hus said,--

"Lord of Salisbury and Warwick, I once offered to serve thee as a
vassal, if thou wouldst wrestle with lewd Edward for the crown which
only a manly brow should wear; and hadst thou now returned, as Henry
of Lancaster returned of old, to gripe the sceptre of the Norman with a
conqueror's hand, I had been the first to cry, 'Long live King Richard,
namesake and emulator of Coeur de Lion!' But to place upon the throne
yon monk-puppet, and to call on brave hearts to worship a patterer of
aves and a counter of beads; to fix the succession of England in
the adulterous offspring of Margaret, the butcher-harlot [One of the
greatest obstacles to the cause of the Red Rose was the popular belief
that the young prince was not Henry's son. Had that belief not been
widely spread and firmly maintained, the lords who arbitrated between
Henry VI. and Richard Duke of York, in October, 1460, could scarcely
have come to the resolution to set aside the Prince of Wales altogether,
to accord Henry the crown for his life, and declare the Duke of York his
heir. Ten years previously (in November, 1450), before the young
prince was born or thought of, and the proposition was really just and
reasonable, it was moved in the House of Commons to declare Richard Duke
of York next heir to Henry; which, at least, by birthright, he certainly
was; but the motion met with little favour and the mover was sent to
the Tower.]; to give the power of the realm to the men against whom thou
thyself hast often led me to strive with lance and battle-axe, is to
open a path which leads but to dishonour, and thither Raoul de Fulke
follows not even the steps of the Lord of Warwick. Interrupt me not!
speak not! As thou to Edward, so I now to thee, forswear allegiance, and
I bid thee farewell forever!"

"I pardon thee," answered Warwick; "and if ever thou art wronged as I
have been, thy heart will avenge me. Go!" But when this haughty visitor
was gone, the earl covered his face with his hands, and groaned aloud.
A defection perhaps even more severely felt came next. Katherine de
Bonville had been the earl's favourite sister; he wrote to her at the
convent to which she had retired, praying her affectionately to come to
London, "and cheer his vexed spirit, and learn the true cause, not to
be told by letter, which had moved him to things once farthest from his
thought." The messenger came back, the letter unopened; for Katherine
had left the convent, and fled in