C.J. Sansom - Heartstone

'Around a mile each way. It was a deer park under the nuns, I believe. They used to lease it out to local gentry. But it has been allowed to deteriorate these last few years.'

'I wonder why Master Hobbey did not use it before now.'

'Well, sir, that is really his business.' A cautious note entered Avery's voice. Yes, I thought, he has been warned against me by the family.

'You are right, I apologize. But tell me, what will happen on the day of the hunt?'

'The guests and members of the family will take places along a prearranged route and the stag will be driven towards them. I saw the stag again yesterday. A magnificent beast.'

'And whoever brings it down will be entitled to the heartstone?'

'That's right.'

'Might it be Master Hugh again, I wonder?'

'It might be him, or one of the guests. I do not know how good shots they are. Or Master David, he is a fine shot, though he cannot seem to learn that you must keep quiet and hidden when you are tracking.'

'Is that why you are wearing green? To blend in with the wood?'

'It is. All the hunters will wear green or brown.'

'Do you travel the country organizing hunts, Master Avery?'

'I do now. I was in charge of a monastery hunting park until eight years ago. Then it was put down, the land sold off in parcels.'

'Which house?'

'Lewes Priory, over in Sussex.'

'Really? Lewes? The engineers who demolished Lewes for Lord Cromwell also took down a monastic house I had—connections with—just afterwards.'

Avery shook his head sadly. 'I watched Lewes come down in a great roar and cloud of dust. A terrible sight. Did you see this other place come down?'

'No. I did not wait for that.' I sighed, remembering.

Avery hesitated, then said, 'I will be glad to leave this place after the hunt. All the bad feeling with the village, the family hissing round each other like snakes. You are here to look out for Master Hugh's welfare?'

'Yes. Yes, I am.'

'He is the best of them. A fine lad.' Perhaps thinking he had said too much, Avery bowed quickly and walked away to his dogs.

I WALKED thoughtfully past the outhouses to Barak's room.

'Master Shardlake.' I turned at a sudden voice behind me. Fulstowe had just emerged from the laundry building.

'You startled me, master steward.'

He gave his deferential smile. 'I am sorry. I saw you through the open doorway. You have just returned?'

'Yes.'

'Is there anything you need?'

'Only a wash and a rest.'

'I will arrange for hot water to be sent to your room. Some more letters have arrived for you, Barak has them.'

'Thank you. Is everyone in the house well?'

'Yes. We have had a quiet time.' Fulstowe's eyes quested over my face. 'Was your business in Sussex successful, sir?'

'It was—complicated.'

'We shall be leaving for Portsmouth early tomorrow, if that is convenient.'

'You are coming with us?'

'Yes. Master Hugh and Master David too. They are determined to see the fleet.' He smiled. 'Boys will be boys.'

'Near grown men now.'

He stroked his neat blond beard. 'Yes, indeed.'

'And now I will have a word with my clerk before I go in, see my letters.'

Fulstowe looked along the row of outhouses. 'I believe Barak is in his room.'

I smiled. 'You seem to know everyone's movements, master steward.'

'That is my job, sir.' He bowed and left me.

I KNOCKED on Barak's door. He answered at once. 'Good, you're back.'

I looked at him curiously. 'Why are you skulking indoors on a fine afternoon?'

'I'm tired of that arsehole steward and his minions watching my every move. Jesu, you're dusty.'

'Let me sit down.' I sat on the straw bed. Two letters addressed to me lay there, one from Warner and one from Guy. 'Any news of Tamasin?'

'She wrote again the day we arrived.' He leaned against the door and pulled a letter from his shirt. 'Guy says she still comes along well. She is still determined the child is a girl. I miss her.'

'I know. Next week we shall be home.'

'I pray we are.'

'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.'