The bishop did not ask questions; perhaps he thought the less time
wasted the better. 'We will come on board at once, so that the wind may
not shift again,' he answered the sailor somewhat hastily; and by noon
even the white sails had vanished from sight.
---------------------
Henry remained in the sanctuary till the fever left him, when he
returned to the castle of Elvin, which he very seldom left. In a few
months events happened which greatly changed his position. Edward IV.
died, his sons were murdered in the Tower, and the murderer sat on the
throne as Richard III. But fierce indignation and horror seized on the
people of the southern part of England, and numerous plots were hatched
to dispossess the usurper and to crown Henry king, with Elizabeth of
York for his wife. For Edward, prince of Wales, the son of Henry VI.,
had been long dead, having been stabbed on the field of Tewkesbury by
the duke of Clarence. One of these plots, concocted by Henry's mother
and the duke of Buckingham, seemed so promising that the duke of
Brittany agreed to furnish the earl of Richmond with money and ships;
but when they put to sea a gale came on, which dispersed the whole
fleet. Next morning Henry found himself, with only two vessels, before
Poole in Dorset, and noticed with dismay that the shore was strongly
guarded by men-of-war.
'Can the conspiracy have been discovered?' thought he. And, alas! the
conspiracy _had_ been discovered, or, rather, betrayed to Richard, and
the duke of Buckingham was lying dead. But though Henry had no means of
knowing the truth, experience had taught him caution, and he despatched
a small boat, with orders to find out whether the ships were friends or
foes. 'Friends,' was the answer; but Henry still misdoubted, and as soon
as it was dark he put about his helm and returned to Brittany.
Feeling quite sure that Richard would never cease from striving to get
him into his power, Henry took leave of duke Francis, and sought refuge
with Charles VIII., then king of France. In Paris he found many
Englishmen, who had either fled from England during the troubles, or 'to
learn and study good literature and virtuous doctrine,' as the
chronicler tells us. So, for the first time in his life, Henry was
surrounded by his own countrymen, and they did homage to him and swore
to sail with him to England in the ships that the regent, Charles's
sister, had promised him; while the earl on his side took an oath to do
all that in him lay for the peace of the kingdom by marrying Elizabeth
of York.
It was on August 1 that Henry and his uncle sailed from Harfleur, and
some days later they reached Milford Haven. But somehow or other the
news of their coming had flown before them, and a large crowd had
assembled to greet them, and the air rang with shouts of joy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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