He talked of Gloucester. His hatred for the Duke was in every inflection of his voice, every gesture, every expression which flitted across the old face.

‘Gloucester has been at the root of all our trouble. In his first marriage he offended Burgundy when Burgundy’s friendship was of vital importance to us. He was a menace to his brother Bedford, as fine a man as ever came out of England and almost as great a soldier as his brother the late King. T’was a pity Gloucester was not strangled at birth. He has caused nothing but trouble in this realm.’

I hate him,’ said Margaret vehemently. ‘So does Henry. He doubles the guards when he is around.’

‘You must be wary of him. He hates your marriage. He wanted the King to have one of the daughters of the Count of Armagnac. He does not want peace. He wants to continue the war.’

‘Did his wife plot against the King?’

‘Yes, she made waxen images with a witch and some soothsayers. They got their just deserts. She has been a captive ever since.’

‘Why was Gloucester allowed to go free?’

‘He was not suspected of plotting against the King’s life.’

‘I feel sure he was involved. Henry thinks so.’

‘Well, that is Gloucester. Be careful of him. He will harm you if he can. You have a good friend in the Marquess of Suffolk.’

‘I have, and the Marchioness is my dearest friend.’

‘Cling to them. And the Shrewsburys. Kings and Queens have many enemies.’

‘They will not get the better of me,’ said Margaret.

When she next came to Waltham the Cardinal showed her a chamber he had had prepared for her. He called it the Queen’s Chamber and the Cardinal had gone to great expense to furnish it elaborately with hangings of cloth and of gold from Damascus.

Margaret was delighted with it. She felt that with such friends as the Cardinal and the Suffolks she cared nothing for her enemies. And she was not going to put up any pretence of liking them. She would make it very clear to the Duke of Gloucester that she regarded him as an enemy.

###

Margaret was delighted with the friends who rallied round her. With such as them what had she to fear from a few enemies? She was already assembling what was known as the Court Party, and she insisted on Alice’s being in constant attendance.

Alice was delighted, but she was wise enough to know that the joyous feeling which at the time prevailed throughout the country could not last. Her husband was worried, too.

‘It is only a truce, that’s what they don’t realize,’ he said. ‘There has to be a reckoning soon and then the question of Maine and Anjou will arise again. When the people know what price we have had to pay for peace they will blame me.’

‘They must not do so,’ cried Alice. ‘What have you done but what you consider best for England?’

‘My dear, one’s intentions get little consideration. If one is successful one is a noble hero; if one fails, a villain.’

‘Oh come, William,’ said Alice. ‘You are strong enough to stand against them.’

‘I fear Gloucester.’

‘He has not the same power these days.’

‘He could always make trouble and now his friendship with York is growing.’

‘York. What is his grievance?’

‘That he doesn’t wear the crown.’

‘Why this is a nonsense.’

‘It would seem so. But he reckons he comes nearer through Clarence than Lancaster does through John of Gaunt.’

‘That is going back a good way.’

‘That matters not. There is a certain reason in it.’

‘Oh, no, it is too far back.’

‘As you say, it is far back and there are closer matters with which to concern myself. I have to face the Parliament. Well, I can tell them that the delegation will be coming to England to discuss the truce and that in the meantime I am advising the strengthening of the frontiers round Maine.’

‘That should please them.’

‘For the time being. But the reckoning is coming. I want them to know that whatever is arranged it is none of my doing.’

Alice looked at him a little dubiously. She did not remind him that when a man set out to guide a country’s policy, to be the most important minister in the land, he would surely be blamed if anything went wrong.

‘The Queen settles in happily, it seems,’ she said to change the subject.

‘Is she really beginning to lead the King?’

‘I can see it coming. She was born to lead and he to be led so the outcome is inevitable.’

‘Alice, try to restrain her a little.’

‘It is difficult. She is honest by nature. She finds it hard not to speak her mind. She lets it be known that she regards Gloucester with something like venom. She is sure that he is plotting to destroy the King.’

‘She is probably right but she should not say these things. Gloucester will show his hand if she goes much farther. At the moment he is pretending to support the marriage—which we know full well he did everything he could to prevent. I distrust him in this mood.’

‘Margaret does not yet understand the devious ways of statesmen.’

‘She must learn to, Alice.’

Alice lifted her shoulders. ‘She is a lady of very strong views. She will go her own way, I think.’

‘If anyone can influence her, you can.’

‘She is fiercely loyal. She is affectionate. But she will not prevaricate. No matter what one tried to make her she would always be Margaret of Anjou.’

‘And the King?’

‘He thinks that the words which fall from her lips are pure wisdom.’

‘She has managed to enchant him.’

‘He loves her strength. It appeals to his weakness. And she is very pretty but small and that seems to make her especially attractive to a man like Henry. He feels protective when he looks at her, knowing all the time that he will rely on her to protect him.’

‘Well, Alice, we must pray that we can extricate ourselves from this situation with skill so that we are not blamed for any of the demands which will have to be made.’

It seemed that he might do so, for when in the Parliament he explained that although there was no real peace with France, only a truce, that the frontiers of Maine and Anjou were being strengthened and that a delegation was coming to England, he was applauded.

The Commons congratulated him on the manner in which he had conducted affairs, and when the Duke of Gloucester moved a motion to the same effect in the Lords, he felt he had come through very well indeed.

But very quickly he became more uneasy than ever. When Gloucester complimented him he ought to be very wary indeed.

It was, he knew, only a respite.

###

The French Embassy had arrived in England.

From the City they came by barge to Westminster where Henry, with Margaret, was waiting to receive them. With them were the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Warwick. Margaret was very interested to meet this last nobleman for Henry had told her a great deal about his tutor, the Earl of Warwick, and he appeared to have had a great affection for that stern old man. This was not that Earl of Warwick, however, but a very ambitious young man of about seventeen or eighteen, a certain Richard Neville who had come to the title through his marriage with old Warwick’s daughter Anne Beauchamp. Also present were the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The French Embassy was headed by the Counts of Vendôme and Laval and the Archbishop of Rheims.

It soon became very clear that there was only one condition which the King of France would consider in making peace and that was the surrender of Maine. It was the great issue. He knew, and the English knew, that once that province was surrendered the English hope of claiming the French crown would be over.

When they were alone Margaret discussed the matter with Henry.

‘You want peace,’ she said. ‘You should give up Maine. I know my uncle well. If he says that is the only condition, he will insist on it. He means it.’