With an effort Lady Anne removed her hand from mine and resumed her composure. There were nail marks in my skin where her fingers had gripped me painfully. ‘The king has been detained by Warwick’s brother, the Archbishop of York, and taken to Middleham Castle. He was apprehended a few miles from Northampton, heading to London with a small escort, and was overpowered.’ She shook her head in bemusement. ‘At present it would seem that England has no king, or else the Kingmaker has usurped the role himself, an uninvited and unanointed tyrant.’

‘And two young boys are wandering somewhere in a country that is in a state of anarchy!’ My exclamation was an involuntary cry of despair.

She silenced me with a grim stare. ‘We must maintain control, Jane. Let us hope we hear some news soon. Richard’s family has many branches living in the March and he could have sought shelter with any one of them. I have despatched a message, asking my brother to send out men from Weobley to enquire. All we can do is wait and pray there is news when we get there.’

As I completed the packing and supervised the loading of the chests onto a cart I could not rid my mind of the spectre of Harri lying with his throat cut at Walter’s feet. I repeatedly told myself that they were only boys and that Walter’s threats had been mere bravado but the vivid image kept returning and my desolate mood deepened.

We were all melancholy during the two day journey from Raglan to Weobley. A couple of Raglan servants drove the baggage carts, with a nursemaid looking after baby Katherine in one and little Philip, Elin and Sian up beside the driver of the other. There were two grooms to help with the horses and ponies ridden by the rest of us but that was hardly protection, should we run into any trouble. It was safe around the villages where field-workers were out labouring to bring in the harvest but every empty moor or common we crossed and every wood or forest we entered we dreaded being confronted by rebel soldiers hunting for fleeing royal troops. However we arrived at Weobley without incident in the late afternoon, the younger children hot, tired and tetchy and the rest of us simply grateful to stretch our legs after dismounting in the extensive outer bailey, while we waited for admission to the inner precinct.