Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd [495]
Aaron had landed recently. It seemed he was known to half of the prisoners already. He brought messages from their families, money, and, of course, the ability to perform any business transactions the prisoners might require.
He stayed for half an hour, an elderly, bald-headed man, who seemed to regard all around him with a wary amusement.
Samuel inspected him thoroughly but was rather disappointed. He had not expected a Jew to look like an ordinary man.
Afterwards, Aaron had returned to his lodgings at Wilton.
It was a week after her final defiance of Obadiah, that Margaret paid her secret call upon Sir Henry Forest.
She told no one about it.
As Forest heard what she had to say, he was astonished, but he listened carefully. Finally he summed up:
“So you want me to take the boy – in effect as my ward?”
She nodded.
“And you wish him to be educated with my children?”
“That is the key. They are similar age. I have heard they have a good tutor. He must receive the best education.”
“My tutor is excellent. A good university man.” He paused. “You think I can keep the boy from Obadiah?”
“Certainly. He would not dare attack you. And he could hardly complain if his brother were receiving the same education as the children of Sir Henry Forest.”
For this was the conclusion that Margaret Shockley had reached. She did not suppose any longer that she could hold the boy. She was not even sure that she could deny Obadiah. With Forest, however, Samuel would still be at Avonsford, but quite out of Obadiah’s clutches.
She could not help smiling to herself at how she was outwitting the dour Presbyterian.
Forest nodded thoughtfully. His dark, narrow-set eyes were calculating.
“Obadiah Shockley would not give me much trouble,” he agreed.
“Will you do it?”
“I like your boy. He has talent too. It’s right he should be educated,” he told her frankly. Then he smiled. “You have guessed the price of my agreeing?”
She nodded. Of course. It was worth it.
The terms were simple. For taking over the complete education of Samuel Shockley, including his time at Oxford and, if he wished, the Inns of Court, Margaret’s water meadows were to pass into his family’s ownership, with the stipulation that Margaret should enjoy the life tenancy of the water meadow for a nominal rent. It was an excellent bargain for both sides.
Until the deeds were drawn up and sealed, however, they would remain secret.
Aaron the Jew liked to travel early in the day. This was partly because he normally slept poorly and woke by dawn. It was also that he had found, all his life, a special uplifting of the spirit in the dawn chorus. Even now, despite the fact he was middle-aged, it gave him a thrill about the heart.
He drove his little carriage himself up the Avon valley, just as the first light was coming over the ridges above. By the time he reached Avonsford, the sky was lightening quickly, but as yet there was no one about.
It was just past the manor house that he stopped and stared in surprise.
On the slope above there was a small wooden sheep house. It undoubtedly belonged to the manor.
Why therefore should a figure he clearly recognised as Obadiah Shockley the preacher be coming surreptitiously out of it?
Shockley was not aware of him. Quickly he strode up towards the footpath on the ridge above.
That afternoon, while Samuel and Jacob Godfrey were up on the high ground an unexpected visitor came to call upon Margaret. His name was Daniel Johnson.
He was a quiet, serious man with a polite manner. He had come, he explained, from Obadiah.
“And since my horse went lame halfway here, I had a long walk,” he added a little ruefully.
Margaret was a little sorry for him, and since she was feeling somewhat elated after her meeting with Forest, she saw no harm in hearing him out.
He pleaded the case for Samuel’s education well. He said that Obadiah was hurt she should deny him his natural role in helping