Orley Farm (Serial)/Chapter 67
CHAPTER XXVII.
MR. MOULDER BACKS HIS OPINION.
As the day of the trial drew nigh, the perturbation of poor John Kenneby's mind became very great. Moulder had not intended to frighten him, but had thought it well to put him up to what he believed to be the truth. No doubt he would be badgered and bullied. 'And,' as Moulder said to his wife afterwards, 'wasn't it better that he should know what was in store for him?' The consequence was, that had it been by any means possible, Kenneby would have run away on the day before the trial.
But it was by no means possible, for Dockwrath had hardly left him alone for an instant. Dockwrath at this time had crept into a sort of employment in the case from which Matthew Round had striven in vain to exclude him. Mr. Round had declared once or twice that if Mr. Mason encouraged Dockwrath to interfere, he, Round, would throw the matter up. But professional men cannot very well throw up their business, and Round went on, although Dockwrath did interfere, and although Mr. Mason did encourage him. On the eve of the trial he went down to Alston with Kenneby and Bolster; and Mr. Moulder, at the express instance of Kenneby, accompanied them.
'What can I do? I can't stop the fellow's gab,' Moulder had said. But Kenneby pleaded hard that some friend might be near him in the day of his trouble, and Moulder at last consented.
'I wish it was me,' Mrs. Smiley had said, when they talked the matter over in Great St. Helens; 'I'd let the barrister know what was what when he came to knock me about.' Kenneby wished it also, with all his heart.
Mr. Mason went down by the same train, but he travelled by the first class. Dockwrath, who was now holding his head up, would have gone with him, had he not thought it better to remain with Kenneby. 'He might jump out of the carriage and destroy himself,' he said to Mr. Mason.
'If he had any of the feelings of an Englishman within his breast,' said Mason, 'he would be anxious to give assistance towards the punishment of such a criminal as that.
'He has only the feelings of a tomtit,' said Dockwrath.
Lodgings had been taken for the two chief witnesses together, and Moulder and Dockwrath shared the accommodation with them. As they sat down to tea together, these two gentlemen doubtless felt that Bridget Bolster was not exactly fitting company for them. But the necessities of an assize week, and of such a trial as this, level much of these distinctions, and they were both prepared to condescend and become affable.
'Well, Mrs. Bolster, and how do you find yourself?' asked Dockwrath.
Bridget was a solid, square-looking woman, somewhat given to flesh, and now not very quick in her movements. But the nature of her past life had given to her a certain amount of readiness, and an absence of that dread of her fellow-creatures which so terribly afflicted poor Kenneby. And then also she was naturally not a stupid woman, or one inclined to me muddle-headed. Perhaps it would be too much to say that she was generally intelligent, but what she did understand, she understood thoroughly.
'Pretty well, I thank you, Mr. Dockwrath. I sha'n't be so sorry to have a bit of something to my tea.'
Bridget Bolster perfectly understood that she was to be well fed when thus brought out for work in her country's service. To have everything that she wanted to eat and drink at places of public entertainment, and then to have the bills paid for her behind her back, was to Bridget Bolster the summit of transitory human bliss.
'And you shall have something to your tea,' said Dockwrath. 'What's it to be?'
'A steak's as good as anything at these places,' suggested Moulder.
'Or some ham and eggs,' suggested Dockwrath.
'Kidneys is nice,' said Bridget.
'What do you say, Kenneby?' asked Dockwrath.
'It is nothing to me,' said Kenneby; 'I have no appetite. I think I'll take a little brandy-and-water.'
Mr. Moulder possessed the most commanding spirit, and the steak was ordered. They then made themselves as comfortable as circumstances would admit, and gradually fell into a general conversation about the trial. It had been understood among them since they first came together, that as a matter of etiquette the witnesses were not to be asked what they had to say. Kenneby was not to divulge his facts in plain language, nor Bridget Bolster those which belonged to her; but it was open to them all to take a general view of the matter, and natural that at the present moment they should hardly be able to speak of anything else. And there was a very divided opinion on the subject of the dispute; Dockwrath, of course, expressing a strong conviction in favour of a verdict of guilty, and Moulder being as certain of an acquittal. At first Moulder had been very unwilling to associate with Dockwrath; for he was a man who maintained his animosities long within his breast; but Dockwrath on this occasion was a great man, and there was some slight reflection of greatness on the associates of Dockwrath; it was only by the assistance of Dockwrath that a place could be obtained within the court, and, upon the whole, it became evident to Moulder that during such a crisis as this the society of Dockwrath must be endured.
'They can't do anything to one if one do one's best?' said Kenneby, who was sitting apart from the table while the others were eating.
'It aint what they do, but what they say,' said Moulder; 'and then everybody is looking at you. I remember a case when I was young on the road; it was at Nottingham. There had been some sugars delivered, and the rats had got at it. I'm blessed if they didn't ask me backwards and forwards so often that I forgot whether they was seconds or thirds, though I'd sold the goods myself. And then the lawyer said he'd have me prosecuted for perjury. Well, I was frightened, I could not stand in the box. I aint so green now by a good deal.'
'I'm sure you're not, Mr. Moulder,' said Bridget, who well understood the class to which Moulder belonged.
'After that I met that lawyer in the street, and was ashamed to look him in the face. I'm blessed if he didn't come up and shake hands with me, and tell me that he knew all along that his client hadn't a leg to stand on. Now I call that beautiful.'
'Beautiful!' said Kenneby.
'Yes, I do. He fought that battle just as if he was sure of winning, though he knew he was going to lose. Give me the man that can fight a losing battle. Anybody can play whist with four by honours in his own hand.'
'I don't object to four by honours either,' said Dockwrath; 'and that's the game we are going to play to-morrow.'
'And lose the rubber after all,' said Moulder.
'No, I'm blessed if we do, Mr. Moulder. If I know anything of my own profession———'
'Humph!' ejaculated Moulder.
'And I shouldn't be here in such a case as this if I didn't;—but if I do, Lady Mason has no more chance of escape than—than—than that bit muffin has.' And as he spoke the savoury morsel in question disappeared from the fingers of the commercial traveller.
For a moment or two Moulder could not answer him. The portion of food in question was the last on his plate; it had been considerable in size, and required attention in mastication. Then the remaining gravy had to be picked up on the blade of the knife, and the particles of pickles collected and disposed of by the same process. But when all this had been well done, Moulder replied—
'That may be your opinion, Mr. Dockwrath, and I dare say you may know what you're about.'
'Well; I rather think I do, Mr. Moulder.'
'Mine's different. Now when one gentleman thinks one thing and another thinks another, there's nothing for it in my mind but for each gentleman to back his own. That's about the ticket in this country, I believe.'
'That's just as a gentleman may feel disposed,' said Dockwrath.
'No it aint. What's the use of a man having an opinion if he won't back it? He's bound to back it, or else he should give way, and confess he aint so sure about it as he said he was. There's no coming to an end if you don't do that. Now there's a ten-pound note,' and Moulder produced that amount of the root of all evil; 'I'll put that in John Kenneby's hands, and do you cover it.' And then he looked as though there were no possible escape from the proposition which he had made.
'I decline to have anything to do with it,' said Kenneby.
'Gammon,' said Moulder; 'two ten-pound notes won't burn a hole in your pocket.'
'Suppose I should be asked a question about it to-morrow; where should I be then?'
'Don't trouble yourself, Mr. Kenneby,' said Dockwrath; 'I'm not going to bet.'
'You aint, aint you?' said Moulder.
'Certainly not, Mr. Moulder. If you understood professional matters a little better, you'd know that a professional gentleman couldn't make a bet as to a case partly in his own hands without very great impropriety.' And Dockwrath gathered himself up, endeavouring to impress a sense of importance on the two witnesses, even should he fail of doing so upon Mr. Moulder.
Moulder repocketed his ten-pound note, and laughed with a long, low chuckle. According to his idea of things, he had altogether got the better of the attorney upon that subject. As he himself put it so plainly, what criterion is there by which a man can test the validity of his own opinion if he be not willing to support it by a bet? A man is bound to do so, or else to give way and apologize. For many years he had insisted upon this in commercial rooms as a fundamental law in the character and conduct of gentlemen, and never yet had anything been said to him to show that in such a theory he was mistaken.
During all this Bridget Bolster sat there much delighted. It was not necessary to her pleasure that she should say much herself. There she was seated in the society of gentlemen and of men of the world, with a cup of tea beside her, and the expectation of a little drop of something warm afterwards. What more could the world offer to her, or what more had the world to offer to anybody? As far as her feelings went she did not care if Lady Mason were tried every month in the year! Not that her feelings towards Lady Mason were cruel. It was nothing to her whether Lady Mason should be convicted or acquitted. But it was much to her to sit quietly in her chair and have nothing to do, to eat and drink of the best, and be made much of; and it was very much to her to hear the conversation of her betters.
On the following morning Dockwrath breakfasted by appointment with Mr. Mason,—promising, however, that he would return to his friends whom he left behind him, and introduce them into the court in proper time. As I have before hinted, Mr. Mason's confidence in Dockwrath had gone on increasing day by day since they had first met each other at Groby Park, till he now wished that he had altogether taken the advice of the Hamworth attorney and put this matter entirely into his hands. By degrees Joseph Mason had learned to understand and thoroughly appreciate the strong points in his own case; and now he was so fully convinced of the truth of those surmises which Dockwrath had been the first to make, that no amount of contrary evidence could have shaken him. And why had not Round and Crook found this out when the matter was before investigated? Why had they prevented him from appealing to the Lord Chancellor when, through their own carelessness, the matter had gone against him in the inferior court? And why did they now, even in these latter days, when they were driven to reopen the case by the clearness of the evidence submitted to them,—why did they even now wound his ears, irritate his temper, and oppose the warmest feelings of his heart by expressing pity for this wicked criminal, whom it was their bounden duty to prosecute to the very utmost? Was it not by their faults that Orley Farm had been lost to him for the last twenty years? And yet young Round had told him, with the utmost composure, that it would be useless for him to look for any of those moneys which should have accrued to him during all those years! After what had passed, young Round should have been anxious to grind Lucius Mason into powder, and make money of his very bones! Must he not think, when he considered all these things, that Round and Crook had been wilfully dishonest to him, and that their interest had been on the side of Lady Mason? He did so think at last, under the beneficent tutelage of his new adviser, and had it been possible would have taken the case out of the hands of Round and Crook even during the week before the trial.
'We mustn't do it now,' Dockwrath had said, in his triumph. 'If we did, the whole thing would be delayed. By they shall be so watched that they shall not be able to throw the thing over. I've got them in a vice, Mr. Mason; and I'll hold them so tight that they must convict her whether they will or no.'
And the nature and extent of Mr. Dockwrath's reward had been already settled. When Lucius Mason should be expelled from Orley Farm with ignominy, he, Dockwrath, should become the tenant. The very rent was settled with the understanding that it should be remitted for the first year. It would be pleasant to him to have back his two fields in this way;—his two fields, and something else beyond! It may be remembered that Lucius Mason had once gone to his office insulting him. It would now be his turn to visit Lucius Mason at his domicile. He was disposed to think that such visit would be made by him with more effect than had attended that other.
'Well, sir, we're all right,' he said, as he shook hands with Mr. Mason of Groby; 'there's no screw loose that I can find.'
'And will that man be able to speak?' Mr. Mason was alluding to John Kenneby.
'I think he will, as corroborating the woman Bolster. That's all we shall want. We shall put up the woman first; that is, after I have done. I don't think they'll make much of her, Mr. Mason.'
'They can't make her say that she signed two deeds if she is willing to tell the truth. There's no danger, you think, that she's been tampered with,—that she has taken money.'
'No, no; there's been nothing of that.'
'They'd do anything, you know,' said Mr. Mason. 'Think of such a man as Solomon Aram! He's been used to it all his life, you know.'
'They could not do it, Mr. Mason; I've been too sharp on them. And I tell you what,—they know it now. There isn't one of them that doesn't know we shall get a verdict.' And then for a few minutes there was a silence between the two friends.
'I'll tell you what, Dockwrath,' said Mr. Mason, after a while; 'I've so set my heart upon this—upon getting justice at last—that I do think it would kill me if I were to be beaten. I do, indeed. I've known this, you know, all my life; and think what I've felt! For twenty-two years, Dockwrath! By ———! in all that I have read I don't think I ever heard of such a hardship! That she should have robbed me for two-and-twenty years!—And now they say that she will be imprisoned for twelve months!'
'She'll get more than that, Mr. Mason.'
'I know what would have been done to her thirty years ago, when the country was in earnest about such matters. What did they do to Fauntleroy?'
'Things are changed since then, aint they?' said Dockwrath, with a laugh. And then he went to look up his flock, and take them into court. 'I'll meet you in the hall, Mr. Mason, in twenty minutes from this time.'
And so the play was beginning on each side.