World Without End Page 0,505

years ago."

"That's how long it's taken." Davey smiled. "At first I was afraid it wouldn't grow at all. He told me it needed sandy soil and would tolerate light shade. I dug over the clearing and planted the seeds, but the first year I got only three or four feeble plants. I thought I'd wasted my money. Then, the second year, the roots spread underground and sent up shoots, and this year it's all over the place."

Gwenda was astonished that her child could have kept this from her for so long. "But what use is madder?" she said. "Does it taste good?"

Davey laughed. "No, it's not edible. You dig up the roots, dry them and grind them to a powder that makes a red dye. It's very costly. Madge Webber in Kmgsbridge pays seven shillings for a gallon."

That was an astonishing price, Gwenda reflected. Wheat, the most expensive grain, sold for about seven shillings a quarter, and a quarter was sixty-four gallons. "This is sixty-four times as precious as wheat!" she said.

Davey smiled. "That's why I planted it."

"Why you planted what?" said a new voice. They all turned to see Nathan Reeve, standing beside a hawthorn tree as bent and twisted as he was. He wore a triumphant grin: he had caught them red-handed.

Davey was quick with an answer. "This is a medicinal herb called... hagwort," he said. Gwenda could tell he was improvising, but Nate would not be sure. "It's good for my mother's wheezy chest."

Nate looked at Gwenda. "I didn't know she had a wheezy chest."

"In the winter," Gwenda said.

"A herb?" Nate said sceptically. "There's enough here to dose all Kingsbridge. And you've been weeding it, to get more."

"I like to do things properly," Davey said.

It was a feeble response, and Nate ignored it. "This is an unauthorized crop," he said. "First of all, serfs need permission for what they plant - they can't go raising anything they like. That would lead to total chaos. Secondly, they can't cultivate the lord's forest, even by planting herbs."

None of them had any answer to that. Those were the rules. It was frustrating: often peasants knew they could make money by growing non-standard crops that were in demand and fetched high prices: hemp for rope, flax for expensive underclothing, or cherries to delight rich ladies. But many lords and their bailiffs refused permission, out of instinctive conservatism.

Nate's expression was venomous. "One son a runaway and a murderer," he said. "The other defies his lord. What a family."

He was entitled to feel angry, Gwenda thought. Sam had killed Jonno and got away with it. Nate would undoubtedly hate her family to his dying day.

Nate bent down and roughly pulled a plant out of the ground. "This will come before the manor court," he said with satisfaction; and he turned and limped away through the trees.

Gwenda and her family followed. Davey was undaunted. "Nate will impose a fine, and I'll pay it," he said. "I'll still make money."

"What if he orders the crop destroyed?" Gwenda said.

"How?"

"It could be burned, or trampled."

Wulfric put in: "Nate wouldn't do that. The village wouldn't stand for it. A fine is the traditional way to deal with this."

Gwenda said: "I just worry about what Earl Ralph will say."

Davey made a deprecatory gesture with his hand. "No reason why the earl should find out about a little thing like this."

"Ralph takes a special interest in our family."

"Yes, he does," Davey said thoughtfully. "I still don't understand what made him pardon Sam."

The boy was not stupid. Gwenda said: "Perhaps Lady Philippa persuaded him."

Sam said: "She remembers you, mother. She told me that when I was at Merthin's house."

"I must have done something to endear myself to her," Gwenda said, extemporising. "Or it could be that she just felt compassion, one mother for another." It was not much of a story, but Gwenda did not have a better one.

In the days since Sam had been released they had had several conversations about what might account for Ralph's pardon. Gwenda just pretended to be as perplexed as everyone else. Fortunately Wulfric had never been the suspicious type.

They reached their house. Wulfric looked at the sky, said there was another good hour of light left and went into the garden to finish sowing peas. Sam volunteered to help him. Gwenda sat down to mend a rip in Wulfric's hose. Davey sat opposite Gwenda and said: "I've got another secret to tell you."

She smiled. She did not mind him having a secret