C.J. Sansom - Heartstone

'Is it not illegal to make profit from a ward's lands?' the Queen asked.

'Yes. Whoever purchases a wardship has custody of the ward's lands, but he is supposed to take care of them and not make profit for himself. Though that is not always what happens. And he would have control of the girl's marriage,' I added thoughtfully.

Bess said, 'Michael feared they wanted to marry Emma to David, so her share of the children's lands would pass to the Hobbey family. Those poor children. Hugh and Emma cleaved together, they only had each other, though they had a friend in my son. Michael told me Hugh had a fight once with David, over something improper he said to Emma. She would have been only thirteen. David was a big strong boy, but Hugh beat him.' She looked at me sharply again. 'I told Michael he was getting too concerned over Hugh and Emma, he couldn't be mother and father to them. But then—' her face went blank once more—'then smallpox came to the Hobbeys' house.'

The Queen leaned forward and laid a hand on Bess's arm.

'All three children caught it,' Bess continued stonily. 'Michael was forbidden their chambers for fear of infection. The servants were set to look after Hugh and Emma, but David's mother cared for him herself, weeping and crying to God for her boy to be saved. I give her credit for that; I would have done the same for Michael.' She paused, then said in a savage voice, 'David survived unmarked. Hugh lived, but with a pitted face that destroyed his handsomeness. And little Emma died.'

'I am sorry.'

'Then a few days later Master Hobbey told my son his wife would not live in London any more. They were going to their house in Hampshire for good and he would not be needed. Michael never saw Hugh again—he and David were still being kept isolated. They allowed Michael to go to poor Emma's funeral, that was all. He saw her little white coffin laid in the earth. He left that day. He said the servants were burning Emma's clothes in the garden in case they harboured the ill humours of the disease.'

'A terrible story,' I said gently. 'Death and greed, and children the victims. But Mistress Calfhill, your son could have done no more.'

'I know,' she said. 'Master Hobbey gave Michael a letter of recommendation, and he got other positions in London. He wrote to Hugh, but had only a stiff reply from Master Hobbey saying he should not write, they were trying to build a new life for the boy in Hampshire.' Her voice rose. 'The cruelty of it, after all Michael had done for those children.'

'That was hard indeed,' I said. Yet I could see Hobbey's point of view. In London the boy Hugh had lost his entire family.

Bess continued, the tonelessness returning to her voice. 'The years passed. Then at the end of last year Michael took a place down in Dorset, teaching the sons of a large landowner. But the fate of Hugh and Emma seemed to haunt him. He often said he wondered what had become of Hugh.' She frowned and looked down.

The Queen spoke again. 'Come, Bess, you must tell the last part, though I know it is the hardest.'

Bess looked at me, steeled herself. 'Michael returned from Dorset to visit me at Easter. When he arrived he looked terrible, pale and distracted, almost out of his wits. He would not tell me why, but after a few days he suddenly asked if I knew any lawyers. For what, I asked. To my amazement he said he wished to apply to the Court of Wards for Hugh to be taken from the Hobbeys' custody.' She took a deep breath. 'I told him I knew no lawyers, and asked why he should do this now, after six years. He said it was something not fit for my ears or any woman's, or man's either except a judge. I tell you, sir, I began to fear for Michael's reason. I can see him now, sitting opposite me in the little house I have, thanks to the Queen's goodness. In the light from the fire his face looked lined—old. Yes, old, though he was not yet thirty. I suggested if he wanted a lawyer perhaps he should visit Master Dyrick. But he laughed bitterly and said he was the last person he should go to.'

'That is right. If Dyrick was acting for Hobbey in the wardship, he could not act against him in the same matter.'

'It was more than that, sir. There was anger in Michael's voice.'

I sensed a new stillness in the room, and glanced over to the windows. The maids-in-waiting had stopped sewing, and were listening as intently as the Queen and I.

'It occurred to me that on the way back home from Dorset Michael might have visited Hugh. I asked him outright, and he admitted it was true. He had not made an appointment because he feared Master Hobbey might not receive him. He said when he arrived he found that something frightful had been done. He had to find a lawyer whom he could trust, and if he could not he would file the case in court himself.'

'I wish you had come to me, Bess,' the Queen said. 'You could have.'

'Your majesty, I feared my son was losing his reason. I could not see anything that could have happened to Hugh that would drive Michael to such a state. Shortly afterwards Michael said he had found a lodging of his own. He said he was not going back to Dorset. He—'At last she broke down, burying her head in her hands and weeping. The Queen leaned over and held Bess close against her breast.

At length she regained her composure. The Queen had given her a handkerchief, which she twisted and squeezed in her hands. She spoke, but with her head bowed so low I was looking at the top of her white coif.

'Michael moved into lodgings down by the river. He visited me most days. He told me he had filed papers in the Court of Wards by himself and paid the fee. I fancied he looked a little easier then, but in the days that followed that old, drawn look returned. Then several days passed when he did not visit. The following morning the local constable came.' She looked up, eyes bereft. 'He told me my son had been found dead in his room, he had hanged himself from a roof beam. He left me a note—I have it. Master Warner said I should bring it with me for you to see.'

'May I?'

Bess produced a folded scrap of dirty paper from her dress. She passed it to me with a trembling hand. I opened it. Forgive me, Mother , was scrawled on it. I looked up at her. 'This is Michael's writing?' I asked.

'You think I do not know my own son's hand?' she asked angrily. 'He wrote this, as I told the coroner at the inquest, before the jury and all the curious public.'

'Come, Bess,' the Queen said gently. 'Master Shardlake needs to ask these questions.'

'I know, your majesty, but it is hard.' She looked at me. 'I apologize, sir.'

'I understand. Was the hearing before the London coroner?'

'Yes, Master Grice. A hard, stupid man.'

I smiled sadly. 'That he is.'

'The coroner asked me if my son had seemed unwell and I said yes, his behaviour had been strange lately. They brought in a verdict of suicide. I did not say anything about Hampshire.'

'Why not?'

She raised her head and looked at me again, defiantly. 'Because I had decided to bring that matter to the Queen. And now I have come for justice, by the Queen's good grace.' She sat back. I realized there was a thread of steel under Bess's pain.

I asked quietly, 'What do you think your son found in Hampshire that could have driven him to kill himself?'

'God rest and quiet his soul, I do not know, but I believe it was something terrible.'

I did not answer. I wondered if Bess needed to believe that now, had turned pain outwards into anger.

'Show Master Shardlake the summons from the court,' the Queen said.

Bess reached into her dress and pulled out a large paper, folded many times, and handed it to me. It was a summons from the Court of Wards, ordering all parties with business in the matter of the wardship of Hugh William Curteys to attend the court on the twenty-ninth of June, in five days' time. It was addressed to Michael Calfhill as petitioner—they would not know he was dead—and I noted a copy had also been delivered to Vincent Dyrick at the Inner Temple. It was dated near three weeks before.