Colleen McCullough - Morgan’s Run

The news that Dick and Cousin James-the-druggist had brought was cheering, no denying that. Senhor Habitas was an unexpected ally-still writhing over the fact that it had been he who introduced Richard to Mr. Thomas Latimer, clearly. Poor man! What blame could be laid at his door? These things happen, thought Richard drowsily, closed his eyes and fell immediately into dreamless darkness.

Late inthe afternoon on the morrow Dick appeared alone with a sack of food and small beer over his shoulder.

“Jim is still at Cousin Henry’s chambers,” he explained as he squatted on his hunkers close enough to keep what he said private from all ears but those of the avidly eavesdropping Willy.

“It has not gone as we expected,” said Richard flatly.

“Yes.” Dick clenched his hands and gritted his teeth. “You are not to be tried in Bristol, Richard. Ceely Trevillian lodged his suit with the authorities in Gloucester on the ground that the crime occurred in Clifton, and therefore outside Bristol’s borders. Your detention in our Newgate is temporary-only until the papers are officially approved and the witnesses’ testimony processed, whatever that means.” He waved his hands about wildly. “My head is ringing with legal talk! I do not understand it-I never have understood it-and I never will understand it!”

Richard leaned his head against the blackened wall and gazed beyond his father’s hunched form to the pissy horse trough and the four disgusting privies. “Well,” he said at last through a tight throat, “be all that as it may, Father, I have some more urgent needs.” He gestured toward his feet. “First of all, I must have rags to pad these irons. One day, and my stockings have worn through. Tomorrow it will be my skin, and the day after that, my flesh. If I am to come out of this-and I swear I will!-I must keep my good health. As long as I can drink small beer and eat bread, cheese, meat and fruit or green vegetables, I will not suffer.”

“They will send ye to Gloucester Castle,” said Dick, lips quivering. “I do not know a soul in Gloucester.”

“Nor does any other Morgan, I suspect. What a clever fellow is this Ceely Trevillian! And how much he wants me down. Is it for the excise fraud and his neck, or because I derided him as a man?” He shook his head, smiled. “Both, probably.”

“I heard a rumor,” said Dick doubtfully.

“Tell me, Father. My weeping days are over, you need not be afraid that I will shame ye,” said Richardly gently.

His father’s face reddened. “Well, it came to me through Davy Evans, my new rum distiller- beautiful drop, Richard! He told me that the trade is saying that Cave and Thorne went to Trevillian the moment they heard about your rumpus in Clifton, and asked him to prosecute you and Willy. You and I know that Trevillian is actively involved in the excise fraud, but the trade is ignorant of that, and has made the connection a different way. Davy Evans says Cave and Thorne want you and Willy convicted felons before the excise case can come to court. Then there is no case, for felons cannot testify. Furthermore, Cave has been to see the Commander of Excise-your Benjamin Fisher’s brother, John-it is all in the family, as usual-and offered to make a sixteen-hundred-pound restitution. The Brothers Fisher are of course aware that you and Willy have been arrested and know perfectly well why Trevillian is doing this, but there is absolutely no proof.”

“So we are to be convicted felons disbarred from testifying.”

Willy began to howl like a dismal dog; Richard swung around with one of those lightning moves that defied sight and grasped his arm so hard that he squealed shrilly.

“Shut up, Willy! Shut up! Cry one more tear and irons or no, I will kick you to the other end of this establishment- and leave ye to die of fever!”

Dick gaped. Willy shut up.

Just as well, thought the stunned Dick, that Cousin James-the-druggist chose that moment to appear, lugging a wooden box the size of a small trunk. Otherwise, what was there to say to a stranger?

“A few things for you, Richard, but later,” the newcomer said, putting the box on the floor with a grunt. His eyes shone liquid with tears. “It looks worse and worse for you.”

“That comes as no surprise, Cousin James.”

“The Law is so peculiar, Richard! I confess I had no idea what it says or does beyond my own small part in the scheme of things, and I suppose that is true for everybody, especially the poor.” He held out his hand to Richard, who took it and found its grip convulsive. “You have almost no rights, especially outside the bounds of Bristol. Cousin Henry has tried and both the Reverend James and I have seen every important man we know, but the Law says that we cannot get a glimpse of Ceely’s sworn statement, nor even know the names of his witnesses. It is shocking, shocking! I had hoped to post bail, but bail is not granted for crimes ranked as felonies, and ye’re charged with”-he gulped, swallowed-“grand larceny and extortion! Both are capital crimes-Richard, ye could hang!”

“Well,” said Richard tiredly, “I brought it all upon myself, though ’twould be interesting to know what Ceely has sworn about extortion. He offered a wronged husband a note of hand as an out-of-court settlement. Or is he now saying I am not a husband and so extorted under false pretenses? If I call her my wife, then she is my wife under the Common Law unless I already have a wife, which I do not. That much I do know about the Law.”

“We have no idea what he has sworn,” said Dick hollowly.

“The first thing we must do is lay hands on Annemarie Latour. She can verify my story when I tell it in court.”

“Ye’re not allowed to testify on your own behalf, Richard,” said Cousin James-the-druggist quietly. “The accused is bound to silence, he is not allowed to tell his side of the story. All he may do in his defense is produce character witnesses and-if he can afford it-retain counsel to cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses. His counsel cannot examine him, nor introduce any new evidence. As for the woman-she has disappeared. By rights she ought to be in the women’s section of the Newgate equally charged, but she is not. Her rooms in Clifton have been vacated, and no one seems to know whereabouts she went.”

“What a place is England, and how little we know of how it works until it touches us,” said Richard. “Am I not even allowed to have my counsel read out a sworn statement to the jury?”

“No. You may speak only in reply to a direct question from the judge, and then you must confine your answer entirely to it.”

“What about finding Annemarie through Mrs. Herbert Barton?”

“There is no Mrs. Herbert Barton.”

Willy Insell emitted a loud sob.

“Do not, Willy,” said Richard softly. “Just-do-not.”

“It is diabolical!” Dick cried, borrowing a Dissenter word.

“To sum up, then, we have no idea how Ceely is going to go about prosecuting me, nor who his witnesses are, nor what they will say,” said Richard levelly. “And all of it is going to take place in Gloucester, forty miles away.”

“That is the sum of it,” said Cousin James-the-druggist.

For as much as a minute Richard sat silent, chewing his lower lip, in thought rather than in anxiety. Then he shrugged. “That is for the future,” he said. “In the meantime I have urgent needs. Rags to pad my fetters. Rags for washing. And rags for wiping my arse.” His face contorted. “I will launder the last under the water pipe and use them damp if I have to. These poor creatures are too far gone to have much energy for stealing, but I doubt my rags would survive being hung up to dry. I will have to pay one of the gaolers to cut off my hair. I want soap. Changes of some clothing every few days-shirts, stockings, underdrawers. And clean rags, always clean rags. Plus money enough to drink small beer. That water over there comes out of the Pugsley’s Well pipe, I would bet, and will not be fit for drinking. So many in here are sick.” He drew a breath. “I know this means I will cost ye money, but I swear that the moment I am free, I will begin to pay it back.”