The Adventures of Alianore Audley by Brian WAINWRIGHT

Author:Brian WAINWRIGHT
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adv_history
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

The Council meeting. I was not entitled to be present, of course, but Richard made special arrangements for me to be accommodated in a tiny gallery, high in the wall of the room, which had obviously been put in to allow some crafty king to overhear what his Council had to say when he was supposedly somewhere else. The style of the architecture made me think that it was probably the first Edward. Anyway, the point is that from this gallery you could hear and see everything going on below and, unless you really leaned forward and shouted, there was no chance of anyone downstairs spotting your presence.

Buckingham was one of the first to arrive, with old Jocky Howard. Then the Archbishop of York, Rotherham, showed up, thin as a lath, wearing an expression that made you feel he grudged you the air you breathed. Stanley was next. I’d not been able to tie him into the conspiracy, which was a blow bearing in mind his wife’s known links with Morton. He started to tell the others about some nightmare he had had, involving a bore that had razed an elm, but no one was interested.

(Some people will tell you that Stanley was involved in the Hastings conspiracy. This is a lie. He had history rewritten later on in an attempt to prove himself a long-term supporter of Henry Tudor. The truth is that at this point he was backing Richard to the hilt. He always was good at choosing the winning side. Richard was later to make him Constable of England, which he most certainly would not have done if Stanley had already committed overt treason. Richard made his mistakes, but he wasn’t a complete idiot.)

Morton rolled in next. A gross, shifty looking fellow with deep-set eyes, unimpressive to look at but as clever a rogue as has ever been born. It is of course he who, in late years, has devised the method of taxation known as Morton’s Fork. By this, a man who is obviously rich is judged to be well able to afford to cough up for the King. A man who appears to be poor is assumed to have money hidden away somewhere, and so is equally eligible to pay. Hence the expression: ‘Fork off, Morton.’

Hastings arrived. He looked cheerful, and greeted his colleagues as if they all owed him money and were proposing to pay it back immediately with double interest. He started to tell Buckingham what he’d been up to the previous night with Mistress Shore, doubtless trying to make him jealous.

‘It’s getting on the late side,’ said Stanley, interrupting. ‘Must be near on five-and-twenty to nine. Where’s Gloucester? Still abed?’

‘A bit rough,’ Buckingham answered. ‘Too much London ale. Eh?’

One or two of them forced a laugh. Powerful men can always make people chuckle, even when they’re not so much wits as half-wits. Buckingham could have earned a living on any stage. They always need someone to sweep up.

It was after nine before Richard arrived, bringing with him Francis Lovell and Will Catesby.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.