ner.--His interview with Henry
at the castle in Wales.--The king is conveyed a prisoner to
London.--Parliament convened.--Charges preferred against the
king.--Interview between Richard and Henry in the Tower.--Rage
of Richard.--Portrait of Henry.--The king is compelled to abdicate
the crown.--Henry desires that Richard should be killed.--Assassination
of Richard.--Disposal of the body.--The little queen.--Her return to
France.--Sequel of the story of the little queen.

It was not long after Richard's marriage to the little queen before
the troubles and difficulties in which his government was involved
increased in a very alarming degree. The feuds among his uncles, and
between his uncles and himself, increased in frequency and bitterness,
and many plots and counterplots were formed in respect to the
succession; for Isabella being so young, it was very doubtful whether
she would grow up and have children, and, unless she did so, some one
or other of Richard's cousins would be heir to the crown. I have
spoken of his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke as the principal of these
claimants. There was, however, another one, Roger, the Earl of March.
Roger was the grandson of Richard's uncle Lionel, who had died long
before. The Duke of Gloucester, who had been so bitterly opposed to
Richard's marriage with Isabella, and had, as it seemed, now become
his implacable enemy, conceived the plan of deposing Richard and
making Roger king. Isabella, if this plan had been carried into
effect, was to have been shut up in a prison for all the rest of her
days. There were several great nobles joined with the Duke of
Gloucester in this conspiracy.

The plot was betrayed to Richard by some of the confederates. Richard
immediately determined to arrest his uncle and bring him to trial. It
was necessary, however, to do this secretly, before any of the
conspirators should be put upon their guard. So he set off one night
from his palace in Westminster, with a considerable company of armed
men, to go to the duke's palace, which was at some distance from
London, planning his journey so as to arrive there very early in the
morning. The people of London, when they saw the king passing at that
late hour, wondered where he was going.

He arrived very early the next morning at the duke's castle. He sent
some of his men forward into the court of the castle to ask if the
duke were at home. The servants said that he was at home, but he was
not yet up. So t