Free A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir Page B

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    Anne’s face was taut. “They are ignorant fools!” she hissed, with unaccustomed vehemence. “What did he say to them when he rode with the King into London? He cried repeatedly, ‘Behold your prince and sovereign lord!’ And he kept deferring to the boy very reverently. The people could have seen his loyalty with their own eyes. It is the Wydevilles and their kin who stir up trouble.”
    “Ask your lord about the weapons, lady!” yelled a red-faced man in a butcher’s apron. Anne blanched and looked away.
    “What is he talking about?” John asked her. “What weapons?”
    “I wish I understood,” she replied. “All I know is that your father wrote to say that, when he entered London with the King, he sent ahead four wagons loaded with weapons bearing Wydeville devices, and had the criers announce that these arms had been collected by his enemies to use against him.”
    “Where’s the Queen?” a woman shrieked suddenly, jabbing a gnarled finger at the litter.
    “I shall ignore that,” Anne muttered, tight-lipped. “They must know she is in sanctuary. It was a cunning move to gain sympathy and discredit the duke—acting the poor widow, in fear of what he might do to her and her children.”
    Kate knew all too well that the Queen’s continued sojourn in sanctuary was doing her father no good. It must embarrass him greatly, for it looked at best as if he had not taken fitting care for her protection, and at worst as if he meant ill to her and her children. After the seizing of Rivers and Grey, people might easily believe that—as some in this crowd plainly did. Yet Richard had written that he’d been trying to persuade Elizabeth Wydeville to leave sanctuary.
But she refuses, and keeps on refusing!
he had complained.
How does that make me look to the world? By her refusal, she proclaims me a danger to her!
    “She must know he was loyal and devoted to King Edward,” Anne said. “How could she think he would harm Edward’s wife and children? My lord does not make war on women and infants!”
    “No, he does not; and he is taking good care of the King,” Kate responded indignantly. He had summoned the lords and citizens to swear fealty to young Edward, and ensured that all due honors were paid to the boy. He had ordered coins to be minted in his sovereign’s name. Then the council, at the Duke of Buckingham’s suggestion, had arranged for the King to take up residence in the royal palace in the Tower of London, which had been one of his late father King Edward’s favorite residences, and surely held many happy memories for his son. Kate had never seen the royal apartments there, but her father had told her that they overlooked the river and were sumptuous, with a great banqueting hall and richly appointed chambers with exquisite stained-glass windows. The walls were painted with angels and birds in gold and vermilion, and there were floor tiles emblazoned with heraldic badges. Kate thought that her cousin the King was very lucky to be living in such a beautiful palace, and she had no doubt that her father had thought of everything needful for his comfort.They were approaching a fine stone mansion, so tall that it dominated the Bishopsgate skyline and dwarfed the other houses.
    “Crosby Hall—at last!” the duchess said thankfully. “I could not have borne to be jolted about on these cobbles for much longer.”
    The litter trundled through a wide archway into a spacious courtyard, and drew to a halt outside an imposing outdoor stone staircase. Kate looked up in awe at the arcades of tall traceried windows on the upper story of the building that towered above her, and the fine stonework of its walls, turrets, and parapets. Crosby Hall was one of the grandest houses she had ever seen.
    The courtyard was a hive of noisy activity, as servants hurried in and out of the house unloading carts and sumpter mules. The duke, they soon learned, had taken up residence here only that morning, and his stuff