The Sun in Splendour - Plaidy Jean - Страница 60

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printed The Dictes and Sayings of Philosophers. Since then he had printed other books and Edward had let him know that he was always welcome at Court.

So the King had reason to be pleased. These were the good years. The sun was high in the sky; the King in all his splendour reigned over a happy and prosperous country.

The Queen was pregnant again. Elizabeth bore children with ease and her continual confinements left her as beautiful as ever. She seemed to have some special power to remain young. It was small wonder that people said she was a witch.

That spring it seemed as though the country had had too many blessings showered on it for news came to London that there was plague at several ports. People had never forgotten the terrible Black Death which had swept over Europe even though it had happened more than a hundred years before. There had been minor outbreaks since and everyone grew fearful at the very mention of the dreaded scourge returning.

The King and Queen had left for Windsor where the King was absorbed by the work on his chapel. But there was a melancholy atmosphere over the Court. Even Edward was affected by it. He too thought of the Black Death and was afraid that everything he had built up since his second coming to power might be swept away if this bout were anything like that of the last century.

It was not to be so. For one thing, they had learned during that terrible time that the plague was brought in from abroad so the first thing to be done was close the ports. Any inconvenience this caused was trivial compared with having the epidemic raging through the country so fast that it could not be controlled.

Edward's energy in sealing off infected areas was effective and the plague began to die out.

Little Prince George had begun to grow weak. There seemed to be no reason for it. His mother watched over him fearful that he might be suffering from a new form of the plague. The doctors attended him night and day, but they could not save him.

It was a great sorrow when the little Prince died. Elizabeth was deeply distressed for however cold and calculating she might be there was no doubt that she loved her children and could not bear to lose one of them.

Edward comforted her reminding her that they had six healthy children and there would soon be one more. God had blessed them and his beautiful Elizabeth was indeed as the fruitful vine.

She gave herself up to the preparations for the child about to be born.

It was a girl and they called her Catherine.

The King declared he was delighted with her. She had a good pair of lungs, said her nurses, and that was always the best sign.

Apart from the brief visitahon of the plague and the death of little George, it seemed that the good times had come to stay.

The King's sister Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, was proposing to visit her brother. Edward was delighted, not only because his family feeling was strong and he would enjoy seeing his sister, but because he believed that she might have some proposition to lay before him. Margaret was astute; moreover the situation in France was uneasy. England had been the ally of Burgundy—it was for this reason Margaret had married the Duke—but since Edward's treaty with Louis when he had received his pension and affianced his daughter to the Dauphin there had been a subtle shift.

Margaret had been of inestimable value to Edward when he had been in exile. She had been important to him as more than a sister and when the Duke had been alive she had kept the alliance between Burgundy and England firm. But when he had died and left her childless, his daughter Mary had become the Duchess of Burgundy and moreover the most wealthy heiress in Europe. It was at this time that Clarence had sought her hand in marriage and Margaret who had the strong family feeling of all the House of York had done all she could to bring about that match. The Queen had tried to secure the prize for her brother Earl Rivers, but that of course was not to be taken seriously. One of the reasons why Clarence had so hated his brother was because Edward had appeared to put forward Rivers' suit while he had declined to help Clarence's. This seemed to Clarence the height of family disloyalty though it should have been clear to him that Edward had pretended to help Rivers merely to placate the Queen while he knew full well that the idea of any match between the heiress of Burgundy and Rivers would be ridiculed.

As for Mary of Burgundy, she had declined both English matches and in due course had married Maximilian son of the Duke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor.

Edward was determined to entertain his sister lavishly. He never forgot what she had done for him when he was in exile so he prepared a series of lavish pageants for her amusement. He sent the fleet over to Calais to escort her to England and she was immediately aware that this fleet was under the command of a member of the Queen's family. Sir Edward Woodville. He was most splendidly atrired and his rehnue had been fitted out in purple and blue velvet especially for the occasion. A Woodville, of course! she thought. Edward had behaved as though he were bewitched by that woman and now it seemed her entire clan had him in thrall. Her brother George had told her of it, deploring it as undignified in a king. 'It is Woodvilles before York, sister,' he had said. And it seemed that this was so, for Edward had actually dared suggest Rivers for her stepdaughter. He could not have been serious of course, but he had done it ... to please his Queen, no doubt.

Well, she would soon see for herself, and at least the welcome was gratifying.

She was escorted to London and lodged in Cold Harbour, a house near the Tower and so close to the river that the water washed its walls. The family were there to greet her. Richard had come down from Middleham although his wife was not with him. Poor Anne Neville, she was a sickly creature Margaret believed yet Richard seemed content. There was one notable absence: her brother Clarence.

Edward was feeling a little uneasy. Margaret had expressed great sorrow and concern at the death of their brother, for oddly enough, he had been her favourite in the family. She had supported him whenever she could; although she had deplored his break with his brother and during that time when Clarence had gone over to Warwick against Edward she had done everything she could to bring them together. It had been unnatural, she had always said, that brothers should fight against each other and that they should be brothers of the House of York was quite unacceptable. Edward had always believed that it had been Margaret's continual pleading which had brought Clarence back to him.

And now Clarence was dead—ordered to be killed by his own brother! It would make a rift between them, Edward feared, for Margaret could never understand.

Margaret embraced her family with great affection. It gave her

great pleasure, she assured them all, to be among them. She congratulated Edward on what he had done for England; he had lifted the country out of the troublous state it had been in during the reign of poor weak Henry. It was a triumph for the House of York.

She obviously wished to speak to Edward in private and at length there came a time when this was possible. She mentioned Clarence at once.

'It was such a bitter blow when I heard,' she said. 'I could not believe it.'

'George was the most nrdsguided of men,' Edward replied. 'It was a great tragedy but inevitable, I fear.'

Margaret did understand; she could see that George wanted the crown and partisan as she was, even she must agree that he would never have ruled the country as Edward did. But it was hard to forget the little brother who had always seemed so charming.

It was no use talking about George. He had come to a most undignified end and there was nothing that could bring him back. He had been reckless and foolish and dangerous and it was because of this last that he had had to die.

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