"He is so much in love with me He said twenty kings could not keep us apart. All we want is that wretched dispensation. Otherwise, of course, they would say it was no true marriage. Let me tell you what happened."
She proceeded to do so.
"Your poor little Richard was in a fine state, because he thought his brother Edward was angry with him. George did not care if he were. But Richard was right. Edward was angry. He had them both brought before him and he wanted to know why they had arranged to leave court without his permission. Who had suggested they do it and so on. They said no one had. They had decided they would go and visit their old friend, the Earl of Warwick. Then Edward said: "Have either of you been contemplating marriage with one of Warwick's daughters?" And he reminded them that they could not marry without his consent. Richard was silent but George would not be bullied. He said why should he not marry the daughter of the Earl of Warwick? I was the best match in the kingdom! Edward lost his temper with George, which was rare for him, so he must feel strongly about this. He's usually all smiles and waving awkward things aside. He put both George and Richard in a room with guards at the door. Not for long, of course. He soon let them out and was jolly with them. But George said he was quite serious when he impressed on them that they could not marry without his consent."
"What does this mean, Isabel?"
"George says it means that as soon as the dispensation arrives we shall be married, whatever the king says."
"It could cause terrible trouble."
"It is what our father wants."
"Has it occurred to you that our father no longer has the power he once had?"
"Don't talk so about our father. It's disloyal."
"It's the truth."
She laughed at me.
"I should not be afraid to marry without the king's consent, even if you would."
"Oh, Isabel," I said.
"I hope it will not come to that."
"I can tell you this." she said.
"We have seen the last of Richard. George says he will stand by Edward. He will do nothing of which the king does not approve. So he will not be coming to Middleham again."
"I know.""How different George is! George is bold and adventurous. When George makes up his mind, no one is going to stop him, and he is determined to marry me."
I had seen the look in George's eyes, and I feared he was determined to do many things besides marry Isabel.
Isabel's Wedding
The shadows deepened. My mother was constantly apprehensive of what would happen next; and I shared her feelings.
Isabel was living in a world of dreams, I believed. George was often with her. They would talk, laugh, ride together and plan for the future. I did wonder whether George was in love with her or her fortune and what my father could do for him.
It sobered me a little to remember that I, too, was a great heiress. Our father must be the richest man in the country and to whom could he leave his wealth but to his two daughters? Yet Richard did not seek me in spite of my fortune. He was above all loyal to the king.
There came an alarming day when guards arrived at the castle. There was shocked tension throughout the place when we heard they had come to conduct my father to the king. Certain charges had been made against him and he must answer them.
My father was furious. This was the greatest insult. He demanded to know what the charges were.
He was told that, when the army was storming one of the Lancastrian castles, a man had been captured and, probably under threat, had declared that my father was scheming to bring Henry back to the throne after he had deposed Edward.
At this time this was an absurd accusation, for although my father had decided to withdraw his support from Edward, he had no intention of restoring Henry, for if he did there would be Margaret of Anjou to contend with, and she would be more difficult to handle than Edward could ever be.
I realised then that at the back of his mind was an idea of replacing Edward with George, Duke of Clarence who, by that time, would be his son-in-law.
However, that plan was in its early stages and my father wasincensed that he should be accused of something of which he was not guilty.
It amazes me, looking back, how easy-going Edward was and always had been. I suppose he could have arrested my father, but, in view of my father's power particularly in the north that could have meant the starting of a civil war; but Edward was forever placatory.
When my father refused to leave, the king sent back a messenger this time. Would the Earl of Warwick be kind enough to confront his accuser, just to show those who might be ignorant enough to believe there might be truth in the rumours, that they were utterly false?
When this request was made my father graciously acceded to it. He saw his accuser, completely confounded him, and outwardly it now seemed that he and Edward were on better terms.
This was emphasised when my father agreed to accompany the king's sister Margaret to Burgundy where she was to marry Charles who, on the death of his father, had become the Duke of Burgundy.
We heard about that ceremonious journey. The people of London cheered the procession rapturously, for my father was at the head of it and they thought this implied peace between him and the king.
I think my mother was hopeful of complete reconciliation. She understood far more than we could what a rift between our father and the king could mean; she had seen enough war in her lifetime and I knew she prayed each night that that would not come back.
Alas for her prayers!
Our father returned from the journey with plans in his mind.
I heard, from our mother, about Margaret's wedding and I knew that, though our father made a show of affability, he was far from pleased.
He was in favour of friendship with France and for him to be on terms of amity with Louis' enemy Charles of Burgundy would certainly not please the King of France; and if he decided to depose Edward, help from France would be very necessary.
We listened avidly to our mother's account of the wedding festivities, gleaned from our father, of course. How the feasting had lasted for days. But what interested us most was the account of the great fire in a castle near Bruges when the new duchess and her husband were almost burned to death in their bridal bed. It must have been caused by some enemy who was not discovered.
My mother said: "How thankful I am that your father was not involved in the fire."
But there were other matters in which he was involved.
Clarence came to Middleham, which delighted Isabel although she was a little petulant because he spent so much time with our father. And while he was there we had another visitor: our Uncle George. Isabel was truly in a state of bliss. She was soon telling me why. She could never keep news to herself, although I believe she had been sworn to secrecy.
"Uncle George has the dispensation from Rome," she told me.
"There is now no longer any reason why we should not be married."
"Only that you haven't the king's consent," I reminded her.
Isabel snapped her fingers a gesture learned from George. She looked smug.
"What do we care about that?" she replied.
She was smiling secretly. I wondered what that meant.
We were to prepare to leave. We were going to Calais. My father, who was Captain of Calais, wanted to test the defences there. It was a perfectly legitimate reason. Why should he not take his family with him? A man liked to have his family about him and there were so many occasions when it was necessary to leave them.
Uncle George accompanied us, which was significant.
We were excited at the prospect of going on such a journey, but all of us were dreading the sea crossing.