"Yea," said the gossips, who were no doubt paid by the Protector, "'tis even feared that the King himself may be the object of their next attempt. Therefore the good Lord Protector, in his wisdom, and by reason of his great solicitude for the safety of the King—his lord and master—hath deemed it best that both the young King and his little brother, the Duke of York, be placed in safety, within the strong walls of the noble Tower that Cæsar,—though a heathen, was yet no doubt the instrument of God,—laid the foundations of. And, unquestionably, the Lord foresaw just such a necessity for such a strong place of safety when he compelled that ancient pagan to thus work for his ends."
When my friend and I heard this news, my children, our hearts were indeed sad. Remember, my dears, we knew not whether the statement that the little Duke had been taken by Gloucester were true or no. At first we thought it but a device of Gloucester's to hold the confidence of the people; but upon more careful consideration we came to the conclusion that even the Protector could scarcely have the audacity to thus risk the consequences of such a deception being discovered, which, according to the rules of all common sense, it must in time be. This conclusion in no wise served to relieve our feelings of disappointment and sorrow, on the Queen's account. We could not help but feel in some measure responsible for the revenge of Gloucester for the attempt made by the Queen to have her son escape him; for such we considered the confinement of the Princes to the Tower.
However, on the day following the King's removal to the prison we again visited the Sanctuary, or rather some of its inmates, and were rejoiced to learn that the Queen had received a letter from Dorset, which informed her of the successful manner in which they had escaped, not only capture, but even suspicion. Consequently we found the Queen in a most happy state of mind. This contentment was doomed to be short lived, for we were reluctantly compelled to inform her of her son's imprisonment and of the reports circulating about the Duke of York's attempted abduction.
However, we had no great time in which to wonder what was Gloucester's object in thus causing the young King to be placed under restraint, and the report to be circulated that his brother kept him company.
The next news to startle the court, and cause consternation among the friends of the Queen and exultation in the ranks of her adversaries, was the condemnation of the three unhappy prisoners at Pomfret—Rivers, Grey and Vaughan.
Again was it our unhappy duty to be the bearers of this most heavy news to that poor woman of woe, the unfortunate wife of the great Edward.
"What new sorrow do ye bring me now; for well do I know that countenances painted thus heavy with the brush of sadness must be but the dark covers to another book of woe?" said her Majesty, as my friend and I, whose sole duties now seemed to be the bearing of heavy news, were shown into her presence.
"Uncommon bad news we bring, madam;" I replied; "yet it is such as we might all have expected, and therefore do I hope that your Majesty may bear it better than thou couldst have done had it been unexpected."