"Nay, your Grace wrongs me," he said, gnawing his lip,--"or I should
not say wrongs, but flatters; for sternness and ambition are no vices
in a Nevile's eyes."

"Fairly answered, royal son," said the archbishop, laughing; "but let
us be frank. Thou hast persuaded me to accompany thee to Lord Warwick
as a mediator; the provinces in the North are disturbed; the intrigues
of Margaret of Anjou are restless; the king reaps what he has sown in
the Court of France, and, as Warwick foretold, the emissaries and gold
of Louis are ever at work against his throne; the great barons are
moody and discontented; and our liege King Edward is at last aware
that, if the Earl of Warwick do not return to his councils, the first
blast of a hostile trumpet may drive him from his throne. Well, I
attend thee: my fortunes are woven with those of York, and my interest
and my loyalty go hand in hand. Be equally frank with me. Hast thou,
Lord Richard, no interest to serve in this mission save that of the
public weal?"

"Thou forgettest that the Lady Isabel is dearly loved by Clarence, and
that I would fain see removed all barrier to his nuptial bliss. But
yonder rise the towers of Middleham. Beloved walls, which sheltered
my childhood! and, by holy Paul, a noble pile, which would resist an
army, or hold one."

While thus conversed the prince and the archbishop, the Earl of
Warwick, musing and alone, slowly paced the lofty terrace that crested
the battlements of his outer fortifications.

In vain had that restless and powerful spirit sought content in