The King's Dogge (38 page)

‘Thank you. Now the king has commanded Ratcliffe to proceed to the town of Gloucester, so regrettably he cannot join us.'

Catesby smiled apologetically at Ratcliffe.

‘Believe me when I say that I did all that I could to persuade His Grace that there was little chance of another repeat of Oxford, but His Grace insisted it would be best if you were personally to check, in detail, all the arrangements which you have made.'

It should have been a happy time at Minster Lovell even without Nan but, while Tawboys had done his work well, there was no assuaging Richard's worry. The humiliation at Oxford and the news from London was affecting him badly. I grew concerned as for the first time I realised how exposed and possibly vulnerable he was without the guiding hand of Anne Neville. She would have been able to get him to see both matters in perspective but without her Richard's anxiety was feeding on itself.

I tried to ease his worry; Catesby had more information about the plotters, and I was able to point out that a groom, a pardoner and two other low fellows hardly constituted major danger. All Richard had to do was write to the council in London and Bishop Russell could deal with them.

Still he was unsatisfied and anxious, so I suggested strengthening the cordon round Elizabeth Woodville and her daughters in sanctuary. After all, if an attempt had been made to rescue the young princes, another one could easily be made to rescue the young princesses.

I had not appreciated the scale of Richard's anxiety though. Hitherto he had sought to appear interested in Minster Lovell and had demanded that I show him the site of the half-built tower by the river. From there I had taken him to the hall to show him my most prized possessions, the pair of tapestries with their silver and gold threads depicting the first King Richard and his crusaders. But if I thought the chivalry of ‘The Siege of Acre' might have pleased him, I was mistaken. Immediately after I had spoken about the princesses, he tightened his lips and abandoned his inspection of the elaborate salt cellar shaped in the form of a castle. In silence, Catesby and I followed him into the adjacent solar. His agitation was by now quite marked, so I waved away the servants.

‘You've both failed me completely!' he snapped. ‘I left Westminster reassured that an adequate surveillance system had been set in place to monitor possible trouble while I was away from the South. Yet, despite the costs it incurred, your allegedly efficient system failed to detect this insurrection.'

‘But you don't know it was an insurrection!' I protested.

‘Of course it was, Francis.'

Richard's face was very pale now against his black tunic.

‘If it had been a revolt there are signs we would have noticed,' I told him. ‘There would have been reports of armed men gathering, of supplies being arranged. We would have heard tales of dissatisfied nobles.'

‘Yet His Grace might well be correct,' Catesby silkily interposed. ‘After all, someone must have supplied money and weapons to those four traitors. There must have been people waiting to receive the two princes if the plotters had succeeded.'

I glanced at him in surprise. Until this moment I knew Catesby had viewed the attempted rescue of the princes as an ill-conceived venture by a few of the late king's former servants. Why was he suddenly trying to inflame Richard's worry?

‘Of course, there was to be a revolt!' stormed Richard. ‘Catesby's point is valid. It's only because you failed to detect any of the signs of rebellion, Lovell, that you are sticking obstinately to the view that it does not exist.'

‘Of course I do! You're mistaking shadows for substance. Militarily it would be impossible to mount a rebellion without us knowing about it.'

Richard leapt to his feet. The ring which he had been rolling against his palm fell to the floor. I picked it up and handed it to him. He grabbed it away from my hand and glared at me.

‘You would accuse me of seeing shadows? At least I have the nose to smell danger.'

‘There isn't any!'

‘Sweet Christ, Francis, why are you so stupid? Let me reiterate; four men could not suddenly have decided to try and rescue those two royal bastards. There must have been a larger plan. Catesby, you're supposed to be intelligent, do you not agree?'

‘Absolutely, Your Grace,' Catesby replied smoothly. ‘But while you and Lovell were discussing the matter, I did have a thought as to why the revolt…'

‘There isn't a revolt!'

‘Silence, Lovell! At least one of you is making some sense. Continue, Catesby!'

‘The rebellion went undetected because it was planned in France or Burgundy. Regrettably, I have no agents in either of those two countries, but it is obvious that either of those states would wish to have the sons of King Edward to use against England. Indeed, Your Grace, the more I think of it, the more certain I become that, had the rescue succeeded, those young boys would have been across the Channel in a few days.'

A thoughtful silence greeted his explanation. It was so plausible that I found myself nodding slowly, but then I pulled myself together sharply. Surely Catesby could not be correct? Earlier on he had been inclined to be dismissive of the rescue attempt, but now he seemed to be blowing it out of all proportion.

‘I don't agree with…'

‘Be silent, Francis!' Richard shouted. ‘You're only looking to hide your failure by displaying total ignorance. Now, be quiet you two while I think for a moment.'

I scowled at Catesby as Richard paced anxiously up and down, because I thought I could see his plan. He was using this situation to promote himself at my expense. With Ratcliffe and now me out of favour, he would rise to become Richard's closest councillor. Richard quickly came to his own conclusion.

‘It fits!' he snapped at Catesby. ‘Brittany has Henry Tudor, so obviously France would wish to have Edward's bastard sons as their own candidates for England's throne. You're right, Catesby; the French would have got the boys overseas and then mounted an invasion.'

‘Possibly to link up with the supporters of the late king in the South of England,' Catesby interjected deferentially.

‘Of course!' Richard suddenly paused. ‘They would have come when we were farthest away from London.'

‘At York, Your Grace!' Catesby was horrified. ‘But we'll be there in a month. We must plan countermeasures immediately.'

‘Body of Christ, of course we must!'

‘There's another problem,' Catesby added hurriedly. ‘Clearly the French have planned this very cleverly. But only one group of the men that they've hired to rescue the sons of King Edward has been caught.'

‘You mean they will have employed more agents to rescue the boys?'

‘It would have been prudent, Your Grace. They're probably already in London.'

Richard swung round hurriedly.

‘You're right, we must move quickly. I'll write to Russell immediately, but…'

I stepped forward. Richard's fatal impulsiveness had seized hold of him now and he had to be stopped.

‘This is lunacy! We have no proof of any of this. We've seen no evidence of a conspiracy; all we have is supposition.'

‘What's this total lack of vision, Lovell? You seem totally incapable of grasping the scale of the crises.'

‘Because it doesn't exist!' I shouted angrily.

Dear God, I had never seen Richard in such a state before. He was seething with anger, but at the same time his worry was visibly evident. He was pacing round the room and gnawing at his fingernails now.

‘Look, let me go investigate. I know what to look for; if I'm wrong, I'll admit it, but then we can at least plan appropriate measures.'

‘That's an excellent suggestion!'

Surprisingly Catesby agreed with me, but then a worried look came to his face.

‘The trouble is, Francis, that I'm not sure how much time we have. The French plan is probably quite advanced by now and this is the best time to mount a campaign.'

‘You're allegations about the French are fabrications and you know it.'

‘Silence!'

Richard glared at me.

‘How can you not see that the attempt to seize the two royal bastards is an obvious prelude to civil war? Jesus, even Ratcliffe would be able to see that!'

I heard him out and then stepped forward to try and calm him; his face was now white with strain, but Catesby was faster than me.

‘Your Grace is shrewd to observe the dangers of a three-sided civil war,' he observed admiringly. ‘While naturally the Lords of Buckingham, Northumberland and Norfolk would support you against the two royal bastards, their Woodville family and the French, Brittany would inevitably back Henry Tudor. Why, with three different parties involved, the war could go on for years.'

‘You're talking nonsense again!' I snapped.

Catesby turned to Richard with concern in his voice.

‘Your Grace, we must move quickly, I beg you. We're wasting time trying to explain the danger to Francis. I beseech you to ignore him in this matter. He's loyal and devoted to you, I know, but time runs against us and, with poor Ratcliffe not here to help explain matters to Francis, we're wasting time.'

It was the mention of my friend's name that made my anger suddenly explode. Ignoring Richard, I took a step forward and swung hard. There was an immensely satisfying moment as my fist made contact with Catesby's face. The next thing I recall, the solar was full of the king's bodyguard and I was hauled away past a prone Catesby.

It was not until the next day that Richard summoned me to the Great Hall of Minster Lovell. I went slightly shamefaced, but in the certainty that I had been right to prevent Catesby inflaming Richard's fantasies. As I crossed the courtyard, I wondered whether he would be less worried today. I doubted it, but I was proved wrong. There was colour in his cheeks and he was seated. When he spoke, his voice was calm.

For the sake of our friendship, he was prepared to overlook my violent attack on Catesby. Indeed, such was Catesby's nobility of character that he himself had pleaded that I should receive no punishment. He had argued well, pointing out that it was not my fault that I had been unable to grasp the gravity of the situation or the threat to the whole of England and its beloved monarch. Nor indeed did he resent the blow; it was merely a gesture of frustration from one who strove earnestly to keep up with slightly more advanced intellects.

I groaned.

‘Richard, he's using you.'

He gave me a kindly look.

‘You're wrong, Francis, but no matter.'

He got up and strolled to the window.

‘We'll resume the exploration of Minster Lovell now, Francis.'

‘Have you got time?' I asked bitterly. ‘What about the rebellion? Or has Catesby suppressed that for you already?'

He showed no annoyance at my sarcasm, but began to walk towards the door. As he reached it, he turned and beckoned me to accompany him. Together we strolled out.

‘The threat of rebellion was very real, Francis, believe me, but it's dealt with now. We have no need to fear civil war.'

It seemed best to humour him.

‘Indeed? Well, that's good news.'

‘It was Catesby who enabled me to come up with the solution last night. It's a clever plan.'

I was not in the mood to discuss Catesby's clever plans.

‘Well, I'm glad it's all ended satisfactorily. Where's Catesby now?'

Richard glanced at me.

‘He's gone to London. There is a need for a certain amount of discretion in my plan and Catesby thought it best if he attended to it personally.'

He nodded happily, all trace of worry gone.

‘He's a clever fellow Catesby and a loyal man too.'

‘He's using you to advance himself.'

Richard paused outside the door of the church.

‘He warned me that you would say that, but Francis, you have no need to be jealous. You'll lose nothing by his rise in my service; I'll confirm your appointment as chamberlain and chief butler and you'll not lack for rewards.'