*Who has sent you to me?'
*One whom you know well. A friend who loves you and who does not wish harm to befall you.'
He knew at once. This was John's doing. Was it a joke? The kind of joke they had enjoyed playing on each other. No, John had grown serious, even as he had. And there was one thing he knew and that was that the Lollards were a force and one to be reckoned with.
*They plan to strike in the early morning, my lord. Retire to your chambers now. Let them believe that you are weary of
the revels and have State matters to attend to. Summon your brothers... and then my lord... fly with them for your life.'
Henry hesitated.
Could this be true? He had an instinct for such matters and he believed it could be. He was no longer the reckless youth courting danger. He had a country to govern, a war to win.
He said: 'Methinks you come from my old friend and comrade John Oldcastle. Is that so?'
*I have sworn not to betray the source of my coming, my lord.'
*I could make you talk.'
'There is little time, my lord.'
I'll trust you then. Go from me now. People watch. They think we are exchanging badinage.'
The mummer slipped away. Henry yawned. He said: 'Continue to revel. I will retire.' He signed to his brothers. 'Come with me to my chambers. I have matters of which I must speak to you.'
They left the great hall and when they had gone the guests again whispered together of the change in the King. In the old days he would have been in the thick of the revels; he would have been watching some of the women and testing them out as to which pleased him. Now it was retirement to talk State matters with his brothers.
They would have been surprised had they watched the scene which was taking place with Henry and his brothers.
'Prepare to leave at once,' he said. 'We are going with all speed to Westminster.'
The warning had been timely.
When the King arrived at Westminster early the following morning he was greeted with the news that something unusual was going on in the streets of London. All during the previous day those streets had been crowded, but not with Londoners. It seemed that men from all over the country were gathering there.
'Send one or two men out to discover what they do there,' was his order. 'Do not put them under guards for questioning. But mingle with them. Drink with them in the taverns and make discreet enquiries.'
This was done and it was not long before the same infor-
mation was gleaned from several sources.
They had been drawn into London from the countryside with promise of great rewards. Who had made these promises? It was Lord Cobham who was behind it. He was a very rich lord and he was going to reform the Church and make living easy for the poor.
Has it come to this, John? thought Henry. War between you and me.
'We must arm ourselves/ said the King. *I see full well that this may be a repetition of what happened in Richard's time. It is the same ragged army but if there are enough of them they could be formidable.'
*My lord,' said the Archbishop Arundel, 'it is this man Old-castle who calls himself Cobham. He has some notion that he is fighting for the right.'
'He is an old man,' said the King. *I knew him once. He is one who will espouse a cause and give it all he has to give. I fear this is what he does now.'
'It is a pity he was ever allowed to escape from the Tower.'
Henry nodded. He remembered his pleasure when he heard that John was free.
John, you fool, he thought. Why did you not go back to the country and live in peace? Will you never learn your lesson?
Of course he wouldn't. He was a fighter. He was ready for any adventure—now as then.
Stay out of this John, thought the King. I want no confrontation between us two. I like not that we should be fighting on different sides. Once we undertook all our adventures together. Let us remember that now. Stop this nonsense while there is still time.
There was more news. One of his spies reported that the Lollards were gathering in St Giles's Fields and that they were preparing to march. Their first plan was to destroy the monasteries of Westminster, St Albans and St Paul as well as all the friars' houses in London.
The King was restive. Some action must be taken. He remembered how Richard had saved the day by making promises, promises which had not been kept it was true. But the poor simple peasants had not believed that that would be the outcome. They had trusted the King.
'I will send out a proclamation,' he said, 'that all persons who have preached heretical doctrines and even those who
have plotted against my life shall be pardoned.'
His advisers were silent. They questioned the wisdom of this but Henry was firm.
'So they are gathering in St Giles's Fields, are they? Well, I will go to meet them. And I shall take a strong company with me?'
'My lord,' said one, 'the apprentices are gathering in the streets.'
'Then when we pass through the city gates on the way to the Fields, see that the gates are closed and let no one in or out save those known to be our friends.'
'It shall be done, my lord,' was the answer; and so the King with his guards rode out to the Fields of St Giles's.
This was a good move for the apprentices, always eager to join any movement which could mean trouble, were preparing to march, and gathering with them were the beggars and criminals ever eager to loot and pillage other people's goods and houses. Many of the countrymen who had come to London to answer the call of Lord Cobham mistook the King's camp for that of their friends and were immediately captured. The result was chaos and the rebelling army quickly realized that they could not hope for success against the King's disciplined soldiers.
They took the only action possible. They fled.
The King returned to London. He had quelled the revolt with greater ease than Richard had dispersed the band of peasants who came against him. This was not, of course, on the same scale; but such risings could be dangerous.
He eagerly awaited news of the prisoners who had been taken. There were many of them.
'Is Lord Cobham among them?' he asked.
'No, my lord. It would seem that he got away ... if indeed he were there. He is the one we want, my lord. He might attempt again what he has failed to do this time.'
'He is a slippery fellow, this Oldcastle.'
'We should bring him to the Tower and this time make sure he gets his deserts.'
'We should,' agreed the King, 'but I doubt he will be easy to hold. He escaped before.'
'His fate will be quickly decided this time. He is a heretic as well as a traitor to you, my lord.'
The King half closed his eyes. There were so many mem-
ories of John. How had they come to this? They should have been friends for life.
'Yes,' said Henry firmly, 'his fate will be decided quickly.*
And what would it be? The axe, the rope? The heretic's death?
Henry could not shut out of his mind the thought of John Badby. The hideous smell of scorching flesh.
Oh John, you fool, he thought.
When he heard that Lord Cobham had escaped from the Fields (if he had been there) and had gone into hiding he was filled with relief.
Stay in hiding, you old idiot, he thought. And for the love of God, come to your senses!
AGINCOURT
Henry burned with ambition. All the energies which had gone into his night adventures were now concentrated on one aim. That was to win the crown of France.
He called together his council and told them that negotiations with the French must begin without delay. He laid claim to the crown of France. It was without doubt his. They might maintain the Salic law in France but England took no account of it; and through Isabella of France the mother of his great-grandfather Edward the Third the crown must come to him.