Bruce Alexander - Smuggler's Moon

“It is sir,” said I, properly humble.

“I take it you were present during Mr. Curtin’s appearance?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Well, shut the door and seat yourself. Let us talk about this.”

I did as he said, and once I was settled, he resumed.

“Jeremy, we who have to do with the law must keep a firm hand upon ourselves. Now, we discussed your slip with Henry Curtin. You know you did wrong, so there is no need to repeat what was said. I’m confident you will not repeat that error. But I have had reason during the last day or two to question myself. As a personal favor to me, John Bilbo sailed in with his crew and saved us there on Goodwin Sands. We could not have won the day without him, his sloop, and his cannon. Then yesterday, he asked, as a personal favor to him, if I might put Lady Grenville in his charge that she might not be forced to languish in Newgate Gaol awaiting her trial-or her rescue by the French ambassador. I allowed it. I pray God that I am not given reason to regret granting that favor.

“And you saw the Lord Chief Justice himself bend law and legal practice for personal reasons. He denied my recommendation for leniency to that fellow Potter simply because Sir Simon’s father had been his friend. The judge who had condemned hundreds to death could not bear thus to condemn a murderer whom he had held as a baby.

“We all have our weaknesses, and perhaps it is just that we should. Justice may be blind, but you may believe me, blindness is an affliction and only rarely an advantage. If you-”

A knock sounded upon the door.

“That will be Mr. Marsden. Go now, Jeremy. We may talk about this again sometime-and then again, we may not.”

As an addendum to this, let me say that Lord Mansfield regained at least some of his resolve, for Sir Simon was tried along with the rest of his crew on a charge of smuggling, and no preferment was given him. He was sentenced to three years to be served in Newgate Gaol along with the rest. The French seamen were allowed to return to France through the diligent efforts of the French ambassador.

And Marie-Hélène, Lady Grenville? What of her?

Another time, perhaps.