Pillars.of.the.Earth.02.World.Without.End.2007 by Follett Ken

Author:Follett, Ken [Follett, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Signet Book
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

still did not understand why. He had been tough, forcing the townspeople to use and pay for the priory’s mills, fishponds and warrens, but they seemed to find ways around his rules – like building mills in neighbouring villages. He had imposed harsh sentences on men and women caught poaching or illegally cutting down trees in the priory’s forests. And he had resisted the blandishments of those who would tempt him to spend the priory’s money by building mills, or waste the priory’s timber by licensing charcoal burners and iron smelters. He felt sure his approach was right, but it had not yet yielded the increased income he felt he deserved.

“So you will ask Cecilia for the money,” Philemon said thoughtfully. There might be advantages in keeping our wealth in the same place as the nuns’.”

Godwyn saw which way Philemon’s devious mind was leading him. “But we wouldn’t say that to Cecilia.”

“Of course not.”

“All right, I’ll propose it.”

“While we’re waiting...”

“Yes?”

“There’s a problem you need to know about in the village of Long Ham.”

Godwyn nodded. Long Ham was one of dozens of villages that paid homage – and feudal dues – to the priory.

Philemon explained: “It has to do with the landholding of a widow, Mary-Lynn. When her husband died, she agreed to let a neighbour farm her land, a man called John Nott. Now the widow has remarried, and she wants the land back so that her new husband can farm it.”

Godwyn was puzzled. This was a typical peasant squabble, too trivial to require his intervention. “What does the bailiff say?”

“That the land should revert to the widow, since the arrangement was always intended to be temporary.”

“Then that is what must happen.”

“There is a complication. Sister Elizabeth has a half-brother and two half-sisters in Long Ham.”

“Ah.” Godwyn might have guessed there would be a reason for Philemon’s interest. Sister Elizabeth, formerly Elizabeth Clerk, was the nuns’ matricularius, in charge of their buildings. She was young and bright, and would rise farther up the hierarchy. She could be a valuable ally.

“They are the only family she’s got, apart from her mother, who works at the Bell,”

Philemon went on. “Elizabeth is fond of her peasant relatives, and they in turn revere her as the holy one of the family. When they come to Kingsbridge they bring gifts to the nunnery – fruit, honey, eggs, that sort of thing.”

“And...?”

“John Nott is the half-brother of Sister Elizabeth.”

“Has Elizabeth asked you to intervene?”

“Yes. And she also asked that I should not tell Mother Cecilia of the request.”

Godwyn knew that this was just the kind of thing Philemon liked. He loved to be regarded as a powerful person who could use his influence to favour one side or the other in a dispute. Such things fed his ego, which was never satisfied. And he was drawn to anything clandestine. The fact that Elizabeth did not want her superior to know about this request delighted Philemon. It meant he knew her shameful secret. He would store the information away like miser’s gold.

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