The Star of Lancaster - Plaidy Jean. Страница 57

'He should not be kept long under restraint. He will become a martyr. Men will speak of him and perhaps say he had right on his side.'

'What would you do then. Free him?'

'After a while, yes. And restore his estates to him/

'As a reward for playing traitor?'

'He is of our family. He had worked for us. He saved us remember when he was with the plotters at Windsor. But for him it might well be that you and I should not be here now discussing how to safeguard the crown. We shall get good service from him yet. He is a man governed by his emotions.

Let him fret a while in prison. Then I will speak for him and guarantee his good behaviour. He will be a good servant to me then, I'll promise you. He is one who will remember a service.'

'Methinks you would already govern this realm.'

*Think on it,' said Harry with a smile. Then he bowed low and said: *At your service, my lord and father. Together we shall hold the crown against all who might come against us.'

After he had left Henry was thoughtful, and his apprehension and pride were stronger than ever.

Harry was right, they must not be vindictive to the Duke of York. The people might even say that he was jealous because of the Duke's admiration of the Queen.

Four months after the Duke of York had been sent to Pevensey, he was released and his goods and lands restored to him.

Harry appeared to have judged correctly. The Duke was grateful. Henry believed that if there was another attempt to snatch the crown, York would be beside him and his son.

Two men swaggered over the cobbles of East Cheap and entered the Boar's Head. They were an incongruous pair— one rotund, the other slender; and there was such a difference in their ages that they might have been father and son.

They sprawled together at a bench and called for wine. The girl who brought it, her hair hanging lankly over the tawdry ribbons of her none too clean gown, laid her hand on the young man's shoulder and gave him an inviting smile.

He squeezed her thigh. 'Some other time,' he said with a wink at his companion. 'Tonight mayhap.*

'Nay,' said the older man with a rumbling laugh, 'have naught to do with these callow youths, lass. Take a man like me ... a man who has travelled far and wide ... in the French wars ... in the German wars ... and in any wars you can name.'

'Listen not to him,' said the younger one. *He is old and incapable.'

'You two!' said the woman with a flounce of her skirts. 'If I know aught it'll be talk and talk. That's what you do best, mark my words.

With this she left with a twirl of her musty skirts.

The older man sat back on the bench and surveyed the younger.

'You effect a good disguise, my lord,' he said. Td find good sport in standing on this bench and shouting to them all: Behold your Prince.'

1 don't doubt you would,' replied Harry. 'Would they believe you?'

*A right good scandal it would make.'

'Bless you, John, there are scandals enough about me.'

'What's for tonight?'

*A little bit of robbery methinks.'

'What have you in mind then?'

'There are some about me who suspect my fondness for this place. I heard them whispering about the Boar's Head in East Cheap. We'll surprise him, they said. That'll be good sport. I want to surprise them.'

'You bring good custom to the Boar's Head, my lord. The landlord should be pleased with you.'

'His harlot of a daughter does not seem to be. God's ear, John, I think she prefers you.'

'Ah, there is a lot to be said for a man of experience.'

'There's more to be said for youth.'

'Well you, my lord, are in good way of combining the two. But take care with the poxy wenches.'

'Away dull care,' cried Harry. 'Care is for courts. Bawdry for the Boar's Head, trickery for taverns ... What say you, John, to this? Here we meet the people. We hear what they think of the King and his son. The King who filched Richard's crown. The Prince who is itching to take it. The King who is mean and grasping. The Prince who wastes their money on debauchery. By God, I would it were true, John; I would I had it to waste on debauchery.'

'You manage debauchery at a low price,' replied Oldcastle.

' 'Tis to be had at all prices and cheaper here in the Boar's Head than at Court.'

'Tell me, what is this plan?'

'Tonight we lurk in the streets. We play the footpad on these fine gentlemen from Court. We take their money. 'Twill be a new game. A good one too.'

'Are you short of money again?'

'Not of the kind they will have on their persons.'

'They could harm you.'

*God bless you, John, am I going to curb my inclinations because I am afraid of being hurt? Would you say, "Do not go into battle my lord, you may be hurt?" Look at this scar here on my forehead. Battle honours, John. An arrow at Shrewsbury where we slew brave Hotspur. Enough of your caution. Out into the streets. We'll lurk there and we will catch them on their way to the tavern.'

*It seems a good sport,' said Oldcastle.

Harry drew something from under his cloak. 'Masks, John. They must not know it is a game.'

* 'Tis easier for you to disguise yourself than it is for me to do so. My bulk betrays me.'

'Why John, there are thousands of bulky men and where in England is a figure as neat and slender as mine. They look at me, no matter how I'm clad and say: "There goes noble Harry."'

'Nay. I shall be the better known.*

'Would you start a quarrel now then, fat man?'

*I would and I will it, boy.'

Harry laughed. 'No time for private wars, old fellow. Come ...'

'Are you going then, fair sirs?* It was the landlord's daughter.

Harry took her by the shoulder and gave her a hearty kiss on the mouth.

Til be back, sweetheart,' he said.

They came out into the streets. The flickering tallow candle in the tavern had given little light but it was some seconds before their eyes were adjusted to the gloom.

They picked their way carefully over the uneven ground avoiding the kennel in the middle of the road which would be overflowing with refuse, yet keeping from the walls in case someone threw out something which was even more obnoxious.

Harry loved the adventure of the streets by night. At any moment some cutthroat might spring out on them, or they might be accosted by some prostitute whom they would know must be hard pressed since she had wandered out in the darkness. To Harry it was excitement. He liked the streets by day with their lively activity; he liked to mingle with apprentices and pretend to be one of them; he liked to bargain with the stallholders and talk of the iniquities of the tax laws; he liked

to buy a ballad of a ballad singer and take it into the tavern and try it out; he would exchange banter with a milkmaid and parley with a madam who was trying to sell him one of her girls from the country. Sometimes he joined in fights when he could always give a good account of himself. 'What do you lack?' he would shout at the apprentices. He would stand and watch the craftsmen at work in their open shops. He would startle a beggar by the size of his contribution and then slink away quickly while the beggar called a blessing on him. He loved it all—the filth, the squalor and the grandeur of the London streets. It was a delight to mingle with these people, to know how they thought, how they acted; he liked their pride and that certain dignity which was as ingrained in them as it was in the highest nobility.

It was men such as these merchants and their apprentices who would stand beside him against his enemies, he believed. He did not want them there because they feared not to join him; he wanted to understand them, to talk with them, to have them work for him and give him loyalty not because it was treason not to, but because they wanted to.