"It is all over, Mr. William," he whispered. "The blow has fallen. After the things which came out in the Old Bailey there was no hope. It was all over the City at once and on Change in the afternoon. You will find him within. I fear you will find that he has been drinking. Go in, Sir, you must not pay any heed to what he says. He has been strange and unlike himself for a long time. No wonder with all these troubles." Thus did the faithful servant stand up for the credit of an unworthy master.
"Go in, Sir. He will insult you. But don"t mind what he says."
I went in. Matthew was evidently half drunk. He had a bottle of brandy before him, and he was drinking fast and furiously.
"Gaol-bird!" he cried, banging his fist on the table and talking thickly. "Newgate-bird--what do you want? Money? You all want money. You may go away then. I haven"t got any money. All the money"s gone. All the money"s lost." So he went on repeating his words, and maundering and forgetting one moment what he had said just before.
"Matthew," I said, "I have not come to ask for money or for anything. I have brought you news."
"What news? There is no news but bad news. Perhaps somebody has murdered Probus. Why don"t you murder Probus--murder--murder Probus?" I suffered him to go on in his foolish way without reply. "Do you know, Will," he lay back in his chair and plunged his hands in his pockets, "there is n.o.body I should like to see murdered so much as Probus--Ezekiel Probus, excepting yourself. If I could see both of you hanging side by side, I should be happy; but if I could see you both murdered with a bludgeon I could go--I could go--I could go to the King"s Bench cheerfully--cheerfully."
It was no use prolonging the interview. I told him, briefly, why I had come.
"Your wife," I said, "has had her house sacked and the whole of her property destroyed by the mob."
"I am glad of that--very glad to hear that. All of it destroyed you say?
This is good news indeed."
"She can no longer carry on her business at the Soho Square a.s.sembly Rooms. The property destroyed consists largely of furniture supplied for the use of the Rooms. It is not yet paid for. Therefore, she will be compelled to refer her creditors to you."
"Her creditors? Does this abandoned woman owe any money, then?"
"I believe about 30,000 is the sum of her liabilities."
He laughed. He laughed cheerfully, as if it was one of the merriest and heartiest jokes he had ever heard. "Is that all? Why, man, it"s nothing.
Put it on my back; and as much more as you please: as much as the Bank of England contains. Why, I can bear it all. Nothing makes any difference now. Tell her she is quite welcome to double it, if she can get the credit. It"s all one to me."
"That is what I came to tell you."
"Very good, gaol-bird. Probus very nearly succeeded, did he not? You felt a kind of a tightening about the neck, I suppose. Never mind. Don"t be disappointed. I dare say you will go to Tyburn after all. You are young yet, and then the fortune will come to me--and we shall see--we shall see"--he drank another gla.s.s of Nantes--"we shall see----What was I going to say?"
So I left him and went on my way to Newgate.
Jenny was in conference with her attorney.
"Come in, Will. I have no secrets from my cousin, Mr. Dewberry. Now, if you please, give me your opinion."
"First, then, if you plead Not Guilty--what can they prove against you?
That certain things were found in your garrets? How did they get there?
A wretched, revengeful drab says that your mother and sister put them there. Is her word to be believed? She is the sweetheart of a conspirator and presumably a highwayman, whom you have been instrumental in consigning to a prison, with probably a severe punishment to follow.
Where are your mother and sister? They are gone away? Where? You cannot be asked. But you do not know. Why? To escape the revenge of the mob who have wrecked their house. Very well. There the case ends--and breaks down."
"Not so. It does not break down. My mother has long been known as the greatest receiver in the trade. She bought more and sold more than anybody else. The Court dressmakers came to her to buy her lace and her embroidery for the great Court Ladies. Why, she is the most notorious woman in London. If I am acquitted, they will get up a Hue and Cry for her, and they will certainly find her. And then there isn"t a thief in prison or out who will not give evidence against her, after the evidence she has given against the thieves. And as for Doll--my sister"s name is Doll--in order to save her own skin, she will most certainly be ready to give evidence to the effect that I bought the things of my mother and paid for them. Which I did. As I told you."
"You never told me so. I don"t know that it matters much. I am only trying to see my way to an acquittal. And considering there is n.o.body but that woman to testify to the conveyance of the goods, really, I think there ought to be no doubt as to the result."
"Mr. Dewberry," Jenny laid her hand upon his arm. "Understand me. I have been kept down, all my life, by my origin. As soon as this business is over I shall try in some way or other to get clear away from them all--Oh! what an origin it is! Oh, how I have always envied the children of honest parents. Why--my father----"
"Dear lady, do not speak of these things."
"Well, then, my cousins--I mean those of them who are not yet hanged--live in the courts and blind alleys of St. Giles"s. I have no longer any patience with them--it makes me wretched to think of them, and it humiliates me to go among them because I have to become again one of them and I do it so easily. Well, Sir, I am what I am: yet strange as it may seem to you--I will not lend my help to getting my mother and sister hanged."
Mr. Dewberry took her hand and kissed it. "Proceed, Madame," he said gravely.
"If, then, I plead Guilty, the woman"s evidence will be received without any dispute or discussion, and when sentence is pa.s.sed, the case will be closed. No one, afterwards, will venture to charge my mother with that crime."
"I suppose not. But the sentence, Madame, the sentence!"
She shuddered. "I know what the sentence will be. But I am not afraid. I have friends who will come to my a.s.sistance."
In fact one of them appeared at that very moment. He was a gentleman of a singularly sweet and pleasant countenance, on which kindness, honour, and loyalty were stamped without the least uncertainty. He was dressed very finely in a satin coat and waistcoat, and he wore a sash and a star.
"Divine Jenny!" he said, taking her hand and kissing it. "Is it possible that I find thee in such a place and in such a situation as this?"
Jenny suffered her hand to remain in his. When I think of her and of her behaviour at this juncture I am amazed at her power of acting. She represented, not her own feelings, which were those of the greatest disgust towards her nearest relations (to whom one is taught to pay respect), but the feelings which she wished Lord Brockenhurst, and, through him, the world at large, should believe of her.
In her left hand she held a white lace handkerchief, scented with some delicate perfume: the woman was one of those who are never without some subtle fragrance which seemed to belong to her, naturally. This handkerchief she applied to her eyes--from time to time: they were dry, to my certain knowledge but the act was the outward semblance of weeping.
"My Lord," said Jenny, "this gentleman is my cousin--not of St.
Giles"s--my husband"s cousin--My husband, however, I cannot suffer to approach me. This other gentleman is Mr. Dewberry, of Great St. Thomas Apostle in the City of London, attorney at Law. They are considering my case with me. By your Lordship"s permission we will renew our conference in your presence. If, on the other hand, you would prefer to hear, alone, what I have to state, they will leave us."
"I am in your hands, Jenny," he kissed her hand again and let it go. "My sole desire is to be of service. Pray remember, Jenny, that whatever I promise I try to perform. All the service that I can render you in this time of trouble is at your command."
I placed a chair for him and looked to Jenny to begin.
She sat down and buried her face in her hands while we all waited.
"My Lord," she rose at last and continued standing, "I once told you--at a time when it was impossible to conceal anything from you, that I was originally an Orange Girl at the Theatre where you honoured me frequently by witnessing my humble performances."
"Say, rather, Jenny, inspired performances."
She bowed her head, like some queen. "If your Lordship pleases. I also told you that my parents were of the very lowest--so low that one can get no lower."
"You did."
"Now, my Lord, I am accused of receiving stolen property in my house, knowing the property to be stolen."
"Oh! Monstrous! Most monstrous!"
"My accuser is a girl whose sweetheart is now by my evidence and the evidence of others lying in this prison beside me, on a charge of conspiracy. With the girl it is an act of revenge. She would tell you as much. The mob, also in revenge for exposing a most diabolical plot, has wrecked and sacked my mother"s house in St. Giles"s and my own in Soho Square. They have destroyed all that I possessed. I am therefore ruined.
But that is nothing. On the stage we care very little about losing or gaining money. This woman has now brought a charge against me which I blush even to name."
"You have only to deny the charge, Jenny. There is not a man in London who would doubt the word of the incomparable Jenny Wilmot."
She bowed her head again. "I would I could think so."
She made as if she would go on; then stopped and hesitated, looking down as if in doubt and shame.
"My Lord, I will put the case to you quite plainly. Mr. Dewberry is of opinion that the result, if the matter is brought before the court will certainly be decided in my favour."