ughts of Richard Plantagenet from
the expression of his face. And if the royal Duke were in aught
concerned as to the communication of the powerful Buckingham, there was
no evidence of it in his voice or in the eminently courteous and
appropriate question as he instantly responded:

"How did you leave His Grace and where?"

"He was most hearty when we parted at Gloucester; he for his castle of
Brecknock and I for Pontefract."

"He had been in London?"

"Yes, my lord, since before King Edward's demise."

"Then are his letters very welcome."

"Your pardon, sir," said De Lacy, "but I bear no letters;" and as
Richard regarded him in sharp interrogation he added: "My message is by
word of mouth."

"And why," said the Duke in the same calm tone he had employed
throughout the conversation, "should I credit your story, seeing that I
neither know you nor recall your silver trippant stag among the present
devices of our land."

"My bearing," returned De Lacy tranquilly, "comes to me from my
mother's family, of which she was the heiress, and on English
battlefield it has never shone. And unless this ring attest the
authority of my message it must be unsaid," and drawing from his finger
a broad gold band, in which was set a great flat emerald with a swan
exquisitely cut on its face, he handed it to the Duke.

Richard examined it for a moment, then returned it with a smile.

"You are sufficiently accredited," he said. "I will hear your message.
What said Stafford?"

"The Duke of Buckingham," replied Aymer, "sends to the Duke of
Gloucester his most humble greeting and his very sincere condolence
upon the death of Your Grace's great brother and sire."

"Pass over the formalities, Sir Aymer," interrupted the Duke curtly.
"It was scarce for them you rode from London to Pontefract."

Aymer bowed. "Buckingham's message was in these words: 'Tell the Duke
of Gloucester to hasten to London without delay. I have conferred with
the Lords Howard, Hastings, and Stanley, and we are of the one mind
that he must be Lord Protector. Tell him we pledge to him our whole
support if he will give us his countenance in this crucial struggle
against the Woodvilles.'"

"Did he say nothing as to the present status of the situation?"
inquired Gloucester quietly. "I am far from Court and know little of
its happenings."

"With them, my lord, I am fully acquainted," said De Lacy, "both from
my own observation and by the Duke himself."