"So you see why my father is so upset."

"I understand, and it grieves me. My brother has been kind to your father. He stormed into the king's chambers and actually dared berate him. My brother was so calm ... so reasonable!

"Poor Warwick!" he said.

"I should have told him I was married and not let him go on making plans with the old Spider. Yes, I understand his wrath. He has been of good service to me and I am ready to forget that outburst. I am ready to be his good friend again." There! You see how forgiving he can be. He does not want conflict with his old friend. If only your father would be friends again, my brother would be ready."

"He will, I am sure."

"He must be."

"And in the meantime, does that mean that you will not be staying at Middleham?"

"I am here now only for this celebration."

"I am so glad you came, Richard. Oh, how I wish for a return to the old days before there was this trouble."

"We were always good friends, you and I, Anne," he said.

"Let us always be."

"That is what I want. Very much I want it."

"We will agree then that, whatever happens, you and I will always be friends."

How readily I agreed to that.

We returned to Middleham and Richard said goodbye to me and went to join his brother.

Life settled down to what it had been. There were boys in the tiltyard and in the fields doing their martial exercises, but I was not interested because Richard was not among them.

I was learning more about what was going on. The quarrel between my father and the king had made me more aware. There were times when there was no sign of the rift, but it was there, and occasionally it was brought to our notice.

When there was a visiting embassy from Bohemia, I think -and the king was anxious to entertain the emissaries lavishly, we heard that he had offered them a banquet with fifty different courses of the finest foods. Everyone gasped with wonder until they heard that the Earl of Warwick had invited the visitors to Warwick Court where sixty courses were offered; and that because of the earl's generous gesture in allowing the people to come to the kitchens and take away the surplus food, there was rejoicing in the streets because Warwick was in town. The cries of "A Warwick!"

"Long live the great earl!" were heard far into the night. A reminder to the king that, although he wore the crown -put on his head by Warwick the earl was still to be reckoned with and the quarrel with the king had not diminished his popularity with the people; and they were of paramount importance when it came to keeping a king on the throne.

In spite of his half-hidden rancour, my father stood sponsor when Elizabeth Woodville produced her first child a daughter, named Elizabeth after her mother; and George, Archbishop of York, performed the ceremony.

When it was suggested that Charles, Count of Charolais, heir to Philip, Duke of Burgundy, might marry the king's sister, Margaret, it was the Earl of Warwick who was the natural emissary sent to arrange the match. He was the best of ambassadors, on good terms with the King of France and not on ill ones with Burgundy. The king must be aware that it would not be good for him if there was warfare between him and his old friend.

My mother now talked to us more freely. Isabel was growing up and, as her sister, constantly in her company, I might have appeared older than my years. In any case, I was present at some of these conversations.

"I do wish this trouble between them was over," said my mother. They really cannot do without each other. Sometimes I think your father is on the point of forgiving the king, and beginning to see that the marriage was the impetuous act of a young man in love."

Isabel sighed. She could not forget that the king had seen her and he had looked at her in what she thought was a special way for her alone. I hoped she was now realising that there was nothing special about it; it was his way of looking at all women, young or old. It was the secret of his charm, for what woman could resist such looks which implied that she was desirable above all others -until she realised they were given to all members of her sex.

We were all hoping that my mother was right; and indeed, when my father was away from home on a mission for the king, it seemed that she might be.

Two events took place which brought my father's scheme out into the open and after that even I knew that there was little hope of reconciliation.

My cousin George, son of John Neville, was betrothed to the heiress of the Duke of Exeter a match which had my father's complete approval. However, the queen had other ideas for the Exeter fortune and thought it would do very well for the elder of her two sons at that time Sir Thomas Grey. As the king gave in to the queen in almost everything she demanded, she succeeded in this matter; and my father's wrath was great.

He was at Middleham when he heard the news from his brother, and he did not have to hide his rage from his wife and family.

"What are we coming to?" he demanded.

"It is only a short time ago when the queen's father was appointed Treasurer of England and made Earl Rivers. Whatever that rapacious witch asks for is given her!"

But the real cause of my father's disquiet, and what made him give up trying to hide his real motives, was that the king was planning to find a bride for his brother George, Duke of Clarence, and he had settled on Mary, daughter of Charles of Burgundy.

My father had other plans for Clarence.

George, Duke of Clarence, came to Middleham. His reception was as grand as that given to the king when he had visited us.

"Well," said Isabel, smiling secretly, "is he not the king's brother?" There was feasting and revelry with the usual entertainments, but what struck me most was the show of affection between my father and the duke. They were cloistered together: one saw them walking arm in arm in the gardens and they were always deep in discussion.

This meant something, I was sure: and I was soon to discover what. It was through Isabel, as usual. de his rage from I had retired for the night and my woman had just left me when Isabel came in. She looked very pretty, radiant in fact.

The most wonderful thing has happened," she announced.

"I am going to be married!"

"Well." I said.

"It was certain to come sooner or later. You are no longer very young."

"Why don't you ask who my bridegroom is to be?"

"You know you are longing to tell me."

"It is George."

"So that is what all this is about."

"Yes. He came here to ask me. Our father is delighted. So everything is just as it should be."

"Arid the king is pleased?"

She looked at me blankly.

"The king ...?"

"Wouldn't he have to give his consent? George is his brother."

"Of course the king will be pleased, and if my father wants it, it will be."

"It is all very mysterious. What is going on between our father and the king, I mean. They are not the friends they once were."

"Oh, be silent. You are jealous."

"I'm not. I'm just hoping it is going to be all right."

She sat on my bed.

"I shall go to court. I shall wear wonderful gowns. George is so good-looking, is he not? They say he is remarkably like the king. Just suppose the king did not have any heirs ..."

"He already has a daughter. You are going too fast. Let us get you married first. When is the wedding to be?"

"Hush. It is not to be generally known at first. You forget who George is."

"I certainly do not!"

"There are all sorts of things that have to be arranged. It is a secret so far."

"So you immediately tell me!"

"You don't count."

Thank you."

"I mean you are my little sister, and haven't I always told you things?" 

"You have ... now and then."

She flung her arms round me and hugged me.

"I'm so happy, Anne. I always loved George, you know. He is rather wonderful, is he not? He's always so merry and good at things ... just everything." She sighed.

"He would make a very good king."

I could not help feeling a little uneasy not only because of my father's strained relations with the king, but there was something else. I confessed it to myself now. There was something I did not like about George. He was not exactly shifty but watchful. He had too much charm and it was not like the king's which appeared to be so spontaneous. There had always seemed to me to be something calculating about George. I had noticed a rather petulant look when his brother Edward's name was mentioned. I had a feeling that he was furious with a fate which had not made him the first born. But then, perhaps I was comparing him with Richard.

But I had to rejoice with Isabel. She was so pleased with life. She had wanted to be married for some time, but it had to be to the right person. It seemed to her now that George was that person. Brother to the king! She was thinking that a glorious future awaited him ... and her.

When my mother heard that Isabel had told me the news she sent for me.

"Anne," she said.

"I want to talk to you. Isabel has spoken to you, I believe."

"You mean about her betrothal, my lady?"

"I mean that. She is so happy that she must talk of it, but your father does not wish it to be announced just yet. There are one or two little matters which have to be arranged first."

"Yes, my lady."

"Your father did not know that George would ask Isabel yet. He meant there to be certain negotiations ... then we could have been sure that all would be well."