‘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 She said Abigail has always been high strung, with a sharp temper, but recently she seems to have withdrawn into herself.’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 Rolfswood. 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.