'How have the Hobbeys been?'
'I haven't seen Hobbey or Abigail. They let me take my meals in the kitchen, apart from that they don't let me in the house. The boys were practising archery again this morning. Feaveryear and I joined them. Then Dyrick came out and shooed us off, said he needed Feaveryear and we should not be mixing with the young gentlemen.' He frowned. 'I wanted to put my boot up his arse and kick him all the way back to the house.'
'I would like to myself. But he would like me to lose control.'
'I felt sorry for little Feaveryear. He could no more make an archer than that dog Lamkin could. David mocks him, but Hugh was patient. I think he welcomes someone to talk to apart from David.'
'Feaveryear doesn't look as if he's had much patience from anyone before.'
'I have some news from Hoyland village.'
'Tell me.'
'I went there yesterday evening, sneaked out the back gate. They have a tavern there, and I asked for Master Ettis. Someone fetched him, we had a drink, then I went to his house. It's the best in the village. He leads the faction that wants to fight for their commons. I told him you work for Requests.'
'Will he keep it quiet?'
'Yes. I helped him draft a letter to the court. I said when we return to London you may take the case. If he would help us with information.'
'How did he react?'
'Said he'd cut my throat if I played him false. It was bluff: he told me after they have a spy in the house, who confirmed we were here about Hugh.'
I was about to open Warner's letter, but now I sat up. 'Who?'
He smiled. 'Old Ursula that worked for the nuns. They're furious angry, Ettis's people. Apparently Hobbey has not only been threatening to take half their woodlands under his interpretation of that old charter, but he's also trying to buy people out. Fulstowe has been offering a good price for the poorer cottagers' smallholdings if they'll go. And some of them have been given work helping set up this hunt.'
'Divide and rule. What is the mood among the rest of the Hoyland people? Would they take it to court?'
'I think so. Most are behind Ettis. They know that if the commons go down the village will die. Hobbey made a mistake by threatening to put his woodcutters on the villagers' woods, Ettis said. He's brought things to a head. Ettis thinks that was Hobbey's decision, by the way. Fulstowe has a more crafty approach. Ettis says he is the brains behind what's going on.'
'Interesting. What did Ettis say about the Hobbey family?'
'Nothing new there. David's a spoilt fool. Hobbey brings him riding through the village sometimes, and David raises a stink if some stiff-jointed old villager doesn't pull his cap off in time. Hugh they never see, nor Abigail. Ettis said Hugh goes walking in the lanes on his own sometimes, but he turns his head away and hurries past with a mumble if he meets a villager.'
'He is too conscious of his face, I think.'
'Some of the village women say Abigail is a witch, and Lamkin her familiar. Even the servants at the house are frightened of Abigail, they never know when she's going to start screaming and shouting at them. And apparently it's not true the local gentry shunned Hobbey because he bought the priory. It's rather that the family have isolated themselves. They never go anywhere, except for Hobbey making the occasional trip to Portsmouth or London.'
I frowned. 'What is it Abigail is frightened of?'
'I asked Ettis that. He had no idea. I told him too about that arrow shot at us in the forest. He was pretty sure we disturbed a poacher who wanted to warn us off.'
'That's a relief.'
'And I spoke to Ursula. I told her I was in with Ettis, and persuaded her to talk to me. She hates the Hobbeys. Said Master Hobbey told her off about leaving those flowers in the graveyard. Consecrated ground that's been left to rot, she called it. She said Abigail has always been high strung, with a sharp temper, but recently she seems to have withdrawn into herself.' He raised his eyebrows. 'Ever since she heard you were coming.'
'What did she say about the boys?'
'Just that David is a little beast. I got the impression she might know something more, but she wouldn't be drawn. She said Hugh is well mannered, but too quiet for a boy his age. She doesn't like any of them. I asked her if she saw anything the day Michael Calfhill came.'
'Did she?'
'Afraid not. That day she was working on the other side of the house.'
'Damn it.'
'This place is as full of watchers and factions as the King's court.'
'Yes,' I agreed. 'I spoke to Avery on my way in, he said much the same. He used to work at Lewes Priory. Cromwell had it demolished by the same people who demolished Scarnsea, where he sent me after his commissioner was murdered. And do you remember, during the Dark Fire business, that Wentworth household? Another family full of factions and secrets.' I sighed. 'Strange. I had one of my dreams of drowning last night; they always remind me of what happened in York, and the nightmare of the Revelation murders. Strange how the past revisits you.'
'I've always tried not to let it.' Barak looked at me keenly. 'What happened in Rolfswood? Something did, I can tell.'
I met his gaze. He looked tired, from the strain of living in this place combined with anxiety over Tamasin. I was tired too; tired of lies. I needed, self-indulgently perhaps, to tell someone about Rolfs-wood. So I told him about the fire, and all I had learned from Wilf, Seckford, and Buttress, as well as the threat from Wilf's sons.
'People are still scared of loose tongues nineteen years later,' he mused. 'What do you think happened?'
'Rape.' I looked at him. 'Perhaps murder. And tomorrow we go to Portsmouth and meet Priddis, who conducted the inquest. I don't think I should mention Rolfswood.'
'You think he may be linked to people who might endanger Ellen?'
'Yes. And Philip West is in Portsmouth too. I asked Guy to visit Ellen, and paid Hob Gebons to look after her, but still I fear for her. It is a nightmare tangle. If murder was involved, Ellen's safety has been only provisional for nineteen years. What if she has another outburst and lets out more of what happened? Whoever is paying her fees may decide she is safer out of the way. And if they can afford Bedlam fees and coaches, perhaps they can afford to find a hired killer too.'
'You shouldn't have started this, in my opinion.'
'Well, I did,' I snapped. 'I only learned about the fire and the deaths on the way here.' I grimaced. 'I swore to myself not to involve you. I am sorry.'
'For what? You're not going back there, are you?'
'I don't know.'
'I think the damage is done now, anyway,' he said bluntly. 'If this Buttress was involved in what happened I imagine he'd soon tell these West people someone was making enquiries.'
'Yes. I thought about it all through the ride home. I charged ahead without thinking, I was so keen to get information. I hadn't expected to find that conveyance was forged.' I hesitated. 'I have been wondering whether to try and seek out this Philip West in Portsmouth.'
'Having come this far perhaps you should. Leacon may know where we can find him. But be careful what you say to him.'
'Yes.' I realized that our roles had become reversed, Barak was the one advising me what to do, not to be impulsive. But he did not have my driving need to discover all I could about Ellen, to rescue her somehow. Through guilt for the damage I had done to her, through being unable to return her love.
I sighed, and opened my letters. The first was from Guy. It was dated 6 July, three days before, and would have crossed with the one I sent.
