The Gallows Murders

my doublet a sealed letter. "What does it say, Roger?'
    'Master,' I lied, ‘I don't know, but His Excellency instructed me not to be present when you read it.'
    I left him and went for a walk on Tower Green. Somehow, that dreadful fortress had lost its horror. Children played on the mangonel and catapults, soldiers' wives chattered and sang as they washed clothes over great open vats. Ragusa passed me, swaying like a leaf in the wind. Vetch and Spurge were sunning themselves on a bench, revelling in their new authority. Even the great ravens seemed more friendly, hopping towards me looking for morsels. I stared up at the sky, counted again to a hundred, then returned to our chamber.
    Benjamin was sitting, beaming from ear to ear. My heart lurched. Had the Cardinal, I wondered, followed my advice? 'Good news, Master?'
    'Roger, congratulate me.' He got up. 'Uncle wishes me a lead an embassy to Rome for the election of the new pope.'
    'Oh, Master,' I cried, 'to see Italy again, the glories of Rome!'
    Benjamin's face fell. ‘Roger, I am sorry, dearest Uncle has said I must go alone: you are to remain in England for other duties.'
    Well, even old Burbage could not have acted like I did. I slumped down on the bed, face in hands. Benjamin came and sat next to me, putting an arm round my shoulder. I looked up, the tears rolling down my cheeks.
    'Doesn't he trust me, Master?' I cried. 'Doesn't he think I'm good enough to be his envoy?'
    Tush, tush, Roger! Dearest Uncle writes that he can spare one but not both of us. Someone has to look after the manor.' He touched me under the chin. 'And someone has to care for Miranda.' I put my face in my hands: the trap had closed.
    Ah well, what does old Macbeth say? Time is a fool and all our dusty yesterdays…' My little chaplain is looking at me expectantly. Aren't I going to tell him about Miranda, my beloved first wife? How could I marry the betrothed of my great friend? Well, he'll have to wait, won't he? That's another story. The sun is beginning to dip. The shadows are becoming longer. Old Shallot grows cold but, back in my bedchamber, Margot and Phoebe are heating the wine.

Author's Note
    Once again, Shallot may not be telling such exotic tales. In Thomas More's History of Richard III, he claims that the Princes' corpses were buried under certain steps near the Great Keep. However, an account published by L. A. Du Maurier in 1680, from a manuscript translation of the Delaval, said that Prince Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, had been told by Queen Elizabeth of a sealed, walled-up chamber in the Tower which contained the skeletons of the children of Edward IV. This story is repeated in Audrey Williamson's excellent book The Mystery of the Princes, published in 1990. Table of Contents 5/Paul Doherty (as Michael Clynes) – %5bSir Roger Shallot 05%5d – The Gallows Murders (v1.5) (html)/The_Gallows_Murders.html – filepos2760