she gazed on this pseudo-triumphant sight, Kate’s brain hammered the words on everyone’s lips, ‘King Edward and Richard of Gloucester have fled the country—proclaimed usurper and traitor by the great Earl of Warwick!’ They were even now crossing the Channel in haste, into exile in Belgium, hotly pursued by the earl’s men.

The horror of the situation left her in disbelief, mingled with the pity she felt, also being shown by the equally confused people for the poor, befuddled creature being paraded for them—their rightful king, returned to his proper place of authority by the victorious Earl of Warwick—but a pure figurehead, no less. He had never been much. His wife, Margaret of Anjou, had ruled effectively in his stead. But she was in France. And now he was as nothing. He blinked at them from eyes dazzled by the light of day after the gloom and dusty darkness of the tower… It seemed that Warwick, unable to rule his protégé Edward, had effectively disposed of him and, using this poor, feeble-minded ‘king’, was determined to rule the country himself—if not in name, certainly in effect.

And what would this appalling turnabout in royal fortunes mean to Kate? She hardly dared to think about it.

She had only been in London a month or so and had not succeeded in contacting Richard up to then, as he had been in the north. And now this! He had fled to the Continent and she had no idea where! He was in danger of his life! Could he ever return while Henry and Warwick lived? He seemed lost to her. Would she ever see him again and tell him about the son of whose existence he knew nothing?

Kate turned away from the window and pushed and shoved her way out of the crowd, still watching the procession. She fled up the narrow wooden stairs and along the corridor leading to her small room under the eaves, which she shared with Ruth and baby John. Tears were blinding her as she pushed open the door and threw herself on her pallet in a paroxysm of despair, feeling as if her heart would break.

The one thing that had kept her going—the hope of meeting Richard once again—was gone. She felt utterly alone now, abandoned, and dreadfully homesick. If it had not been for baby John, whom she now gathered into her arms and strained to her heart for their mutual comfort, almost smothering him with the strength of her feelings while Ruth looked on sadly, content to let her mistress’s anguish take its course before attempting to talk to her, she would have just packed up her few possessions then and there, hired a horse, and made for home—her home was her only security now. She had hoped to find it in Richard, but the realisation of his involvement in a political world in which she had no place, which had taken him away from her perhaps forever, bore cruelly down on her then. And it was quite impracticable for her to go home—for the same reasons as she had gone to Joanna’s in the first place—her father. He would be consumed with anger against her and her lover. He hated the Yorkists, in any case, being a committed Lancastrian. He would never accept her, knowing who the baby’s father was. She had made her bed and now she must lie on it. There was no way out.

‘Oh, Ruth, what have I done?’ she sobbed. ‘And what shall I do?’

‘‘Tis always the woman who suffers, girl. The men get away scot free, be they rich or poor. ‘Tis a fact of life. You loved him—you lay with him—and now you must bear the consequences. It has always been the same. But you young girls go on giving in to their false words and tender embraces. You deluded yourself. Even if he hadn’t had to go into exile, he would never have come to you again!’

‘No, Ruth, I will never believe that! He loves me as I love him!’

‘Where women feel love, men only feel lust—and women believe it is the real thing! We would be better making for home and putting up with your father’s ire than staying here. He is a good man—he would get over it in time. He loves you. You are in real danger here from the lustful rakes of the city—Joanna and your mother warned you! Most of the girls in this inn are whores—you are not—but you soon will be if you remain here! Mayhap just to survive!’

‘Never! Never, Ruth. I would rather starve! I belong to Richard!’

‘You probably will then. And what will he care? Tell me that?’

Kate was silent. She had no answer. She still trusted in Richard. But she felt so alone.

‘King Edward will return soon, girl. The people love him. They will not want that evil Margaret of Anjou back, and her husband, this poor Henry, is but the Lord Warwick’s puppet. He cannot last long. And with Edward will come Richard of Gloucester. If he then seeks you out, you will know he was in earnest. If not… Meanwhile, I advise you to go home before you come face to face with the wicked and lustful men here! It will happen sooner or later, I promise you!’

‘I cannot, Ruth, I cannot!’ A fresh burst of tears engulfed her. But they soon subsided as the good sense of Ruth’s words sunk in. Her maid was wise and full of common sense. She was comforting and strong. How much worse it would be if she were alone with the baby and did not have Ruth’s comforting presence! She threw her arms around Ruth and kissed her.