House,--gallant and handsome, gay and joyous, and with manners that
made him no less popular than Edward himself.

And if Isabel's affections were not deep, disinterested, and tender,
like those of Anne, they were strengthened by a pride which she
inherited from her father, and a vanity which she took from her sex.
It was galling in the extreme to feel that the loves between her and
Clarence were the court gossip, and the king's refusal the court jest.
Her health gave way, and pride and love both gnawed at her heart.

It happened, unfortunately for the king and for Warwick, that
Gloucester, whose premature acuteness and sagacity would have the more
served both, inasmuch as the views he had formed in regard to Anne
would have blended his interest in some degree with that of the Duke
of Clarence, and certainly with the object of conciliation between
Edward and his minister,--it happened, we say, unfortunately, that
Gloucester was still absent with the forces employed on the Scottish
frontier, whither he had repaired on quitting Middleham, and where his
extraordinary military talents found their first brilliant opening;
and he was therefore absent from London during all the disgusts he
might have removed and the intrigues he might have frustrated.

But the interests of the House of Warwick, during the earl's sullen
and indignant sojourn at his government of Calais, were not committed
to unskilful hands; and Montagu and the archbishop were well fitted to
cope with Lord Rivers and the Duchess of Bedford.

Between these able brothers, one day, at the More, an important
conference took place.