The Time Ilyad Went to Jail
As a Hedgewarder, Sir Hugo Dyer prided himself on resolving disputes around the Dower in a fair and equitable fashion. If he’d done his job right, he used to say, then everyone ended the day as friends. But sometimes an affront was so egregious, or a deal so rotten, that it was hard to untangle without leaving some bitterness behind.
It was just such a case when wild goats tumbled an old stone wall that ran between Tungis Pastures and Marrowbone Farm. Gull Marrowbone put the wall back up a good ten yards into Bumpo’s land; the old footings were plain to see and no one was under any illusion that this was accidental.
Sir Hugo settled the matter, declaring that the new wall be torn down and the old property line reinstated, all at the Marrowbone’s expense. Bumpo Tungis was so delighted at this outcome, he offered Sir Hugo a gift of two prized Tungis heifers from his rightly-famed herd. The old Hedgewarder naturally declined the gratuity, fearing that it might impugn his renowned impartiality.
It was no small scandal then, when Gull Marrowbone spread the word that he’d seen two handsome cows feeding at the trough in the Dyer small-holding, just south of the Dower. These beasts, he muttered, bore the brand of Tungis Pastures, plain as day. Investigations corroborated Marrowbone’s accusations: there were two Tungis cows in the Dyer fields!
Gossip moves quicker than grassfire about the Dower, and people started to say that old Sir Hugo was feathering his nest in preparation of retirement. The Hedgewarder protested his innocence, but was not helped by the guileless Bumpo, who declared that he’d seen the cattle being rustled, and it wasn’t an old man doing it, but a young woman. People scoffed at his story, so flimsy and convenient, that it may as well have been a full-throated confession of bribery.
Marrowbone was pushing for Sir Hugo’s impeachment, which would mean removal from his post and from his seat on the Town Council. Old reckonings, long resolved and satisfactorily put to bed, started to fall apart, both sides declaring that the other had bribed the Hedgewarder in their favour. Ill-feeling and suspicion spread.
It was at this point that Ilyad Dyer stepped forward and declared that she had rustled Bumpo’s cows, and had done so without her father’s knowledge; if anyone should be punished, she said, it should be her. Sir Hugo pleaded with his adopted daughter to retract her false confession, but she was resolute.
The Bailiff, Caris Flyte, then new in the role, following the retirement of Sir Egbert Oglesby, saw through Ilyad’s confession in an instant. ‘Please,’ she said, ‘give me a chance to find out how these cows came into your father’s fields, Ilyad. I know your story is phoney, but I can’t keep investigating with you in the stocks; it will look like the Council is closing ranks to protect their own.’
But, as Dower folk say, two stubborn people are as bound to disagree as two bulls in the same paddock, and Ilyad could not be persuaded. Despite Sir Hugo’s pleading and protestations of good character, the Bailiff passed down a guilty verdict, consigning Ilyad to jail. Appearances, she figured, had to be maintained, and she did not want the same suspicion of corruption to tar her as well. And besides, she thought, the girl was clearly interfering in an investigation: there must be some penalty for perjury. So Ilyad got the minimum sentence: six months in the Triel penitentiary.
The mutterings about Sir Hugo’s honesty died down, but his esteem as a father took a battering. Caris Flyte gained a reputation as a swift and judicious dealer of justice. Gull Marrowbone kept to his muttering, though there were few left who paid it any mind. And Bumpo Tungis furrowed his brow, bemused by the whole affair.