the way in which he lords it, and be assured that they will look
with a still less friendly eye upon him when he stands, as you say,
beside the throne, once your father is again seated there. We can
afford to bide our time, and assuredly it will not be long before
a party is formed against Warwick. Until then we must bear everything.
Our interests are the same. If he is content to remain a prop to
the throne, and not to eclipse it, the memory of the past will not
stand between us, and I shall regard him as the weapon that has
beaten down the House of York and restored us to our own, and shall
give him my confidence and friendship. If, on the other hand, he
assumes too much, and tries to lord it over us, I shall seek other
support and gather a party which even he will be unable successfully
to withstand. I should have thought, Edward, that you would be even
more glad than I that this long time of weary waiting for action
is over, and that once again the banner of Lancaster will be spread
to the winds."

"I shall be that, mother. Rather would I meet death in the field
than live cooped up here, a pensioner of France. But I own that
I should feel more joy at the prospect if the people of England
had declared in our favour, instead of its being Warwick -- whom
you have always taught me to fear and hate -- who thus comes to
offer to place my father again on the throne, and whose goodwill
towards us is simply the result of pique and displeasure because
he is no longer first in the favour of Edward. It does not seem to
me that a throne won by the aid of a traitor can be a stable one."

"You are a foolish boy," the queen said angrily. "Do you not see
that by marrying Warwick's daughter you will attach him firmly to
us?"