Heartstone (41 page)

'Did he have any enemies?'

'None. No one wished him ill.'

'How did Ellen come to leave you?'

The curate leaned back in his chair. 'Oh sir, you ask me to remember the worst part of all.'

'I am sorry. I did not mean to press.'

'No, you should hear it to the end now.' Seckford got up, took my mug, waddled to the buffet and poured more beer.

'Goodwife Wright and I did not know what to do about Ellen. She had no relatives, she was heiress to her father's house here in Rolfswood, a little land, and the burnt-out foundry. I thought to keep her with us in the hope that eventually she might recover and be able to deal with her affairs. But Quintin Priddis took a hand again. Not long after the verdict he was back. Sat where you sit now and said it was improper for Ellen to remain here. He threatened to tell my vicar, and I knew he would order her put out.' Seckford drained his mug again.

I leaned forward. 'Goodman Harrydance said she was taken to London, to relatives.'

I saw the hand holding the empty mug was trembling. 'I asked Master Priddis what was to become of her. He said he had made enquiries and found relatives in London, and that he was willing to arrange for her to be taken to them.' He frowned and now he did look at me sharply. 'You say this friend of yours lives there, but does not know her.'

'He knows nothing of this.' I hated lying to the old man, and realized how once started on a course of lies it becomes ever harder to stop. But Seckford seemed to accept my reply.

He said, 'My guess is Mistress West asked Priddis to search for relatives, gave him some fee. There would have to have been some profit in it for him to act.'

I thought, but for whoever placed her in the Bedlam there has been no profit, only continual expense. Keeping her out of the way could only be for their safety. Was it Mistress West, protecting her son?

'Priddis played a dirty trick.' Seckford spoke quietly. 'Jane Wright, you see, had had no wages since the fire. Nor had the other servants in Master Fettiplace's house. Who was to pay them? Priddis told her that placing Ellen with these relatives meant that things could be put on a proper footing, Master Fettiplace's house sold and her arrears of wages paid. He said he would put in a word with whoever bought the house, see if they would keep her on. That brought her over to his side. I cannot blame her, she had no income, we were all living out of my poor stipend.'

'Did you ask who these relatives were?' I asked gently.

'Priddis would not say. Only that they lived in London and would take care of her. He said that was all I needed to know.' Seckford leaned forward. 'Sir, I am only a poor curate. How was I to stand up to Priddis, a man of authority and power with a stone for a heart?'

'You were in an impossible position.'

'Yet I could have done more. I have always been weak.' He bowed his head. 'A week later a coach arrived, one of those boxes on wheels that rich people use. Priddis had told me people were coming to take Ellen to London. He said the best thing was not to tell her anything, otherwise she might become wild. Jane Wright persuaded me that was the kindest thing to do. Ah, I am too easily led.

'Priddis came early one morning with two men, big ugly ruffians. They marched into Ellen's room and hauled her out. She was screaming, like a poor animal caught in a trap. I told her it was for the best, she was going to kind relatives, but she was beyond listening. Such a look she gave me, she thought I had betrayed her. As I had. She was still screaming as the coach drove away. I hear her still.'

As I do, I thought, but did not dare to say. Seckford rose unsteadily to his feet. 'Another drink, sir? I know I need one.'

'No, thank you.' I stood as well. Seckford looked at me, something desperate in his eyes. 'Drink with me, sir,' he said. 'It eases the mind. Come.'

'I have travelled far, sir,' I answered gently. 'I am very tired, I must rest. But thank you for telling me the story. I see it was hard for you. I would not have liked to be in your place.'

'Will your client try to find Ellen?'

'I promise something will be done.'

He nodded, his face twisting with emotion as he went and poured another mug for himself.

'One last question, if I may. What happened to the Fettiplace house?'

'It was sold, as Priddis said it would be. To Master Humphrey Buttress, that owns the corn mill. He is still there.' The curate smiled mirthlessly. 'An old associate of Master Priddis - I'll warrant it was sold cheap. Master Buttress brought his own servants, and Jane Wright and the other Fettiplace servants were all out on the street. She died the next year, during the great dearth, she starved, and she was not the only one. She was old, you see, and had no work.' Seckford steadied himself on the buffet with one hand. 'I pray your friend will find Ellen in London and help her, if she still lives. But I beg you, do not repeat what I have said about Priddis, or the Wests, or Master Buttress, to anyone in authority. It could still bring me trouble. My vicar wants me out, you see, he is a radical reformer while I - I find the new ways difficult.'

'I promise.' I shook his trembling hand and left him.

M
Y CONSCIENCE
troubled me as I walked back down the lane towards the town. I wished I could have told him Ellen was alive, that she had had at least some semblance of a life before I brought fresh trouble to it. I believed there had been a rape on that long-ago night, as well as the fire. I remembered Ellen's words -
They were so strong! I could not move! The sky above - it was so wide - so wide it could swallow me!
And Ellen's dress had been torn and had grass on it. But who were the men who had done it?

Thinking hard, I was paying little attention to my surroundings. The lane ran between hawthorn hedges, and suddenly two men stepped from a gap and stood in front of me. They were in their thirties, labourers by the look of them. They looked vaguely familiar. One gave a little bow. 'Evening, master,' he said.

'Good evening, fellows.'

'I hear you've been cozening old tales out of our father.' Now I recognized the resemblance to Wilf in their thin sharp faces.

'I was asking about the fire at the Fettiplace foundry, yes.' I looked round. We were quite alone in the shady lane. I heartily wished Barak were with me.

'Been talking to old John Seckford too, have you?'

'Yes. Your father suggested it.'

'Father is an old gabblemouth. He's been full of theories about that fire for years, saying the verdict didn't make sense, something was kept quiet. We tell him it's all long past and he shouldn't be making trouble. The Wests are powerful people, they own the land we farm. Father doesn't know anything, he wasn't there. We thought we'd tell you, sir.' His tone was quiet, even respectful, but threatening nonetheless.

'Father said you were leaving Rolfswood tomorrow,' his brother added. 'Our advice is not to come back, and certainly not to talk to our father again.' He leaned forward. 'Or you might be found with your head broken. Not that we ever told you that, or even spoke to you at all.' He nodded at me significantly, then the two turned and disappeared again through the gap in the hedge. I took a long, deep breath, then resumed my way.

I
SPENT
a troubled night at the inn. What had happened here nineteen years ago? Theories chased each other round my tired mind as I lay in bed. Could Peter Gratwyck have been one of the rapists? Had he and Philip West attacked Ellen and her father, then set fire to the foundry to dispose of the body? Had Gratwyck then run away? I shook my head. There was no evidence to support that theory, nor any other. But I wondered all the more whether murder had been done that night.

Priddis's involvement had been a shock. In two days I was to meet him in Portsmouth. And Philip West was probably there too. That was no surprise, for all the prominent officials of the region, and the army and the King's ships, were gathering in Portsmouth now. The King himself would be there in a week.

Tomorrow I would return to Hoyland Priory and its strange family. I realized I had scarcely thought about them since I arrived here. I tossed and turned, remembering how Seckford had described Ellen: like a poor animal caught in a trap.

N
EXT MORNING
I rose early. There was one more thing I could do before I left.

I left the inn and walked up the main street. I soon found the house Goodwife Bell had mentioned. It was the largest, new-painted in blue, with diamond-paned windows and a doorway framed by posts beautifully carved with animal figures. I knocked at the door. A servant answered, and I asked if I could speak to Master Buttress regarding the Fettiplace family. That should bring him, I thought.

I was asked to wait in the parlour. It was a well-appointed room, dominated by a wall painting of Roman officials in togas, arguing outside the Senate. A large vase of summer flowers stood on a table. I looked at them, remembering what Seckford had said about Ellen bringing flowers to him. This was the house where she had been brought up, lived all her life until the tragedy. I looked around it, my senses heightened, but felt nothing, no connection.

The door opened and a tall, burly man with curly iron-grey hair entered, wearing a wool doublet with silver buttons over a shirt embroidered with fine lacework. He bowed.

'Master Buttress?' I asked.

'I am. I am told you have an enquiry about the Fettiplace family, who once lived here.' His manner was civil, but there was something both watchful and aggressive about him.

'I am sorry to trouble you so early, but I wonder if you could help me.' I told him my story about making enquiries for a friend.

'Who told you I owned the house?'

'I heard it at the inn.'

Buttress grunted. 'This town is full of gossip. I only knew the family slightly.'

'I understand. But I have been thinking. Mistress Fettiplace would have had to put her London address on the deed of conveyance when she sold the house. That might help me trace her. Unless,' I added, 'her sanity was an issue, in which case the conveyance would have gone through the Office of Wards, as it was then.'

Buttress looked at me narrowly. 'As I recall, she sold it herself. It was all done properly, she was past sixteen, of an age to sell.'

'I have no doubt it was, sir. But if you could be so kind as to find the conveyance, it would be a great help if I could find an address.' I spoke deferentially, reckoning that was the best approach with this man. He frowned again, then drew himself up to his full height. 'Wait,' he said, 'I will see if I can find it.'

Buttress left, returning a few minutes later with a document with a red seal at the bottom. He brushed the dust off with a sweeping motion and laid it on the table. 'There, sir,' he said stiffly. 'You will see everything is in order.' I studied the conveyance. It sold the house, and the freehold of some woodland, to Humphrey Buttress on the fifteenth of December 1526. Two months after Ellen had been taken away. I did not know the price of land round here then, but it was less than I would have expected. The address was care of a solicitor, Henry Fowberry of Warwick Lane, off Newgate. The signature above it, Ellen Fettiplace in a round childish hand, was nothing at all like her signature I had seen at the Bedlam. It was a forgery.