Jack was attempting to have the old man kneel, but Richard stayed him, rose from the chair and welcomed the Woodville favorite with a, “God’s greeting to you, Sir John.” Turning the astonished knight to face the crowd, he said: “You are free to go to your home and family without fear of reprisal. I would ask, however, that when you bid farewell to my brother’s widow, you will take my promise that should she, too, decide to leave the abbey, she will be welcome at my court.” Richard could no longer address Elizabeth as queen, now that her marriage had been deemed unlawful, but it would be a long time before he would demean her with her old title of Dame Grey. He may never have trusted the woman, but he believed she had been ignorant of the Butler pre-contract. That was all on Edward’s head.

Richard accepted Sir John’s surprised, conciliatory thanks. But immediately he wondered whether God could be appeased as easily? Richard could not say, but he hoped for some atonement.

Francis and Rob praised the Fogge conciliation as a brilliant signal to those dubious about Richard’s election. He was beginning his reign on a generous high note. “I pray some of his tension slackens now,” Francis muttered to Rob. “He has been tied tighter than the gordian knot of late.”

Rob grunted an assent. “He threw a cup at a lackey yesterday and glared at me when I upbraided him. And he drinks too much.”

“At least he still listens to us,” Francis said. “Instead of widening his circle now that he is more comfortable with the council, it seems he has closed it. I just wish he could see what we see wrong with my lord of Buckingham.”

“Softly, Francis,” Rob murmured. “The pompous fool may hear you, and with his undue influence on Richard, we could be sent home with our tails between our legs.”

In their eyes there was no end to Buckingham’s rise, and they feared Richard was unable to refuse the glory-seeking duke the honor of assembling the coronation procession, which was by heraldic right the duke of Norfolk’s purview. It was a slap in the face to Jack Howard, newly named to that dukedom, but Jack had amiably stepped aside. What other protocols was Richard willing to ignore to satisfy Buckingham’s ambitions?

If there were doubters about Richard’s path to the throne, it did not affect the huge numbers of visitors who poured through the city gates to enjoy the coronation festivities. Inns were even renting out stable stalls, makeshift camps were set up outside the city walls, and arguments broke out in the hundreds of taverns between well-aled customers, who had nothing to do but amuse themselves the days before the event. Richard was glad that the northern army he had sent for in a panic earlier in the month had eventually arrived, with Northumberland at its two-thousand-strong head.