The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean (электронную книгу бесплатно без регистрации .txt) 📗

He was uneasy about Hastings. The fact that Hastings had taken Jane Shore as his mistress seemed somewhat shocking to Richard. Although he had always been dismayed by his brother's way of life and thought that side of his nature to be a flaw in the idol, he had accepted it with Edward; he could not quite do so with Hastings. He himself had lived a comparatively virtuous life—he had been faithful since his marriage and it was only before that that he had had a mistress and two illegitimate children.

He knew that he had to make allowances but Hastings had been licentious and revelled in that state; he had, the Queen had always said, led the late King into wild sexual adventures. And now that he was with Jane Shore who had already passed through Dorset's hands, Richard felt quite disgusted.

This had made him turn away from Hastings. He did not really want the man in his councils. He liked him personally. Hastings was a man who knew how to charm; he was influential but he had to be treated with care.

Now here was Catesby with a disturbing story.

Catesby had worked close to Hastings. It was Hastings who had been a kind of patron to him, who had helped him in his career; he had advanced him considerably in the counties of Northampton and Leicestershire and Hastings it was who had first brought him to Richard's notice.

Richard had liked him immediately and given him a place in his councils. Now it was very disturbing that Catesby should be talking in this way to him of Hastings.

Hastings trusted Catesby. Hastings was a little like the late King in the way he accepted what he wanted to, and looked the other way if something displeased him.

Hastings should not be so trusting.

Catesby was saying that he could not believe this was really true, but he feared it was. Hastings was in communication with the Queen.

'How so?' asked Richard.

'By way of Jane Shore. She visits the Queen in Sanctuary. I

have watched her. I have paid people in the Sanctuary to listen to what is said between the Queen and Mistress Shore.'

'And Hastings?'

'My lord, he is ready to betray you, to take sides with the Woodvilles, to get the Queen out of Sanctuary and rouse the people to the side of the King. The King thinks his mother and uncle can do no wrong.'

'1 know that well,' said Richard. 'He has made that obvious to me.'

'Hastings has hinted to me what is in his mind,' said Catesby. 'He trusts me. He looks on me as his man. My lord, 1 owe my allegiance to you . . . not to Hastings. Thus I have undertaken the painful task of telling you what is in his mind and what I have discovered about him.'

'It is a grievous shock to me,' said Richard. 'I trusted Hastings. He was my brother's best friend.'

'My lord you should trust him no more.'

'Rest assured I shall not, and when I have discovered that there is indeed a plot I shall know how to act.'

Catesby said: 'Then I have done my duty.'

'I thank you. This shall be dealt with. And in the meantime watch for me. Let me know if there is anything more passing between them. Find out all you can of how Hastings conducts himself.'

Catesby swore that he would.

After he had left Buckingham called on Richard and was told what Catesby had revealed.

Buckingham listened intently.

'Hasrings was always a fool,' he said. 'There is only one way to deal with traitors even if they are fools.'

'So thought I,' said Richard. 'But there is more to discover yet. Buckingham, there is something else of great moment that 1 would say to you. Stillington has been to me with a strange revelation. He says that my brother was not indeed married to Elizabeth Woodville.'

'Can this really be so?'

'So says he. He married my brother to Lady Eleanor Butler.'

'By God! Old Shrewsbury's daughter. Eleanor was my cousin—my sister's daughter. She would have been more suitable to be Queen of England than the Woodville woman.'

'Yes, you are right. Eleanor Butler went into a convent and died

there, but several years after my brother's so called marriage with

Elizabeth Woodville.'

Then, Richard, you are King of England.'

'It would seem so ... if Shllington speaks truth.'

'Why should he not speak truth?'

'These are weighty matters. They must be proved.'

'By God, they must be. And when they are .... This is good

news. We shall have a mature king, a king who knows how to

govern. There will be no regency ... no protectorate ... no boy

King. It is an answer from Heaven.'

'Not so fast, my lord. First we must prove it. There is much to

be done. What I fear more than anything is to plunge this country

into civil war. We have had enough of that. We want no more

wars.'

'But you must be proclaimed King.'

'Not yet. Let us wait. Let it be proved. Let us test the mood of

the people.'

'The people will acclaim their true King.'

'We must first make sure that they are ready to do so.'

Richard stared ahead of him. He had let out the secret. That it

would have tremendous consequences he had no doubt.

It was a devastating discovery. Men such as Buckingham could act rashly. Buckingham's idea was that Richard should immediately claim the throne. It was what Buckingham would have done had he been in Richard's position. As a matter of fact Buckingham himself believed that he had claim to the throne—a flimsy one it was true but he made it clear sometimes that he was aware of it.

Richard found himself in a quandary. He wanted to be in command because he knew he was capable of ruling. He had proved that by the order he had kept in the North. He wanted to keep the country prosperous and at peace and the last thing he wanted was a civil war.

The young King disliked him more every day and one of the main reasons was that he was imprisoning Lord Rivers and Richard Grey, and the fact that his mother was in Sanctuary. Young Edward blamed Gloucester for this, which was logical enough; but the King did not understand that his mother and his maternal relations would ruin the country if they ever came to

complete power. Lord Rivers was indeed a charming man; he had become a champion in the jousts, he had all the Woodville good looks; he was quite saintly when he remembered to be but he was as avaricious as the rest of the family and he wanted to govern the King. That was what all the Woodvilles wanted. So did Richard for that matter. The difference was that Edward the Fourth had appointed his brother as Protector and guardian of the King for he knew—as Richard knew—that Richard alone was capable of governing the country in the wise strong way which the late King had followed.

Yet the King disliked his uncle. The only way in which Richard could win his regard was by freeing the Woodvilles and to do that he would have to become one of them. There were so many of them and they had gathered so much power and riches during Edward's lifetime that they would absorb him. He would become a minor figure. He would in fact become a follower of the Woodvilles. It would mean too that he would have to sacrifice his friends—Buckingham, Northumberland, Catesby, Ratcliffe .... It was unthinkable. He ... a Plantagenet to become a hanger-on of the Woodvilles!

The alternative to all this was to take power himself. It seemed to him that he had every right to do this. In the first place he had been appointed by his brother to be the Protector of the Realm and the young King. And now Stillington had come along with this revelation. If it were indeed true that his brother had not been legally married to Elizabeth Woodville he, Richard of Gloucester, was the true King of England.

He could take power with a free conscience. If the people would accept him as their King, he could prevent civil war. He could rule in peace as his brother had done. It was his duty to take the crown. It was also becoming his dearest wish.