The Rebel’s Daughter (17 page)

“
Henry!”
Helena snapped, her chin cocked at Deb and Robin, who both stared
at him wide-eyed.

Henry fell silent, fidgeting with the buttons
on his vest.

“
What
does transported mean, Father?” Rebekah asked, shyly.

“
The
condemned,” Samuel began slowly. “Become the property of Queen Mary
Beatrice. The master who buys them as indentured labor pays her a
price for each man.”

“
What
does this master do with them?” Deb asked, frowning.

“
He’s a
slave-master, Deb.” Henry pulled hard on a button, which came off
in his hand. “He’ll ship them to the plantations in Jamaica and
Barbados.”

Helena gripped her journal in both hands.
How had her kind, sweet brother become so bitter? This was so
unlike him. He didn’t even seem to care that Deb was near to tears
and had to be comforted by Rebekah.

“
How
long do they have to stay there?” Susannah asked, looking up as
Bayle entered the room. Smiling, she slid along the bench to make
room for him.

Helena gave him an acknowledging nod,
which he returned. Aware he had ridden over to Loxsbeare that
morning to see Lumm, she resolved not to ask what was happening
there. It would hurt too much.

“
At
least ten years,” Samuel replied to Susannah’s question. “If they
can buy their passage back to England after that time, they can
return home.”

“
…
although few survive the journey,” Bayle said, looking at
Helena.

“
What
will happen to the Taunton schoolgirls?” Helena asked. “The ones
who presented the Duke with the banner?”

“
They’re
to be ransomed back to their parents.” Samuel fiddled with the clay
pipe, making no attempt to light a taper or even fill the
bowl.

Meghan sighed. “Not one of them was above
ten years old.”

A tremor of unease stiffened her spine.
“Did something else happen in Exeter, Master Ffoyle?”

Samuel sighed. He lay down the pipe and
then picked it up again filled it with tobacco . Finally he met her
eye. “Benjamin Hobbs was at the Guildhall.”

“
Hobbs?”
Henry scowled. “Our groom Hobbs? What was he doing
there?”

“
He
sought a private audience with Judge Jeffreys when the trials were
done.” He plucked a taper from a box by the fire and lit it. “I was
called as a witness.” An expectant silence filled the room as he
held the flame against the dry leaves until a wisp of smoke curled
upwards from the bowl

“
What
did he want, Master Ffoyle?” Henry eased forward, his chin
jutted.

Helena crumpled her sewing in both hands;
wincing as the needle speared her thumb.

Rebekah handed her a kerchief, and Helena
dabbed at the bead of blood that appeared below her thumbnail.

Samuel flung the taper into the
fire and leaned back.
“I was asked to bear witness to the fact Hobbs
worked for Sir Jonathan Woulfe, and was in a position to swear that
his Master had joined the rebels.”

“
He betrayed us?” Henry spat through
gritted teeth, then gasped. “Benjamin saw you at Loxsbeare that day
the soldiers came.” Hendry’s voice rose “He knew you helped
us!”

“
What
did Hobbs want in return for his - information?” Helena asked, her
voice icy calm.

“
He
demanded a reward, what else?” Samuel shrugged. Henry leapt from
his seat and Samuel stilled him with a hand. “Sit down, Henry. The
man got nothing. Jeffreys had him thrown out of the
Guildhall.”

“
Serve
him right. The traitor.” Henry folded his arms, his lips clamped
into a thin line.

Samuel tapped the pipe stem against his
lower lip, nodding. “A man like Jeffreys would never grant favours
to the Benjamin Hobbs of this world. Knowing that, I refused to
give credence to any of his claims, much to Hobbs fury. I advised
Jeffreys do the same.”

“
Did he
heed you, Father?” Susannah asked. She kept glancing at Bayle and
when he turned to look at her, turned away, her face
flushed.

“
Jeffreys said Hobbs had done no more than the duty his
Sovereign required of him. He had him thrown out of the
Guildhall.”

Helena silently congratulated the dreadful
judge on his good sense, though it changed nothing.

They could not go back to Loxsbeare. Maybe
they never would.

* * *

“
There’s
something else,” Samuel said gently. Despite having taken only a
few puffs of the clay pipe, he turned it upside down and tapped it
against the hearth, dislodging the smoldering contents before he
continued speaking. “In May, the city wardens received a letter
that laid out Sir Jonathan Wolfe’s involvement in the rebellion.”
He paused as a ripple of low groans circled the room. “The letter
quoted dates and times of clandestine meetings held at Loxsbeare in
the weeks before Monmouth’s landing, naming Grey, Younge, Speke and
the others.”

“
They
knew everything from the beginning?” Helena whispered,
horrified.

“
Who
sent the letter?” Henry clenched both fists on his
knees.

Samuel paused before answering. “Lord
Miles Blanden.”

Bayle blew out a long breath. Helena
gasped.

“
That
cannot be! He’s Father’s friend.” Henry thumped the arm of his
chair with a fist. “It couldn’t have been him!” He gestured toward
Helena. “Ellie was going to marry his son.”

Samuel held up his hands. “The letter
carries his signature and his seal, Henry. I saw it
myself.”

“
What
did he hope to gain by betraying us?” Hendry’s lower lip
quivered.

“
Everything,” Samuel replied. “Lord Blanden has petitioned
the Court for possession of the house and lands of
Loxsbeare.”

Blood roared in Helena’s ears as guilt
slammed into her like a blow. If she had welcomed her betrothal to
Martyn more willingly, this might not have happened. Lord Blanden
would have had the links with the family he craved. Blanden had
cast covetous eyes at Loxsbeare for years. His plans had been
ruined by Martin’s death. The rising was the opportunity he needed.
She glanced at Henry for sympathy, but he sat rigid, staring the
empty grate, his mouth working silently.

Distracted by the turmoil inside her head,
Helena caught only part of what Bayle was now saying to Samuel.

“
…
Magistrate came to Loxsbeare this morning. He was angry the
Manor has been stripped bare and told Lumm the house was to be made
ready for a new owner.”

Henry gave a triumphant snort. “Serves
Blanden right, I hope the soldiers pulled it to pieces.”

Helena frowned, thoughtful. That made no
sense. Where were her family’s possessions? The two carts that
stood beneath tarpaulins in the rear stables were only part of what
Loxsbeare held. Is that what Benjamin had been doing, emptying the
house of valuables left behind?

Did Lumm discover his stealing and throw
him out? Or…were they in league together? The conversation had
moved on, and she had missed her chance to ask questions, leaving
her frustrated and annoyed.

Bayle withdrew without ceremony, which
Helena attributed to his sense of responsibility for Hobbs actions,
although he could not have known of the man’s treachery. She
resolved to speak to him about it later.

“
Enough
talk now,” Meghan said, gathering her skirts and ushering her
youngest daughter out. “There are chores to be done. You boys go
and fetch some firewood.”

Muttering in mild protest, the Ffoyle
children filed out of the room. “Are you coming, Helena?” Henry
murmured when she lingered by the window.

“
No,
Henry, please stay.” Samuel laid down the clay pipe. “You both have
a decision to make.”

“
What
kind of decision?” Helena asked warily.

“
Whether
or not you wish to remain in Ideswell, or leave the city
altogether.”

She exchanged a look with her brother, her
shock mirrored in his eyes. “Leave Exeter?” they asked
together.

“
You may
both prefer to go somewhere Sir Jonathan Wolfe’s disgrace is not so
well-known.”

“
You are
sending us away?” Helena said, panicked. “Because of Father’s bad
judgement? Or because we are now a traitor’s children, whose father
abandoned us to chase his precious duke?”

“
Helena!” Henry exclaimed, aghast.

Still reeling, she turned on him. “He
abandoned us for his religion. How can you support his choice
now?”

“
Helena,” Samuel’s stern tone sobered her a little. “You
were the most important thing in his life. One day you’ll
understand.”

“
I don’t
want to understand.” Her voice rose in anguish “I want him back! I
want them both back. Mother and Uncle Edmund are dead; what are
Henry and I to do now?” As if speaking her worst fears aloud made
them real, her defiance crumbled, and she knuckled hot tears away
with a shaking hand. “What did he think would happen to us if
Monmouth failed?”

“
He
never believed the rising would fail,” Henry insisted
bitterly.

“
I think
he did, or why else would he signed certain properties over to me,
to be held for you?”

“
What properties?” Henry demanded, his
practical nature surfacing.

“
Apart
from the sheep, which have been grazing on Ffoyle land since May,”
Samuel began. “There are the houses in Magdalen Road, the warehouse
at the Quay, and your mother’s jewels.”

“
You
have mother’s jewels?” Helena stared at him, incredulous. “We
thought - I thought - Father sold them to buy guns for
Monmouth.”

“
No.
They are yours. Yours and Hendry’s, and Aaron’s if…” He let the
thought hang in the air.

“
Not her
sapphire necklace.” Hendry’s eyes turned to flint. “That soldier
will have sold it by now.”

Samuel blew air out from between his lips.
“No, not that. However, you will both have an income from the wool
manufacturing and rents from the houses. There will even be
sufficient money for a dowry for Helena.”

“
We
won’t be rich.” Henry gave an accepting shrug.

“
Without
the Loxsbeare lands? No.”

Helena swiped her sleeve across her eyes.
What Samuel was offering was more than she could have imagined. She
smoothed the folds of her skirt with trembling fingers. “Where do
you suggest we go?”

Henry turned horrified eyes on her. “You
want to leave Exeter? Helena, we were born here. We don’t know
anywhere else.”

She lifted her chin. “You heard Master
Ffoyle. We have some means. Do you want to see Lord Blanden in
residence at Loxsbeare? Lording it over us in our home with our
money? Riding in our carriage? Stay, then, because I
won’t.”

Henry opened his mouth and then shut it again
with a snap.

“
Have
you considered London?” Samuel said, leaning back in his
chair.

Helena
’s stomach lurched.
London? Would that
be possible
?
“Father had friends in Frome and Winchester, even Taunton, but I’ve
not heard of…”

“
He had
acquaintances in London too, Helena,” Henry said, obviously excited
by the prospect. Helena hesitated. She loved Exeter, although she
ventured into the city infrequently since coming to Ideswell, and
when she did, she kept a shawl handy to hide behind in case she was
recognised. The familiar streets felt hostile, as if she had no
place there anymore.
Why not go to London
?

Samuel held up a hand. “Do not decide
tonight. I’ll write a few letters to associates of mine. Between
us, we may have something to offer you.”

As they took their leave, Samuel’s
discreet cough made Helena pause at the door. “Don’t give up on
your father just yet.”

“
Why? Do
you think he’s still alive?” Helena was still bitter.

“
I
cannot know, but to my mind, the numbers don’t add up.”

Henry stepped back into the room. “What
numbers?”

Samuel gave a slow nod, his expressive
hands steepled beneath his chin. “At Sedgemoor, Monmouth had
roughly four thousand men. Thirteen hundred rebel bodies were
collected after the battle. Some eight hundred or so have since
been captured and convicted. Say, five hundred deserted, although
reports claim that figure is high. That accounts for two thirds.
Where are the others?”

Henry stared at him, his lips moving.
“That would mean almost fourteen hundred men are unaccounted
for.”