"Hush," whispered Jenny, keeping me quiet again--for all the time I was longing to spring to my feet and to let loose a tongue of fiery eloquence. But to sit quite quiet and to say nothing was galling.
"Take it, Will, take it," said Tom. "If the gentleman can do what he promises, take it. Life and liberty--I say--before all."
"Sir," said Alice--her voice was gentle, but it was strong: her face was sweet, but it was firm. The man saw and listened--and misunderstood. I know the mind of my husband in this matter. For reasons which you understand, he will not speak to you. The money that was devised by his father to the survivor of the two--his cousin or himself--has always been accepted by him as a proof that at the end his father desired him to understand that he was not wholly unforgiven: that there was a loophole of forgiveness, but he did not explain what that was: that should my husband, who has no desire to see the death of his cousin, survive Mr. Matthew, he will receive the fortune as a proof that a life of hard and honest work has been accepted by his father in full forgiveness. Sir, my husband considers his father"s wishes as sacred.
Nothing--no pressure of poverty--no danger such as the present will ever make him consent to sign the doc.u.ment you have so often submitted to him."
"Then"--Mr. Probus put back his paper--"if this is your last word--remember--you have but a few days left. Nothing can save you--nothing--nothing--nothing. You have but a few days before you are condemned--a week or two more of life. Is this your last word?"
"It is our last word, Sir," said Alice.
"She is right--Will is right," cried Tom. "Hark ye--Mr. Attorney. There is foul play here. We may find it out yet, with the help of G.o.d. Shall I put him out of the door, Alice?"
"He will go of his own accord, Tom. Will you leave us, Sir?"
"Yes, I will leave you." He shook his long forefinger in my face. "Ha! I leave you to be hanged: you shall have your miserable neck twisted like a chicken, and your last thought shall be that you threw your life away--no--that by dying you give your cousin all."
So he flung out of the room and left us looking blankly at each other.
Then Jenny spoke.
"You did well, Will, to preserve silence in the presence of the wretch.
We all do well to preserve silence about your defence. You dear people.
I have counted up the cost. It will be more than at first I thought, because the case must be made complete, so complete that there can be no doubt I promise you." She took off her domino: her face was very pale: I remember now that there was on it an unaccustomed look of n.o.bility such as belongs to one who takes a resolution certain to involve her in great trouble and at the expense of self-sacrifice or martyrdom. "I promise you," she said, "that, cost what it may, the CASE SHALL BE COMPLETE."
CHAPTER XI
THE IMPENDING TRIAL
The time--the awful time--the day of Fate--drew nearer. Despite the a.s.surances both of Jenny and of her attorney there were moments when antic.i.p.ation and doubt caused agonies unspeakable. Sometimes I have thought that these agonies were cowardly: I should be ashamed of them: but no one knows, who has not suffered in the same way, the torture of feeling one"s self in the absolute power of a crafty conspiracy directed by a man as relentless as a weasel after a rabbit, or an eagle after a heron, not out of hatred or revenge, but after money, the only object of his life, the real spring of his wickedness. After my experience, I can briefly say, as David in his old age said, "Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great: but let me not fall into the hands of man."
Presently it wanted but a week: then six days, then five.
"You should now," said Mr. Dewberry, "prepare and write out your defence: that is to say, your own speech after the trial is over. Take no thought about the evidence; your counsel will cross-examine the witnesses against you; he will also examine those for you. Trust your counsel for doing the best with both. Heaven help two or three of them when Mr. Caterham has done with them." Mr. Caterham, K. C., our senior counsel, was reported to be the best man at the Old Bailey Bar; with him was Mr. Stanton, a young man still, quite young, but with a brain of fire and a front of bra.s.s. "You must not leave your defence to the eloquence of the moment, which may fail you. Write it down; write it plainly, fully and without pa.s.sion. State who you are; what your occupation; what your salary; what your rent; what your daily habits; we shall have called witnesses to establish all these points. Then tell the Court exactly what you have told me. Do not try to be eloquent or rhetorical. The plain facts, plainly told, will impress the Jury and will affect the Judge"s charge, far more than any flights of eloquence on your part. What the Judge wants is to get at the truth. Remember that. Behind his habitual severity of manner Mr. Justice Parker, who will try your case, is bent always upon discovering, if possible, the truth. Sit down, therefore, and relate the facts, exactly as they were.
Take care to marshal them in their best and most convincing manner. Many a good cause has been wasted by a careless and ignorant manner of presenting them. In your case first relate the facts as to the alleged a.s.sault. Next inform the Court who and what you are. Thirdly relate the circ.u.mstances of your relations with Mr. Probus. Fourthly state the reasons why he would profit by your death. Next, call attention to the conversation overheard by Mr. Ramage. Then show that he has on more than one occasion threatened you, and that he has actually imprisoned you in the King"s Bench in the hope of moving you. I think that you will have a very moving story to tell, supported, as it will be, by the evidence which has gone before. But you have no time to lose. Such a statement must not be put together in a hurry. When it is finished I will read it over and advise you."
What was important to me in this advice was the necessity of ordering, or marshalling the facts. To one not accustomed to English Composition such a necessity never occurred, and without such advice I might have presented a confused jumble, a muddled array, of facts not dependent one upon the other, the importance of which would have been lost. However, armed with this advice, I sat down, and after drawing up a schedule or list of divisions, or headings, or chapters, I set to work, trying to keep out everything but the facts. No one will believe how difficult a thing it is to stick to the mere facts and to put in nothing more.
Indignation carried me beyond control from time to time. I went out of my way to point to the villainy of Probus: I called the vengeance of Heaven upon him and his colleagues: I appealed to the unmerited sufferings of my innocent wife; to the shameful future of my innocent offspring--and to other matters of a personal kind all of which were ruthlessly struck out by the attorney; with the result that I had with me when I went into court as plain and clear a statement of a case as ever was presented by any prisoner. This statement I read and re-read until I knew it by heart: yet I was advised not to trust to memory but to take the papers into court and to seem to read. All this shows the care which was taken by our ever-watchful attorney, lest anything should happen to hinder the development of the case, as he intended and hoped.
Among other things he called upon Mr. Probus, nominally on account of another matter.
"I believe," he said, "that you are the attorney of Mr. Matthew Halliday?"
"I have that honour."
"Yes. I observed the fact in reading an affidavit of yours in connection with a case in which I am engaged for the defence, the case of Mr.
William Halliday, now in Newgate on a charge of highway robbery."
"Defence? He has, then, a defence?"
"A defence? Certainly he has a defence. And Counsel. We have engaged Mr.
Caterham, K. C., and Mr. Stanton, both of whom you probably know, as counsel for the defence. My dear Sir, we have a very good defence indeed. Let me see. You arrived on the spot, I observe, after the alleged attack was committed."
"Certainly. My affidavit and my evidence before Sir John, were only as to the ident.i.ty of the robber."
"Quite so. But we need not concern ourselves, here, with the defence of Mr. William Halliday. I come to speak about the affairs of Mr. Matthew."
"Well, sir? What about his affairs?"
"I hear that they are in a very bad way. Oh! Sir, indeed I do not wish to ask any questions. I only repeat what I hear in the City. It is there freely stated that the Firm is ruined: that their ships are sold: and that their business is gone."
"They are injurious and false reports."
"It is possible. I hope so. Meantime, however, I have come to communicate to you a matter which perhaps you do not know; but which it is important that you should know. The person chiefly concerned gives me permission to speak of it. Perhaps you do know it already. Perhaps your client has not concealed it from you. Do you, for instance, know that Mr. Matthew Halliday is a married man?"
Mr. Probus started. "Married?" he cried. "Married? No, certainly not."
"It is evident that you do not know your client"s private history. He has been married two years and more. He does not, however, cohabit with his wife. They are separated--by consent."
"Matthew married?"
"They are separated, I say. Such separation, however, does not release the husband from the liability of his wife"s debts."
"Has his wife--has Mrs. Matthew--contracted debts?" He looked very uneasy.
"His wife--she is a client of mine--has contracted very large debts. She may possibly make an arrangement with her creditors. But she may not. In the latter case, she will send them to your client who will hand them over to you. They will demand payment without delay. Failing payment they will take all the steps that the law permits--also without delay.
That is why I thought it best to communicate the facts to you. My client authorized me to do so."
Mr. Probus made no answer. He could not understand what this meant.
"If it is your interest to postpone bankruptcy, Mr. Probus, it may be wiser, for some reason or other, to force it on. I only came to tell you of this danger which threatens your client--not you, of course. But your client whose wife is mine."
Mr. Probus made at first no reply. He was thinking what this might mean.
He was, of course, too wary not to perceive that the threat of forcing on bankruptcy was part of the defence, though in an indirect manner.
"Have you," he asked presently, "any knowledge of the amount of these debts?"
"I believe they amount to over 40,000."
Mr. Probus groaned aloud.
"I thought I would prepare your mind for the blow which may happen any day. Let me see. The trial takes place next Wednesday--next Wednesday. I dare say the creditors will wait till after that event. Good-morning, Mr. Probus."
He was going away when Mr. Probus called him back.