"Um! and yet Montagu, whom I dismissed ten days since to the Borders,
hearing of disaffection, hath done nought to check it. But come what
may, his must be a bold lance that shivers against a king's mail. And
now one kiss of my lady Bessee, one cup of the bright canary, and then
God and Saint George for the White Rose!"




CHAPTER II.

THE CAMP AT OLNEY.

It was some weeks after the citizens of London had seen their gallant
king, at the head of such forces as were collected in haste in the
metropolis, depart from their walls to the encounter of the rebels.
Surprising and disastrous had been the tidings in the interim. At
first, indeed, there were hopes that the insurrection had been put
down by Montagu, who had defeated the troops of Robin of Redesdale,
near the city of York, and was said to have beheaded their leader.
But the spirit of discontent was only fanned by an adverse wind. The
popular hatred to the Woodvilles was so great, that in proportion as
Edward advanced to the scene of action, the country rose in arms, as
Raoul de Fulke had predicted. Leaders of lordly birth now headed the
rebellion; the sons of the Lords Latimer and Fitzhugh (near kinsmen of
the House of Nevile) lent their names to the cause and Sir John
Coniers, an experienced soldier, whose claims had been disregarded by
Edward, gave to the insurgents the aid of a formidable capacity for
war. In every mouth was the story of the Duchess of Bedford's