"Yes," she said.
"And I'm His Grace of Canterbury. Come on, up with you."
I rose unsteadily to my feet. I noticed that one side of the room sloped down to the floor.
I said: "Please tell me what has happened. I left Warwick Court in the carriage. What happened? I must have gone to sleep."
"Asleep and dreaming, that is what you've been doing ... when you ought to have been washing them pans. There's work to be done in the kitchen, my girl. The place don't run itself."
"Oh, God help me," I prayed.
"I am going mad."
I was given a push which sent me reeling against the wall. I turned to the woman appealingly.
"Will you please tell me what this means? Who brought me here? Where are my clothes? Will you tell me where I am?"
"You're out off your mind. Nan, that's what you are. You know where you are and where you've been this last month. Sometimes I think you're truly addle-pated. We don't believe your stories about you being this and that great lady. Stop it, Nan, or people will say you're really off your head. You won't know the difference twixt what is and what ain't."
She pushed me towards the door. It opened onto a flight of stairs and, seizing my arm, she made me descend them with her.
We went along a dark corridor and another door was opened. I was dazzled by the light which came from a window through which I glimpsed a yard containing several tall bins.
I blinked and saw that I was In a kitchen. A man was standing against a bench. His shirt was open at the front, disclosing a hairy chest, and there was a black fuzz of hair on his arms. He was tall, commanding-looking and he surveyed me with some interest.
"Oversleeping again." said the woman.
"I demand to know where I am and who brought me here." I cried.
There were two girls, one plump with a saucy, laughing face, the other small, pale and insignificant.
The saucy one pranced into the centre of the room and said: "I demand to know where I am and who brought me here." in an attempt to imitate my voice.
"Who are you today, sweeting?" said the man.
"What do you mean?"
"Lady Muck or Madam Slosh?" asked the saucy one.
I was staring at them aghast. I had been the victim of a conspiracy. It was becoming obvious to me that there had been some diabolic plot and these people were involved in it.
I said: "I am the Lady Anne Neville. I left Warwick Court, as I thought, for sanctuary. Will you take me there immediately?"
The tall man bowed.
"My lady, your carriage awaits." he said.
"Where is it?" I asked, and they burst into laughter.
"Here." said the saucy girl.
"We've had enough of this. Don't stand there. Will your ladyship get on with washing them pans? They'll be wanted for the midday trade."
I had never washed pans. I did not know how to begin. The thin girl was at my side. She said: "Ere, I'll give you a 'and."
I heard someone say: "She is going to faint or something."
I was pushed into a chair. The kitchen was swimming round me. Thoughts chased each other through my mind. The girl who had told me that she had a message from Richard ... the attentions of Clarence as he had sat beside me ... his favourite Malmsey wine which he had insisted on my drinking. Yes, it was a plot... a dastardly plot. It had nothing to do with Richard.
There had been something in the wine to make me drowsy, to dull my senses; the driver of the carriage had waited until it had had its effect so that I should not know where I was being taken. And they had brought me here to this dreadful place. Richard would not know where I was.
As the horror of my situation dawned upon me, I felt numb with terror. All these dreadful people around me were involved.
They were trying to tell me I was not myself, that I belonged here.
I was someone called Nan. I felt my whole life slipping away from me. I was a prisoner in this frightening place. I was caught, trapped in a conspiracy devised by the Duke of Clarence.
Even now when I look back at that time, I find it hard to believe it ever happened to me. It was so wildly melodramatic and there were times during that terrible period when I found it difficult to cling to sanity and they almost convinced me that I was mad.
I would whisper to myself: I am Lady Anne Neville. I am the daughter of the Earl of Warwick. I am betrothed to Richard, Duke of Gloucester. These people are liars, all of them. They are playing parts which have been written for them as in a play. Why? And who is the playwright?
I knew, of course. It was Clarence. He was my enemy, our enemy: mine and Richard's. He was going to prevent our marriage at all costs. That was why he had put me here. To be rid of me? But why send me here? Why could he not simply have killed me? Because he dared not? Richard was my protector. Clarence was the king's brother but so was Richard.
What if Clarence ordered these people to kill me? They could bury my body somewhere here, or throw it into the river, and no one would hear of me again.
I was in a state of numbness for two days; after that, growing a little accustomed to my dismal background, my mind roused itself from its hopeless lethargy and I began to consider what I might do.
I was forced to work by threats of physical violence from the woman whom I had first seen when I had awakened in these sordid surroundings. I had to try to play the part assigned to me -that of kitchen maid.
I discovered that I was in a cookshop which sold meat pies. I was carefully watched and never allowed out of the kitchen when the shop was open. The two girls served the customers.
I had to watch the meat on the spits and wash the pots and pans. I was no good at it. I would be forced to stand at a tub with hands thrust in greasy water up to my elbows, scouring theutensils used for cooking. The big woman would call to me to fetch this and that and as I did not know what she was talking about in those first days I was clumsy and inadequate. I was constantly being called a dolt, a fool. Addle-pate was the favourite epithet; and even if I had realised what was expected of me, it was difficult to understand their speech which was very different from that to which I was accustomed.
I began to know something of these people. The man spent his time between the kitchen and the shop. His name was Tom. He, with his wife Meg, were the owners of the shop. She was the woman whom I had first seen on awakening. Then there were the two girls Gilly, the bold one, and Jane the other.
I was aware that all of them watched me with a certain furtiveness which raised my spirits a little. I felt it implied that they all knew I was not this Nan and had been brought here against my will, and that they had been instructed to obey the orders they had received. They had to pretend that I had been with them for some time and that I was addle-pated Nan who dreamed of grandeur because I had once been lady's maid to a rich woman.
At first I had insisted that I was Lady Anne Neville and that a message should be sent to the Duke of Gloucester telling him where I was.
They had jeered at that.
"The Duke of Gloucester? Did you hear that?"
"Aye, I heard. Tis a wonder she stoops so low. Why not to her friend, the king?"
I said: "Yes ... yes. Send to the king. Tell the king. Then you will see."
"Perhaps he'll send his crown for you to wear." suggested Gilly.
That was not the way. I must find out what this meant. I must delude them. I must be quiet and watchful. I must try to find a way of getting out of this place.
The two girls, Gilly and Jane, slept in a room similar to mine. I slept alone, which was significant, and every night my door was locked, I knew, because I had thought to steal out of the place when they were asleep. I could only be locked in at night because they wanted to prevent my escape. I guessed they dared not let me escape.