"Ah, your Majesty, thy mother, I am sad to say, hath not stayed to greet her son and King; when I said she had forgot herself I meant to say that she had forgot her duty, which was to stay and welcome thee, after thy long absence from her sight. And besides not being near herself, which were in itself strange, she hath taken with her all of thy dear sisters, and his Grace of York, thy brother."
"No doubt my mother had good cause for her act, and I do not wish to hear her criticized," said Edward, with great heat. "But uncle," he asked, in a more gentle tone, when he saw the look of pain on Gloucester's face, "whither hath she gone?"
"To the Sanctuary over yonder, so my Lord of Hastings tells me."
"But why should she take Sanctuary, as though this were a time of war and bloodshed?"
"Nay, that I cannot tell your Majesty. 'Twas this strange act that made me to say—more in surprise than with premeditation—that thy Royal mother had forgot herself; for which offense I crave my master's pardon," said Richard with prodigious meekness. He stood with uncovered head before the little King and looked, so to perfection, the saint which thinks he hath transgressed, and humbly prays for pardon, that not one there—besides some few who knew the man—but thought him the meekest soul in England.
"Indeed, mine uncle, I meant not to be cross with thee; when I spoke I knew not the hurt that my words did carry to thee; and besides, now that I understand the matter, I wonder not that thou didst express thy surprise. Indeed 'tis strange that my mother so should flee to Sanctuary, as though her son were to be considered as her enemy."
This, no doubt, was the object Gloucester had aimed at when he sued so meekly for his pardon. He desired to win the King over to his side, and make him to believe that 'twas from her son she fled. It was now more easy for me to read his object in his manner, since his treachery with Rivers and the others.
We then entered the Palace, where Richard called a council to decide what measures should be taken in order that the Duke of York might be brought to keep company with his brother.
"For," said Gloucester, "'tis an insult to his Majesty, to thus fly from him as though he had the plague. Indeed his Royal Highness of York must be returned at once to his proper place, beside his brother. If this news be bruited abroad," continued he, "'twill make England precious ridiculous in the eyes of all Europe."
Cardinal Bouchier and the Bishop of York were present at this council.