Heartstone by C. J. Sansom Read Free Book Online Page B

years. He is good in argument but - over-aggressive perhaps. I did not know he worked in the Court of Wards too.'
    'Michael feared him. Michael and the Curteyses' vicar were trying to trace relatives, but then Master Hobbey said he had bought the children's wardship. The Curteyses' house was to be sold and Hugh and Emma were to move to the Hobbeys' house in Shoe Lane.'
    'That went through very quickly,' I said.
    'Money must have passed,' the Queen said quietly.
    'How much land is there?'
    'I think about twenty square miles in all. The children's share was about two-thirds.'
    That was a great deal of land. 'Do you know how much Hobbey paid for the wardship?'
    'I think it was eighty pounds.'
    That sounded cheap. I thought, if Master Hobbey bought Hugh and Emma's wardship he has control of their share of that woodland. In Hampshire, near to Portsmouth, where there would be much demand for wood for ships, and not too far from the Sussex Weald, where the expanding ironworks had brought constant demand for fuel.
    Bess continued. 'Master Hobbey seemed minded to get his own tutor, but Hugh and Emma had grown attached to Michael. The children asked Master Hobbey to keep Michael on, and he agreed.' Bess lifted her hands, made a sort of helpless motion. 'Apart from me, the Curteys family were all Michael had. He was a lad full of generous emotion: he should have sought a wife but for some reason never did.' She composed herself again, continued in a flat voice. 'And so the children were moved, and the house they had lived in all their lives sold and gone. I think the proceeds were put in care of the Court of Wards.'
    'Yes. It would be the trustee. So, Mistress Calfhill, your son moved with the children to Shoe Lane.'
    'Yes. He did not like the Hobbeys' house. It was a small, dark place. And Michael had a new pupil. The Hobbeys' son David.' She took a deep breath. 'Michael said he was a spoiled and pampered only child, the same age as Emma. Stupid and cruel, always taunting Hugh and Emma, saying they were in his house on sufferance, that his parents did not love them as they did him. True enough, I suppose. I believe Master Hobbey only took the children on to profit from their lands.'
    '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