A Newgate fit was on me; that is, a fit of despondency which is almost despair. All the inmates of Newgate know what it means; the rattling of the irons; the recollection of the trial to come; a word that jars; and the Newgate shuddering seizes a man and shakes him up and down till it is spent. Jenny made me drink a gla.s.s of wine. The fit pa.s.sed away.
"I feel," I said at last, "as if the rope was already round my neck. My poor Alice! My poor child! Thou wilt be the son of a highwayman and a Tyburn bird. To the third and fourth generation ..."
"I know nothing about generations," Jenny interrupted. "All I know is that you are going to be saved. Why, man, consider. Probus knows nothing about me; these conspirators know nothing about Madame Vallance; none of them have the least suspicion; and must not have: that you know Jenny of the Black Jack. Now I shall try to get a case as to the conspiracy clear without attacking the loyalty of the gang to each other. I have thought of such a plan. And I know an attorney. You have seen him. He is tolerably honest. He shall advise us--I will send him here. Be of good cheer, Will. I go to fetch Alice. Put on a smiling countenance to greet her. Come, you are a man. Lift the drooping spirit of the woman who loves you. Keep up her heart if not your own."
She came back at about five: the day was already over; the yards and courts of the Prison were already dark. My cell was lit with a pair of candles when Jenny brought Alice and her brother Tom to see me.
Alice, poor child! fell into my arms and so lay for a long time, unable to speak for the sobs that tore her almost in pieces, yet unwilling to let me see her weakness.
Tom--the good fellow--a.s.sumed the same air of cheerfulness which he had learned to show in the King"s Bench. He sniffed the air approvingly. He looked round with pretended satisfaction. "Ha!" he said, "this place hath been misrepresented. The room is convenient, if small; the furniture solid: the air is not so close as one might expect. For a brief residence--a temporary residence--a man might ... might--I say--"
He cleared his throat; the tears came into his eyes: he sank into a chair. "Oh! Will ... Will," he cried, breaking down, and unable to pretend any longer.
Then no one spoke. Indeed all our hearts were full.
"It is not so much on your account, Will," said Jenny--I observed that she wore a domino, and indeed, she never came to the prison after the first visit without a domino, a precaution by no means unusual, because ladies might not like to be seen in Newgate, and in any case it might arouse suspicions if Jenny were recognised. "I say it is not on your account, so much as for the sake of this dear creature. Madam--Alice--I implore you--take courage; we have the proofs of the conspiracy in our hands. It is a black and h.e.l.lish plot. The only difficulty is as to the best means of using our knowledge, and here, I confess, for the moment, I am not certain--"
Alice recovered herself and stood up, holding my hand. "I cannot believe," she said, "that such wickedness as this will be permitted to succeed. It would bring shame and sorrow on children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
"You all talk about generations," said Jenny. "For my part I think of you that are alive, not those who are to come. Well, so far it has not succeeded. For the conspirators are known to me and I am Will"s cousin--and this they know not."
They stayed talking till nine o"clock when visitors had to leave the Prison. Jenny cheered all our hearts. She would hear of no difficulties: all was clear: all was easy: she had the conspirators in her power.
To-morrow she would return with her honest and clever attorney. So Alice went away with a lighter heart, and I was left for the night alone in my cell with a gleam of hope. In the morning that gleam left me, and the day broke upon the place of gloom and brought with it only misery and despair.
In the forenoon Jenny returned with her attorney. He was the man who had already acted for me. His name was Dewberry; he was possessed of a manner easy and a.s.sured, which inspired confidence: in face and figure he was attractive, and he betrayed no eagerness to possess himself of his client"s money. I observed also, at the outset, that, like all the rest he was the servant (who would, if he could, become the lover) of Jenny.
"Now, Mr. Halliday," he said, "I have heard some part of your story from Madame Vallance. I want, next, to hear your own version." So I told it, while he listened gravely, making notes.
"It is certainly," he said, "a very strong point that your death would give Probus the chance of recovering his money. Your cousin could then pay him off, if he wished, in full. Whether he would do so is another question. If bankruptcy arrives and finds you still living, all the creditors would be considered together. Madame," he turned to Jenny, "you who have so fine a head for management, let us hear your opinion."
"I think of nothing else," she said. "Yet I cannot satisfy myself. I have thought that my sister Doll might warn the Captain that both he and the Bishop would be exposed in Court. But what would happen? They would instantly go off with the news to Merridew. And then? An information against Doll and my mother for receiving stolen goods. And what would happen then? You know very well, Mr. Dewberry. They would have to buy their release by forbidding the exposure! Why, they are the most notorious receivers living. Or, suppose Doll plainly told them that her sister Jenny knew the whole case--they don"t know at present--at least, I think not--where I am--but they can easily find out--that I knew the whole case and meant to expose them. What would happen next? Murder, my masters. I should be found on my bed with my throat cut, and a letter to show that it was done by one of my maids."
"Jenny, for Heaven"s sake, do not run these risks."
"Not if I can help it, Will. Do you know what I think of--besides? It is a doubt whether Matthew would be more rejoiced to see the conspiracy succeed and you put out of the way, or to witness the conviction of Probus for conspiracy."
"Softly--softly, Madam," said the attorney; "we are a long way yet from the trial, even, of Mr. Probus."
"Jenny," I said, "your words bring me confidence."
"If you feel all the confidence that there is in Newgate it will not be enough, Will, for the confidence that you ought to have. But we must work in silence. If our friends only knew what we are talking here, why then--the Lord help the landlady of the Black Jack and her two daughters, Jenny and Doll!"
"You must be aware, Sir," said Mr. Dewberry, "that it is absolutely necessary for us to preserve silence upon everything connected with your defence. You must not communicate any details upon the subject to your most intimate friends and relations."
"He means Alice," said Jenny.
"We must have secrecy."
"You may trust a man whose life is at stake."
"Yes. Now the princ.i.p.al witnesses are the pretended Divine and the pretended country gentleman. They rest in the a.s.surance that none of their friends will betray them. We must see what can be done. If we prove that your Irish Divine is a common rogue we make his evidence suspected, but we do not prove the conspiracy. The fellow might brave it out, and still swear to the attempted robbery. Then as to the other worthy, we may prove that he is a notorious rogue. Still he may swear stoutly to his evidence. We must prove, in addition, that these two rogues are known to each other--"
"That can be proved by any who were in the King"s Bench Prison with them--"
"And we must connect them with Probus and Merridew."
"I can prove that as well," said Jenny. "That is, if--"
She paused.
"If your witnesses will give evidence. Madam, I would not pour cold water on your confidence--but--will your witnesses go into the box?"
Jenny smiled. "I believe," she said, "that I can fill the Court with witnesses."
"I want more than belief--I want certainty."
"There is another way," said Jenny. "If we could let Mr. Probus understand that the sudden and unexpected appearance of a new set of creditors would force on Bankruptcy immediately--"
Mr. Dewberry interposed hastily. "Madam, I implore you. There is no necessity at all. Sir, this lady would actually sacrifice her own fortune and her future prospects in your cause."
"For his safety and for his life--everything."
"I a.s.sure you, dear Madam, there is no need. Your affairs want only patience, and they will adjust themselves. To throw them also upon your husband"s other liabilities would not help this gentleman. For this reason. There are a thousand tricks and subtleties which a man of Mr.
Probus"s knowledge may employ for the postponement of bankruptcy until after the trial of our friend here. You know not the resources of the law in a trained hand. I mean that, supposing Mr. Probus to reckon on the success of this conspiracy--in which I grieve to find a brother in the profession involved; he may cause these delays to extend until his end is accomplished or defeated. A man of the Law, Madam, has great powers."
I groaned.
"Another point is that, unless I am much mistaken, this conspiracy is intended to intimidate and not to be carried out. Mr. Probus will offer you, I take it, your liberty on condition of your yielding in the matter of that money."
"Never!" I declared. "I will die first!"
"Then it remains to be seen if he will carry the thing through."
So they went on arguing on this side and on that side: which line of action was best: which was dangerous: in the end, as you shall see, Jenny took the management of the case into her own hands with results which astonished Mr. Dewberry as well as the Court, myself, and the four heroes of the conspiracy.
Five weeks, I learned, would elapse before my case would be tried in Court. It was a long and a tedious time to contemplate in advance.
Meantime, I was kept in ignorance, for the most part, of what was being done. Afterwards I learned that Jenny carried on the work in secrecy, so that not only the conspirators might not have the least suspicion but that even Mr. Dewberry did not know what was doing until she placed the case complete, in his hands a few days before the trial. Jenny contrived all: Jenny paid for all: what the case cost her in money I never learned. She spared nothing, neither labour, nor travel, nor money.
Meantime I lived on now in hope, now in despondency: to go outside among my fellow prisoners was to increase the wretchedness of prison. Every morning Alice brought provisions for the day. Tom brought me my violin and music so that I was not without some consolations.
As I remember this gloomy period, I remember with thankfulness how I was stayed and comforted by two women, of whom one was a Saint: and the other was--well, Heaven forbid that I should call her a Sinner, in whom I never found the least blemish: but not, at least, a Christian. The first offered up prayers for me day and night, wrestling in prayer like Jacob, for the open manifestation of my innocence. Alice was filled with a sublime faith. The Lord whom she worshipped was very near to her. He would destroy His enemies; He would preserve the innocent; the wicked would be cast down and put to perpetual shame. Never have I witnessed a faith so simple and so strong. Yet to all seeming; to the conspirators themselves; I had not a single witness whom I could call in my defence: that a man was poor favoured the chance of his becoming a robber; that a brother-in-law, also a prisoner in the Rules, should be ready to say that I was incapable of such an action could not help. What could we allege against the clear and strong evidence that the four perjured villains would offer when they should stand up, and swear away my life?
"Have courage," said Alice, "Help cometh from the Lord. He will have mercy upon the child and--oh! Will--Will--He will have mercy upon the father of the child."
Mr. Dewberry came often. He had little to tell me. Jenny had gone away.
Jenny had not told him what she was doing. "Sir," he said, "but for the confidence I have in that incomparable woman and in her a.s.surances I should feel anxious. For as yet, and we are within a fortnight of the trial, I have not a single witness who can prove the real character of the pretended Divine and the pretended country gentleman. But since Madam a.s.sures us--" He produced his snuff-box and offered it-- "Why--then, Sir--in that case--I believe in the success of your defence."
CHAPTER X