There we were three helpless women, my mother, my sister and I only half realising what was happening to us. It seemed we had lost our home ... lost everything ... and were doomed to sail forever on an unpredictable sea.
But it could not last. Of that we were certain. And it was a great relief to us when we sailed into Honfleur harbour, honoured guests of the King of France.
What I did not know then was that my father had needed that time he spent on plundering to make up his mind. While he ranged the seas like a pirate, he was coming to a conclusion. He was too ambitious to be easily defeated. He had gambled with Edward first and misjudged him; then in desperation he had turned to Clarence. He was a kingmaker by nature. He himself wanted to rule, but the rights of kings came through inheritance and for that reason he could not be king but he could make a king who should rule through him.
Now there was only one way he could turn. It must be a complete contradiction of all that had gone before. It needed a great deal of consideration before he embarked on this road. He hated the Lancastrians. Henry was mad and there was his difficult and domineering wife to deal with. Could he do it? That was what he had to decide while he roamed the seas. And when he went to Honfleur, he had made that decision. Perhaps it was fortunate for me that I did not know of it, but if I had I should never have guessed what effect it was going to have on me.
But when we came ashore at Honfleur, nothing seemed of any importance but the blessed relief of escaping from the sea; but before we could land we had to have the permission of the King of France to do so and the prizes our father had taken were a stumbling block. The relationship between Louis and Burgundy was considerably strained and the King of France could scarcely receive with honour one who had perpetrated such acts of war upon the duke. So the fleet was sent off while we remained in harbour awaiting Louis' pleasure.
Louis heard of Isabel's condition and declared that ladies should not be subjected to more hardship. He would arrange for us to be housed in a convent while the earl came to his court for discussion between them which he was sure would be advantageous to them both. Thus for us to the convent and temporary relief.
Under the care of the nuns, Isabel grew a little better. She was more frail and needed to rest often. Deeply she mourned the loss of the child and talked of him often. The fact that he had been aboy made it even harder to endure. He would have been everything that she had hoped for.
"All those months of discomfort and then ... nothing. she mourned.
"You can have more children. People often lose one." I comforted her.
"I don't want to go through all that again. But I suppose one has to do it. It is one's duty ... especially when ..." I knew she was thinking of Clarence as King of England. She seemed to have forgotten that we were in flight from England, that Edward was king and unlikely to lose his throne to Clarence. Had she not realised yet that her husband was weak and vain, that my father was getting impatient with him and was regretting he had ever thought of putting him on the throne? She would not accept that, of course, and it was perhaps better to let her have her dreams, particularly when the reality was too bleak to contemplate.
My father was in constant touch with our mother. I always felt uneasy when letters arrived at the convent; and I think she did, too. I was always afraid that they would contain orders for us to pack and depart perhaps go to sea again.
I wanted to stay here. I loved the quiet life, but I knew it was asking too much that it should last.
One day my mother received a communication from my father and she sent for me. As soon as I saw her face I was filled with misgivings.
"There is something I have to say to you, Anne."
"My father.."
"I have heard news from him. He mentions you." But why?"
"Because it is something that concerns you." I stared at her in amazement.
"Your father has spent some time with the King of France. Louis is a strange man but he and your father have always been good friends. Part of the trouble was Edward's friendship with Burgundy, and for a long time there has been discord between the kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy."
I knew her well enough to realise she was putting off telling me this news which concerned me, and that was because it was something which I was not going to like. I was beginning to feel more and more uneasy.
"As you know." she went on, "your father was badly deceived by Edward."
"You mean his marriage?"
"It was most unsuitable. Not so much because he married so much beneath him, which he did, of course, but because of those greedy Woodvilles."
"I know all this," I said.
"I have heard it many times. Please tell me what it is that concerns you."
"You are of a marriageable age."
I felt terror grip me. They had found a husband for me. A French husband. I should be torn from my home ... from my mother, from Isabel... from Middleham. I had always dreaded it and here it was.
"Many girls in your position would be betrothed by now. It has been been a great joy for me to be able to keep you with me."
"Tell me ... tell me who it is .."
"You will be surprised. Your father has always been such an ardent Yorkist. But things have changed. There has been too much perfidy. Your father has decided to support King Henry. After all, as the son of the late King Henry the Fifth, he is the rightful inheritor of the throne. He comes before Edward of York. Now Henry has a son "Henry's son! Prince Edward!"
"That is so. I heard he is a handsome boy, perhaps a year older than you ... which will be just right. You are really very fortunate."
I could not believe this. I had always heard that Henry was mad: Queen Margaret was a virago; their son Edward, a vapid youth of no importance. My father had changed sides ... so blatantly. How could he? We had been brought up to believe that the Lancastrians were our enemies ... and now they were planning to make me one of them.
"It cannot be true!" I gasped.
"My dear child, it is true. Your father is going to put Henry back on the throne and he wants you to be the wife of the Prince of Wales."
"Oh no ... please ..." She took me into her arms and I saw the tears on her cheeks.
She said: "We have to accept our fate, my dearest. It is what we are born for. It happens to all of us."
I said: "Isabel was happy in her marriage."
"Poor Isabel! That should never have been. You will be happy, my dearest child. It is just at first that it is a little shock, that is why your father wanted you to be prepared."
A little shock! I felt as though the world I had known was falling about me.
There was only Isabel to whom I could talk. She was resting on her bed. She looked beautiful with her long fair hair loose on the pillow; but she was pale and still very frail.
"What has happened?" she asked in alarm.
"I have just been told I am to marry."
To marry! I expect our father has made some arrangement with the King of France. Who is it?"
"The Prince of Wales."
"The Prince of Wales? He must be a baby."
"Not a son of Edward but King Henry's."
She looked at me in blank amazement.
I went on: "Our father is arranging it with the King of France."
"Why should it concern the King of France?"
"I think it must be that he is going to help our father put Henry on the throne."
"How can he?"
"With arms and money supplied by Louis, I suppose."
"He... he can't!"
"Then why should he want his daughter to marry Prince Edward?"
She lifted her head and, resting it on her elbow, stared at me.
"What of George?" she asked.
"The plans have evidently changed."
"How can they change?"
"Easily. If our father and the King of France decide to change them."