"He is so lenient most of the time," said Richard.
"But he does hate trouble in the family. So you can imagine, Christmas was not what it should have been."
Then came the day when Richard arrived at St. Martin's. I could see at once that he was very excited.
"Edward has a solution." he cried.
"I wonder if you will think it a good one."
"If it means that I can leave here and we shall be together, I certainly shall."
"The heart of the matter is, as you know, the Warwick inheritance. Edward feels that if George had the larger share of it he might be prepared to give his consent as your guardian to our marriage."
"I do not care for the estates."
"Nor I. It will make my brother very powerful, of course, and that is not good. He has enough already to make him a menace. Nothing will satisfy him but to have the bulk. He wants Warwick... the castle and the earldom ... and Salisbury as well, which are the important ones, of course. And you and I are to have Middleham."
I clasped my hands in pleasure.
"Oh, that will be wonderful, Richard. How often have I dreamed of Middleham!"
"Yes. Middleham will be ours. The place we love best, and with it all your father's northern estates. And there is something else, Anne. Edward wants me to hold the north for him. He says there is none other whom he can trust to do it. Our home would be in the north."
"In Middleham!" I said ecstatically.
"We should be back there in the place which has so many memories for us."
"That makes me very happy. And George has agreed to this?"
"Not yet. It remains for him to do so."
"Do you think he will?"
"He wanted everything, of course, and that is what he was planning to get."
"But he failed to do so. Perhaps ..."
"We must wait and see. But I have a feeling that he will take what he is offered. The earldom of Warwick will surely tempt him."
"I long to hear that he agrees, but I cannot help thinking that he has come out of this far too well. When you think of what he did to me... I believe he intended to be rid of me altogether."
"He would not have dared. Anne, what do you say to this chance? Are you sorry that I have told you Edward will agree to it?"
I shook my head.
"I only hope that George will."
When the proposition was put to him George was a little hesitant, I heard. He had schemed to have the entire inheritance and no doubt felt he had been cheated of it. But, thanks to circumstances and Gilly, that plot had been foiled; and here I was, safe in sanctuary. And while his villainy had not brought its just deserts, he was still able to bargain; but at length he realised that he must settle for the larger share of the Warwick fortune.
Richard told me how Edward had sent for him.
"There were tears in his eyes," he said, "and he turned to me and cried, "The Lady Anne is yours, and I wish you great happiness in your marriage. And now all you need is this dispensation from the Pope." And when he said that there was a hint of mischief in his smile."
"Why? What did he mean?"
That he would not expect a man in love to give too much thought to such a matter."
"You mean ...?"
"That nothing should be put in the way of our marrying and since the dispensation from the Pope was so long in coming, we might do without it."
He put his arms round me and held me tightly to him.
"There shall be no delay." he said.
"We have waited long enough. It will not be a grand ceremony, of course. We do not want to call the Pope's attention to our disobedience. But do you care? Do I care?"
"We do not,"I said.
"Then let there be a wedding, and then ... to Middleham!"
The Duchess of Gloucester
Richard and I were married and there followed two of the happiest years of my life. We were young: when the ceremony was performed I was sixteen years old and Richard was twenty -but only in years. We had both suffered experiences which had inevitably matured us. We were both deeply aware of our good fortune in being together and were determined to enjoy this happy state to the full.
How fresh seemed the northern air! And what a happy journey that was, riding side by side on the way to the home which we both loved.
The north was for Richard. The people liked his quiet ways, preferring them, I imagined, to the ostentatious splendour of his brother the king. They came out of their cottages to cheer for the Duke of Gloucester and to give him a "God bless you, your Grace." to which he responded with a dignified greeting.
How different he was from Edward and George, that pale shadow of his magnificent brother! These people knew that they could trust Richard and it was to him that they gave their loyalty. Edward had shown his wisdom when he had selected Richard to guard the northern territories.
And there was the familiar castle. My heart bounded with emotion when I saw it. It would always be home to me. Of course, there were sad memories. I felt a longing for my mother and a sadness for my father. I could not help recalling those days when he had come to the castle, his followers about him, to the shouts of "A Warwick', and I could see the banners of the Ragged Staff waving in the breeze.
We had been so proud of him, Isabel and I, as we watched from the turret. Our father the king of the north the king of the whole country, in fact if not in name, for we knew it was he who made the king and decided how he should rule. Then I thought of his body lying on the battlefield at Barnet... stripped of power ... stripped of life. A kingmaker but in death no different from the commonest soldier.
But these were morbid thoughts. I was home with my husband. At last we were together; and the past must be forgotten because it had led us to this.
How happy we were! How we laughed and remembered! There was the field where the boys had tilted; there had the hero of Agincourt taught them the arts of battle; there was the seat near the well where Richard had sat, tired from the exercises, with me beside him, the only one who was allowed to see him at such a time because no one must know that he was not as strong as the others, and I could be trusted to keep the secret.
There was much to occupy us. Nobles from the surrounding country came to Middleham to consult Richard, and each night there was entertainment in the great hall. Then Richard must make his pilgrimages through the neighbourhood, and I accompanied him. How proud I was to see how the people respected him. I liked their frank manners. I was one of them, born and bred among them. It seemed fitting to them that the lord of the north should be allied with Warwick's daughter.
It was comforting to be free of court intrigue ... far away from Clarence and his schemes ... though I should have loved to see Isabel and my mother.
I could sleep beside Richard and there were no more dreams of the cookshop. With each passing week it became more and more like a hazy fantasy.
We were far away from London, far from the court. And that in itself was wonderful.
I told Richard that George was welcome to have the rest of the Warwick estates because he had left us Middleham.
So passed those idyllic days, and then came the discovery that I was to have a child.
I had never thought such happiness possible. There was only one thing now to make me sad, I told Richard.
He was eager to know what it was.
"It is my mother. They say she is in sanctuary, but it is prison to her. How she would love to be with me and particularly to be with her grandchild." "Edward has half-promised that she shall be free," he said.
"I expect George is persuading him that is better to keep her at Beaulieu. When I see him I shall talk to him."
To talk to him you would have to go away," I said, "and that is the last thing I want."
He looked at me rather sadly then. I knew that this cosy happiness of ours could not go on for ever. One day there would come a summons for him and he would have to leave me.