Jean Plaidy (25 page)

“Get away with you.”

“Be sensible…before it is too late.”

She wavered. “How?” she said.

“You know I am not Nan, do you not? You know I was brought here one night and you were told to play your parts…to pretend that I was the simple kitchen maid who thought she was a grand lady. You know I
am
Lady Anne Neville. I was brought here because there is a dispute over money. If you will go to Crosby's Place and ask to see the Duke of Gloucester…if you will tell him you have news of the Lady Anne Neville…he will see you and listen to you. Tell him where I am and when he comes to take me away from here I shall see…we both shall see…that you are well rewarded.”

“You're mad.”

“I'm not…and you know I am not. Give it a chance. You'll never have another like it. Where will you go when you leave here? This is a chance for you…take it.”

“Who'd listen to me?”

“The Duke of Gloucester would. He wants to find me. He will listen to anyone who tells him where I am. Believe me. I am speaking the truth. These people will be punished for what they have done. You should not be a party to their crime. This is a chance for you. I beg you, take it, not only for my sake, but for your own. Do as I say. What harm can it do?”

“Go to Crosby's Place?” she murmured.

“Yes, to Crosby's Place. You could do it. You know how to make people listen to you. Ask someone to take you to the Duke of Gloucester.”

“They'd laugh at me.”

“Tell them they'd be sorry if they did because you come from Lady Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Warwick.”

There was a gleam of interest in her eyes.

“Do it, Gilly,” I pleaded. “You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

“You really believe it, don't you? You really believe you are this high and mighty lady.”

“I am Lady Anne Neville, Gilly. Prove it by doing what I tell you. I promise you, you will not be forgotten. Both the duke and I will be forever grateful to you if you bring about my release from this place.”

“Get away from me,” she said, and started tying up her things in a bundle.

I left her. I was half hopeful, half despairing.

I was not sure what she would do. Shortly afterward she left the shop.

         

I was lying on my pallet. Meg had locked me in. She kept the keys now, and I was glad. It gave me a certain sense of security.

I was thinking of Gilly, wondering what she was doing. Had she gone to Crosby's Place? And what would the guards say when a woman with a bruised face and ragged, none-too-clean garments asked to be taken to the Duke of Gloucester? She would be driven away.

Yes, but Gilly was not one to be easily thrust aside. Everything depended on whether she believed me. If she did, then she would persist.

After all, as I had pointed out to her, she had little to lose and much to gain.

Would she ever get to Richard? If she mentioned my name…Yes, he would surely receive her if he heard that. But how would she ever get near him?

Then…I heard the shouts from below.

“Open up! Open up!”

Meg was calling. I heard Tom's voice. Through the windows I could see the torches. Then the door was burst open and I could hear people. They must be crowding into the shop. There were footsteps on the stairs.

A voice called, “Anne! Anne! Are you there!” It was Richard.

I was almost faint with joy. I beat on my door.

“Here, here…Richard!” I called. “I am locked in here.”

Then I heard him shouting, “Where is the lady? Take me to her! At once, at once, I say!”

Footsteps. The key in the door. And there he was.

For a few seconds he did not recognize me, and instantly I was conscious of how I must look.

Then I cried, “Richard! You've come! Gilly found you. Oh, thank God.”

I ran to him and he caught me in his arms. The joy of that moment, after so much degradation and humiliation, was almost too much to bear. I felt the tears on my cheeks. I was free. The nightmare was over.

SANCTUARY

W
hat followed was like a dream and I remember only snatches of it. The ecstasy of riding those night-quiet streets on Richard's horse; the bliss of being close to him; the horror of realizing what I must look like in my greasy gown, my hair unkempt, my person redolent of the nauseating smells of the cookshop that had sickened me on my arrival and to which I had grown a little accustomed.

I was not the Anne whom he had known all his life; I was an unwashed, ill-smelling, dirty kitchen slut.

Yet he held me close to him. He was very tender but angry. I knew he was seething with rage. We did not speak of that then but we should later.

As we rode through those streets I was thanking God and Gilly. She had done it. I would tell Richard that I had promised to reward her and I must be sure that she received that reward. She had made this possible; she had succeeded in getting through to Richard and it was due to her that he had found me.

He said, “I am taking you to St. Martin's. There you will be safe…in sanctuary. No one can harm you there. The nuns will look after you. Later in the day I shall come to see you, then we will talk.”

How well he understood! I did not want to talk yet. All I could do was say to myself: I'm free. It is over. I shall never be in that dirty kitchen again, never shiver on my pallet, listening for footsteps on the stairs. I meant to wash the stains from that place off my body and the memory from my mind.

I was taken into St. Martin's. I bathed and the clothes I was wearing were taken away and burned. My hair was washed. It was wonderful to feel it fresh and sweet-smelling about my shoulders.

I was given a gray habit to wear until I could have some of my own clothes.

I slept in a small cell with a crucifix hanging on the wall. It was luxury to me.

And later Richard came to see me.

“Anne!” he cried. “You look like my Anne again—though very demure. Like a nun. Never mind, you are back with me. I cannot bear to think of it. It fills me with fury.”

“But you came. I knew you would come if only I could get a message to you. Gilly…that woman…I want her to be rewarded.”

“She shall be. She has already been given food, clothing, and money. Have no fear on that score. I am as eager to reward her as you are. Now tell me…if you wish to talk of it. Or would you rather later? There is so much we have to say and we have some time now.”

I told him briefly what had happened: how I had been driven away through the night because one of the maids had told me she had a message from him and that I was being taken to sanctuary on his orders.

“I must have been drugged,” I said, “for I slept through most of the ride and when I awoke I was in that place.”

He held me tightly against him.

“This is George's doing,” he said. “He is determined to prevent our marriage, because while you are unmarried he is your guardian, and has control of the Warwick fortune in its entirety. If you married half of it would come to you. That is the reason.”

“If that is so, why did he not kill me?”

Richard was tense with emotion. “He dared not go so far as that. Our brother has been lenient with him…too lenient. George relies on his charm and the family affection…but he could go too far and he knows that. George is a schemer but his schemes are often wild. He acts first and thinks afterward. We have seen that before. His one thought would have been to get you away from me so that our marriage was not possible. In due course he would have come up with another scheme and then tried to put that into action in his clumsy fashion.”

I shivered.

“Don't be afraid,” he said. “Nothing like this shall ever happen to you again. We are going to be married. There are only two obstacles to overcome. We must have Edward's consent and I know he will want my happiness. Then there is the dispensation from the Pope. We are akin, Anne, you and I. Well, there should be no delay about that.”

“Your brother will try to prevent it. I'm afraid of him. Looking back, I think I always have been.”

“I will take care of George.”

“It is not good that there should be this trouble between you.”

“It is not good but it exists. I could kill him. I am not sure I will not. When I think of how I was turned away when I came to see you…”

“Tell me.”

“I was told you were ill…too ill to be seen. You can imagine how I felt. I said, ‘However ill she is, she will see me.' He said he could not allow it. It would endanger your life. Oh, what a hypocrite he is! Oh yes, I shall certainly kill him one day.”

“And you went away and came back again?”

“I did. I said I
would
see you. I did not believe you were too ill to see me. I tried to force my way in but his guards surrounded me. I could see that one of us would come to some harm if this persisted. Edward would be angry. He had impressed on us both to remember we are one family and we must stand together.

“I came back again. This time I saw your sister Isabel. She was very distressed. She said you had run away and she did not know where you were. Then I knew the situation was really serious. I suspected my brother of some nefarious plotting but I could not think what. I insisted on searching Warwick Court. In fact I have been searching all over London. He always had his hangers-on…people in his service. It has ever been like that. He likes to do things in secrecy, but he is quite without common sense. I was frantic with anxiety.”

“And when Gilly came to you?”

“Ah…that woman. She had some trouble getting to me. Thank God she was not one to give up! She kept screeching your name. She cried out that they would be in trouble if they did not take notice of her and bring her to me, because she had news of you. At last she managed to reach me. I could scarcely believe her story, but I was determined not to pass over any possibility. So I came…and here you are now…safe in sanctuary, thank God.”

“And what of your brother?”

“He will not be able to reach you here. You are in sanctuary. This day I shall see Edward. I shall tell him what has happened. He will help me, I know. Once he gives his consent, George will be powerless.”

I closed my eyes and was silent for a moment.

He said, “What are you thinking, Anne?”

“This time yesterday I was there…hopeless…helpless…wondering if I would be there forever. And now, here I am, safe with you. It has come about so quickly. I cannot believe it to be true.”

“It is true and soon I shall take you away from here.”

“I believe I shall never feel safe…from George.”

“Once you are married to me, he can do nothing, and you will remain in sanctuary until that day.”

“You understand. It is like a nightmare. It is over, I know, and yet I cannot believe it. If I close my eyes I think I am lying on the dirty pallet…dreaming.”

He kissed me tenderly. “It is over, Anne,” he said. “You will forget. When we are together it will pass from your mind.”

I was not sure that it ever would. I felt I would always remember that hot kitchen, Tom's lecherous eyes, two women fighting in the yard. They had been written indelibly on my mind and would stay there forever.

I said, “What of those people in the cookshop?”

“They have all been arrested.”

“Tom, Meg, and the girl Jane?”

“They will be questioned.”

“And punished?”

“Surely they deserve it?”

“The real culprit is your brother. What will happen to him? I hope they will not be punished unless he is.”

Richard was silent. Then he said, “This day I shall speak to Edward. The main thing is that you and I shall marry. I shall not feel really at ease until I am taking full care of you. At the moment my mind is at rest because you are here in sanctuary and I know you are safe. We have to be content with that for a while, Anne…but only for a little while.”

“It is contentment enough for me to know that I am free of that place and with you.”

He held my rough hands and looked at the broken nails. Then he kissed them.

“These will heal,” he said. “You will grow away from it, Anne. I assure you of that. My first and most important mission in life will be to care for you.”

Then he left me and I sat for a long time, marveling at the chance that had been brought to me out of that nightmare.

         

I saw Richard next day. He had seen the king and told him the whole story of my adventure. Edward was deeply shocked, not only by what had happened to me but that Clarence should be suspected of having arranged it.

He sent for Clarence.

Knowing the three brothers as I did, I could well imagine the scene between them when Richard described it to me. I could feel Richard's smoldering anger, hear Clarence's lies, the implausibility of which he would try to hide with a persuasive charm; and I could picture Edward, hating above all things trouble in the family, seeking first to placate Richard and then George.

“I accused him of doing this dreadful thing to you,” said Richard, “and he promptly denied it. He had the effrontery to say that you had attempted to run away because you were afraid of
me.
You did not want to marry me and thought you might be forced into it. He was so absurd that even he began to realize it. He said he knew nothing of the cookshop. He was your guardian. Edward had given him that right and duty and he intended to keep it.”

“But what did the king say?”

“He could not believe George, of course, but you know how they have always been with George. When caught in some wrongdoing he would flash that innocent smile on Edward or our sister Margaret and come up with some wild excuse, and he would be forgiven. That was how it was with Edward. He said, ‘Anne is safe now. She had a frightening experience, poor child. We must be kind and gentle with her.' And he was ready to dismiss George's part in it. It was not that he believed George was innocent, but he did not want to know about it.”

“But surely some action should be taken against him? And what of the people in the cookshop?”

Richard lifted his shoulders. He said, “They were too frightened to talk coherently. Edward said, ‘Anne is safe. Let that be an end to the matter.' And they were released.”

“At least they were not the real culprits.”

“No. But you suffered at their hands.”

I shivered. Indeed I had. I said, “And George…for his part in it?”

“My dearest Anne, George joined your father and fought against the king and for a while it cost Edward his throne, and yet when George came back and said he was sorry, it had all been a mistake…well, it was like the parable of the prodigal son. We killed the fatted calf. That is my brother Edward, and do not forget he is king and his word is law.”

“So this matter is waved aside, is it?”

He nodded. “But the important thing is, Anne, that you and I want to marry and George is going to raise obstacles to that.”

“And Edward will let him?”

“Edward wants to remain on the best of terms with both of us.”

“Is it not a little difficult in these circumstances?”

“It is very difficult, but Edward is a master in such diplomacy. It is why he is the king he is. Conflict is something he abhors. It is ironical that he should have been at the center of the War of the Roses.”

“Do you think he will give his support to George and there will be no marriage for us?”

“I think he will prevaricate and that the speedy marriage we hoped for may be delayed.”

“If George's misdeeds are going to be passed over as though they never happened he will try again.”

“I think he has had a shock. I shall not allow his crime to be forgotten. He insists that you ran away and were kidnapped by the cookshop people and forced to work for them. That would not seem wildly impossible, except, as I pointed out, I had learned from you what had happened and that made nonsense of his tale.”