Don Gutteridge - Minor Corruption

Dear Uncle:

Thank you for the five-pound note. It’s

a lifesaver and you are an angel. I love you.

XOXOX

Betsy

p.s. See you at Spadina

Oh dear, Cobb thought. This complicates things. Onthe face of it, this letter was a thank-you note that Betsy meantto give to Uncle Seamus for his generosity. But the “uncle,” inconjunction with “Spadina” and her death-bed cry of “Seamus,”pointed towards only one person who would answer to all threereferences. And it sure looked as if there had been a five-poundnote, one that had passed from benefactor to pregnant girl toabortionist. Cobb had no choice now. He would have to interviewSeamus Baldwin. He returned to the night-table and opened thesecond drawer: there could be more. But there wasn’t. In it hefound a rabbit’s foot, a sling-shot, several marbles and half adozen Indian arrowheads. An odd collection, he thought, for agirl.

He went back into the kitchen, where Auleenwas sitting upright with a mug of tea clasped in all tenfingers.

“I’m goin’ to talk to yer husband, ma’am, butfirst I need to go over to Spadina. I got reason to believe SeamusBaldwin may be mixed up in this unhappy business. It’s way toosoon, though, to conclude he was a seducer and a rapist.”

“I just want us to be left alone,” she said,setting her tea aside, “but if that man did do it, I’d like to seehim punished.”

“So would I, ma’am.”

At the door he turned and said, “I found abunch of things in Betsy’s room that looked more like the keepsakesof a lad than a lass.”

Auleen smiled wanly. “Oh, them things belongto my son Tim. He and Betsy shared that room when they were bothchildren. Tim’s only four years older.”

“But he don’t live here any more?”

“He run off and got married at the end ofJuly.”

“And you had an older girl?”

Auleen’s eyes narrowed. “We did. Lottie. Shewas a wild one. Seven years older’n Tim. She run away yearsago.”

“So Betsy was yer last?”

Auleen nodded. “There’s nobody now but me andBurton. We’re all alone.”

***

A few rods back from the road, Cobb noticed someoneworking at the weir that served the mill. He tethered the horse andwalked towards the figure, who stopped hammering at some lowersection of the little dam and watched him approach.

“You Burton Thurgood?”

“I am. And you must be one of the bobbies.”Thurgood stepped up onto a platform.

“I want to talk to you about the charge youmade against Seamus Baldwin,.” Cobb said evenly. “I’ve been askedto investigate and make a report.”

“Then why ain’t you over at Spadina doin’ yerjob? I already told yer chief what happened Friday night and what Iheard.”

“I need to hear it from the horse’s mouth.Soon as I do, I plan on headin’ over to talk to Mr. Baldwin.”

Thurgood, whose expression veered as close toa sneer as he dared, said, “I’ll believe it when I see it. I don’treally expect them swells to admit anythin’ to the likes ofyou.”

Cobb bristled, but kept his temper. “Maybeso. But I still need to hear what you got to say – fer myreport.”

Thurgood grunted, and while Cobb took out hisnotebook and pretended to scribble in it, Thurgood gave Cobb anaccount of what happened that was not materially different fromthat of his wife’s, except in the pugnacity of its tone. Cobb haddeliberately neglected to tell him he had already heard it fromAuleen. The jibing of the two accounts confirmed the need for himto continue on to Spadina, as unpleasant as that might prove tobe.

Cobb thanked Thurgood and turned toleave.

“Yer chief told me to come in and check onthat report at seven o’clock this evenin’,” Thurgood saidpointedly. “I’ll be there.”

I’ll try not to be , Cobb thought. Andheaded for his buggy.

***

“It’s good to hear you laugh again, Uncle,” Robertsaid.

“That lass makes me do it, even when ithurts,” Uncle Seamus said, absent-mindedly putting the dominoesback in their box.

“It’s a sad time for all of us. Father and Iloved Betsy like one of our own.”

“You have other children.”

“And without them I’d never have survivedElizabeth’s death in ‘thirty-six. I trust you’ll lean on us and onEdie and the other servants to help you over this hurdle.”

“She was so young. And full of promise. Sheneeded someone to talk to. As I did.”

Robert was pleased to hear his uncle talkingof his loss. It was the first direct reference he had made to itsince Betsy’s death.

“I’ll have Miss Partridge see that Edie’sduties are lightened for a while so she can help cheer you upwhenever you wish to have her do so.”

“She’s a pretty little thing with a wickedsense of fun, but she’s not Betsy. Thank you, though, for thatthought. I don’t wish to seem ungrateful to you or William. I knowyou’re doing all you can to help. Perhaps in a week or two I’llfeel up to chambers again.”

“Whenever you say.”

“And I know you’re needed in many other partsof the province.”

“I’m not leaving until I’m sure you’re goingto be all right.”

“Your dad and Chalmers can look after myphysical and spiritual needs. Please, go ahead and arrange yourtrip to London as you planned.”

“Do you wish to stay here and read, or do youwant me to have Chalmers fetch Edie back?”

Uncle Seamus, having played the role so oftenand for so long, had evolved a jester’s face: when it smiled everycrevice and plane smiled in concert with his vivid blue eyes; butwhen it frowned, every wrinkle and rosy patch sagged in sympathy.At this moment, his smile was struggling to maintain itself. “HaveEdie come back in. I promised to let her win.”

Robert had put off the inevitable longenough. “I will, Uncle,” he said “but there is something I musttell you, even though it may upset you.”

“I can’t think of anything that would upsetme more than I have been.”

“It has to do with Betsy.”

“Oh?” Was it fear or merely a twinge offurther pain in his eyes?

“There’s no way to lead up to this, so I’mgoing to say it directly. Burton Thurgood claims that his daughternamed you as the father of her babe.”

The colour drained from the old man’s face,then returned immediately as he began to laugh – a dry, mirthless,bitter laugh. Finally he was able to speak. “That’s absurd,” hesaid more calmly than Robert would have imagined in thecircumstances. “I was her ‘uncle’ and she was my precious little‘niece.’”

“I agree wholeheartedly. But three witnessesheard her reply ‘Seamus’ to the question ‘Who is the father of yourchild?’. One of the witnesses was Dora Cobb, the midwife.”

“But Betsy would have been delirious. She’dbeen butchered by that witch.”

“Exactly what I said to Thurgood when he camehere yesterday looking for money in exchange for his silence.”

“I trust you sent him packing!” Some fire hadcome back into the old man’s face, a slight re-animation of thelaugh-lines. Robert began once more to hope that his uncle’srecovery was beginning. Certainly this conversation was going a lotbetter than he’d expected

“He threatened to take his case to thepolice, Uncle, but I don’t imagine they would act on such a flimsyaccusation. If he does and they do, I’ve a mind to report theattempted extortion.”

“Be kind,” Uncle Seamus said. “They’vesuffered dreadfully over there.”

At this point there came a tap at the doorand Chalmers half-entered.

“There’s a Constable Cobb at the door, sir.He is asking to see Mr. Seamus.” Chalmers raised his eyebrows in aquizzical gesture that implied an impertinence had been approachedbut his response remained uncertain.