“You cannot be entirely sure. But you can be sure of one thing. If you do not your son will surely die with you.”
For a few moments there was silence in the cell. Tyrrell was thinking, I will do it. What harm can it do me? It is well that people should know.
He said: “I will do it. For my son’s life I will do it.”
“That is good. Tell me the story as it happened. Make your confession now. Shall I prompt your memory? It was in the summer of the year 1483. . . .”
“No . . . no . . . much later.”
“Let us say it was in the summer of 1483. Richard of Gloucester knew that he must kill his nephews to make the crown secure for himself.”
“The crown was secure. He had proclaimed them bastards.”
“We are going to make our confession, Tyrrell, if we are going to save your son. In that summer Richard of Gloucester sent a certain John Greene to the Tower with a note for the Constable, Sir Robert Brackenbury, with the order that he should put the Princes to death. Sir Robert was an honest man who refused to do it. Richard was furiously angry. ‘Whom can a man trust?’ he cried and one of his pages answered: ‘I know, Sire, one whom you can trust.’ And he gave him your name.”
“This is false.”
“Remember your son’s life is in danger. You were a very ambitious young man at that time. You were jealous of the favor Catesby and Ratcliffe enjoyed from the King. You were eager to curry favor with Richard who ordered Brackenbury to give you the keys of the Tower for one night. So you, a nameless page before that time, sprang into favor because you were ready to do the King’s bidding after Brackenbury refused.”
“I am a sinner,” said Tyrrell. “I would be counted a murderer, but this is not true. I was no nameless page. I was a trusted servant of the King. I had received my knighthood at Tewkesbury in 1471. I was the King’s Master of Henchman and Horse. I will confess . . . but I must confess the truth.”
“You will make the confession you are told to make.”
“But this is foolish. It does not carry conviction. Do you say King Richard sent a note to Brackenbury ordering him to murder the Princes and that he refused? If that were true how could Richard have allowed him to live after such a thing? Brackenbury was an honest man. No one ever denied that. Yet he remained Richard’s friend. He died beside him at Bosworth Field.”
“We are not concerned with Brackenbury’s death. Only with your confession.”
“You would have me say that which is false.”
“Did you arrange for the murder of the Princes in the Tower?”
“I did.”
“And did your henchmen Miles Forrest and John Dighton perform the deed?”
“They did.”
“And were the Princes smothered in their beds?”
Tyrrell put his hands over his face. “Their deaths were quick,” he said. “Poor innocent children, they knew nothing of what was happening. The felt no pain. They had to die. Their deaths may have saved the lives of thousands.”
“True.”There was a certain warmth now in the cold voice of the stranger. “It was necessary. A hideous deed but out of evil good can come. It had to be, Tyrrell, it had to be. Now you arranged for their deaths, did you not?”
“I did.”
“Tell the story as it happened. We disagree on but a few details. Never mind. They can be put right. It happened earlier than you say.”
“I know when it happened. I am perfectly clear about that.”
“You are being recalcitrant and there is very little time left for us. It is a matter of whether you want to save your son’s life.”
“I see that the guilt is to be shifted to King Richard.”
“The guilt was King Richard’s. He had taken the crown . . . usurped it from his nephews.”
“He believed them to be bastards.”
“Oh come. They were a threat nevertheless and he decided to remove them. It was as we have said. Brackenbury refused and you took over the Tower for a night. Forrest and Dighton obeyed your orders. The children were stifled and buried under a stairway in the Tower.”
“It does not agree with the facts. I am the only one of King Richard’s faithful servants who has been able to live successfully during the present reign. People will say: Why was this so? It could only be that although I served Richard well I also performed a great service for King Henry.”
“The confession of a man just before death will convince them that you speak the truth.”
“How can I be sure that my son’s life will be saved?”
“The King is not a bloodthirsty man. He does not like to shed men’s blood and only does so when it is for the good of the country.”
“And mine is for the good of the country?”
“Traitors cannot be allowed to live.”
