The Brewers

Hugh Smith

3, Elena's youngest, with Margaret and Walter; at the inn since his mother married Stephen Brewer on 14 January 1354.

Who they are

A small, watchful boy with a dark thatch of hair, thinner since February. Says little to anyone outside the house and keeps most things to himself.
Jealous of what he thinks is his: his mother's lap, his mud-worn wooden horse, the warm place by the inn fire. Goes stiff and stares at anyone who touches them.
A cough most of the winter, worse in a draught and at night. On 13 February a fever put him to bed for twelve days, with his mother abed with her own cough at the same time, and Joan sat with him and sang him to sleep. He was up on 25 February and ate Margaret's fish bones the same day. Since the first of March the cough's back and rattles at night, but he's up and about, and he won't be kept on the pallet.
Good at sitting still and watching. Still knows the forge's rhythm, the two taps on the anvil and then the work, and taps it on the bench at the inn though the forge has been cold since the wedding.
Scolded for creeping near the fire, for hiding other people's small things, and for going silent when asked where something is.

His mother's singing, low. Since the fever, Joan's too.
Small iron things: a nail, a ring, a bent hook. He kept them in a hole by the old door post, and he's looking for a new hole at the inn.
Margaret's little iron horse on the shelf, the thing he wants most in the world. After it, the carved hen Stephen gave him, which Mam says looks like a dog.
Fish bones from the roach Margaret brings home; he sucks them clean.
Walter coming back from Sir John's.

Two or three words at a time, and talks about himself by name: "Hugh's horse." "Hugh do it." "Where Mam?" "Wat gone?" Says "no" and "mine" more than anything.
Points and stares rather than ask strangers, and answers questions with a long look. Coughs and then says "not," meaning he isn't.
Chatters more with Margaret than anyone, when nobody else is listening.
Called: little Hugh.

The daily round (3 more)

25 February Hugh Smith is up again after a fever.
23 December Hugh of Thornbury, a minstrel with a fiddle, working the inns between the fairs, and Richard of Thornbury, who plays with Hugh, on the pipe, came in from the road and lodged the night at the inn.
30 September The Smiths keep the forge: Elena (31), Margaret (8), Walter (6), Hugh (2).