White Boar and the Red Dragon, The Read Online Free

something else too, something which struck cold deep inside me. I can only describe it as loathing! But she is my mother! Does she loath me so now that I have become a cripple?
    Does that make me unacceptable as her son?
    She prays for me, oh yes. I know she spends long hours in the chapel praying for me. Doing her Christian duty, I suppose! But what I want is for her to visit me, keep me company, try to cheer me up with kind words as the rest of you do! Why does she keep away from me? Why do I appal her so?’
    ‘She is a very religious lady. Maybe she thinks she can do you more good by praying to God for your full recovery constantly than by spending time here?’
    ‘But I am her son! Mothers should love and support their sons! She adores Edward, George too! I’m beginning to think that she does not want to come near me any more, because she cannot bear to see me the way I am now! She has always been strict and severe with me, and I never seemed able to please her, whatever I did—but now—I am sure she hates me!’
    ‘Richard, I am sure your mother does love you. Perhaps she finds it hard to show her feelings. Some people are not easily affectionate, even to their nearest and dearest.’
    ‘Edward and George have always been her favourites—Edmund before them too. None of them could do any wrong in her eyes, and I was forever in trouble with her at Fotheringhay, even as a tiny boy! She has always picked on me with constant criticism! I do not think she ever cared much for me, because I was not big and strong like the other boys, and now I am a cripple, she despises me!’
    Francis Lovell, Richard’s closest friend, came in at that moment.
    ‘I heard that, Richard! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! You are not a cripple! Look how much you have improved lately! It may be slow, but every day, you are a little better! And of course your mother does not hate you! Mothers do not hate their children. They love and support them, whatever they are like, whatever they become, whatever they do!’
    ‘I have only improved because of what you have done—you and Anne! Mother does not bother, whatever you say. Robert and Lord Neville come quite a lot and try to cheer me up with jokes and snippets of scandal from around the castle! But Edward, the brother I love most and who has always loved me and been concerned for me, cannot come here at all because he is always away fighting or busy being king in London and with important affairs of state! It isn’t fair!’
    ‘Richard, you know he would come if he could. It is a very long way, hundreds of miles! Does he write to you?’
    ‘Oh yes, often. However busy he is, he has always found time for me. When we came back from exile in Brugge and were under house arrest in London, he would come every day to see me. George as well, of course, but it was me he always seemed most pleased to see!’
    ‘There you are then,’ Francis assured him. ‘Lots of people care about you! And the Duchess Cecily does too, I am sure!’
    ‘I will show her! When I am better I will train harder than ever! Exercise improves the body and my muscles need a lot of help! You and Robert must help me with lots of work-outs. When I grow up, I will be the bravest, strongest knight in the country and make Mother proud of me!’
    ‘Of course you will. You know you can do it!’ cried Anne. ‘Now it is time for your exercises around the room. Then we will rub your shoulder, arm, and leg with that special oil Francis got from the old herbalist in Middleham village. It is good, isn’t it, Francis?’
    ‘Very good. Earl Neville said that when he strained his leg in that fall while he was hunting, he rubbed it in daily and it worked like magic! The old woman said that if we rubbed it in every day and moved your shoulder, arm, and leg up and down a lot, you would get better more quickly, as the muscles need to build up again. You must not lie in bed any more but try to keep moving and exercising as much as you