Mistress of Darkness

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Mistress of Darkness Page 46

by Christopher Nicole


  ‘Keep down,' Sue snapped at her sons. 'Keep down.'

  'By God,' Robert shouted, as the carriage was surrounded by yelling humanity, and swung to and fro by hands on the body as well as on the wheels.

  'My good people,' Coke shouted, but his voice was lost in the din.

  Sue screamed, and the right side of the carriage was lifted bodily from the cobbles. For a moment it hung there, teetering on its left-hand wheels, while the people on that side ran in every direction, and those inside went tumbling across, desperately trying to save themselves. Then the entire vehicle fell over with a tremendous crash, and Paul jumped from the box with a wail of terror.

  The interior was filled with dust, but from the shouts and curses Matt estimated no harm was done to any of them. He groped for Sue, found her, and squeezed her hand. 'We'd best get the boys out,' he said.

  'Into that crowd?' She coughed and spat dust.

  'They'll not harm you, Sue. Nor the boys. Give me a hand, Manton. Are you all right, Robert?'

  'By God,' Robert said. 'By God. I'll have my whip to that scum if it is the last thing I do, by God. Couldn't they see the crest? Didn't they know it is the Hilton coach?'

  Coke was also coughing. 'I'm afraid they knew that best of all.'

  'Up you go, Manton,' Matt said, shouting to make himself heard above the din for the mob had once again gathered around the overturned equipage, and the frightened horses, still in the traces, were screaming with terror. 'I will pass up Mistress Huys.'

  Manton hesitated for just a moment, and then grasped the window and pulled himself up. Instantly there was an even louder howl of execration from the crowd, and stones started to fly. 'Quickly,' he begged.

  Sue reached her hands up for him to grasp the wrists; she had lost her hat and her hair was slowly untwining around her shoulders. The overseer seized her arms, and Matt held her round the thighs to lift her up. A moment later she sat beside the overseer, to be greeted by fresh shrieks of anger.

  'Tis the whore,' they bellowed. 'The Hilton whore.'

  'Stone the bitch,' came a woman's voice.

  'Keep the boys,' Sue shouted. 'We'll not get through.'

  Manton half turned, and thrust down a man who was trying to climb up the back of the coach.

  'Let me up there,' Robert shouted. 'By God, let me up.'

  There was a muffled explosion, and a cry from the overseer.

  'Got the bastard,' yelled a voice from the crowd. 'Now, for the woman.'

  'Oh, my God,' Sue cried, as Manton's head fell across her lap. She slipped from her perch, and Matt had to catch her as she tumbled into the coach. The sound of the second shot boomed across the morning.

  But now there came also the trill of a bugle call; the militia cavalry had turned out. With continued shouts of anger and disgust the mob started to disperse, hurling last stones at the carriage, but doing no damage to those within.

  'My God,' Sue gasped. 'They wanted to kill me.'

  'And Manton ... ?' Matt asked, still holding her close.

  'Is dead,' Coke said. 'May God rest his soul.'

  'By God,' Robert said. 'The scum. The unutterable scum. Hargrove,' he shouted at the lieutenant commanding the horse, who now appeared on the top of the coach, looking down at them. 'Did you ride them down?'

  'No, Mr. Hilton. But I dispersed them.'

  'We've a man murdered down here. And I shall bring charges of attempted murder against the scoundrel who fired on my sister.'

  The militia men put their shoulders against the coach and restored it to its wheels. Paul pulled the door open. 'You'll identify him?' asked the officer.

  Robert stepped down, glared at the empty, litter strewn square; there were loungers on each street corner, obviously recent members of the mob, but not identifiable. 'There must have been witnesses.'

  'None who'll testify,' Hargrove said. 'Why do you think we were available in force, Mr. Hilton? Kingston has been in a turmoil since the news of Hodge's arrest was received. The governor feared there'd be a riot.'

  'And when there was one, you were late in arriving.'

  'You asked for no escort, sir,' the officer insisted. 'And it was felt that to patrol the streets in force might have provoked the very strife we had hoped to avoid.'

  'They shot at me,' Sue said, stepping down, accompanied by her sons. Neither boy looked particularly afraid of their narrow escape.

  'My most humble apologies, Mistress Huys,' Hargrove said, raising his hat. 'But there is a deal of feeling about this matter. And look there.'

  They stared over the rooftops, at the smoke rising into the sky.

  'The chapel,' Coke cried. 'They have burned the chapel.'

  Now the crowd was again gathering on the far side of the square, hooting at the soldiery, but not at the moment using more than words as missiles.

  ‘I think we should seek shelter,' Hargrove suggested. 'The church is well gone. You'll not save it now. I will arrange to have Manton's body removed.'

  'What, run before that pack of rascals?' Robert demanded. 'You'll furnish me with a sword and a horse, Hargrove. I have no doubt Matt will also use one on such an occasion.'

  Hargrove shook his head. 'I cannot permit it, Mr. Hilton. My orders are to prevent strife, not encourage it. In this regard I must insist that you remove yourselves to the City Club, and I will discover when your vessel is ready to sail, and arrange you an escort. Supposing you still intend to travel.'

  'What do you mean?' Matt demanded, assisting Paul to regain their boxes from the ground.

  'Well, sir, as I understand it, your case is now lacking its principal witness. Some would say its only witness. And be sure your reception in Nevis will be hardly more friendly.'

  Matt glanced at Robert.

  'Be sure he is right,' Robert said. 'I'll not permit Sue to go, Matt. Nor should you even consider it.'

  'You'll not permit?' Sue demanded. 'And do you suppose I'll be in less danger here, seeing what happened today?'

  'Aye,' Robert said. 'You're right. You'll go to Rio Blanco for the duration of this trial. Don't argue with me, girl. I have long felt it was important for you and Georgy to get together again, or she will become a totally Frenchified madame. And I want a report from you on those children of hers. You'll take these two brats. On Rio Blanco you'll be safe enough, and once this business is concluded the furore will rapidly settle.'

  'I'll do no such thing. Rio Blanco? Why, that would be ...' she hesitated, and bit her lip.

  'Matt?' Robert asked.

  Matt sighed. 'Robert is right, sweetheart. As is Hargrove. There will be continued strife and insults in Nevis, and how can I do my best against Hodge when I shall always be worrying about your safety?'

  Still Sue hesitated.

  'Or is Mr. Hargrove not even more right than that,' Coke said dismally, still watching the drifting smoke. 'Will there be any cause for strife, with Manton dead?'

  'To be sure,' Robert said. 'Your own case is hardly better, doctor. You'll leave Jamaica.'

  'What? What, sir? Desert my friends, my cause, in their most difficult hour?'

  'Aye, sir, you will, for the sake of those friends,' Robert said. "You can accomplish nothing here now. These people will fight you with more force than you can muster. But do I not hear all the time of how your friends in England are growing? Go home, sir. I will finance your passage. Go home, and tell Mr. Fox and Mr. Wilberforce of what has happened here, of what is happening here, of what will happen here in the future, should men like Hodge be permitted to rampage unchecked. There is your best aid, sir.'

  Coke stared at him, and slowly scratched his head. 'Your advice, sir? Mr. Robert Hilton's?'

  'My advice,' Robert said.

  'Again sound,' Matt said, and sighed. 'Be sure that we shall accomplish nothing now without real support from Whitehall.'

  'What?' Robert shouted. 'What?'

  'Hargrove is right again,' Matt said. 'With Manton dead, and Fanny Nelson in England, our evidence is all hearsay.'

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nbsp; 'That I would argue,' Robert declared. ‘I have been to Hodges and seen enough.'

  'You?' Matt cried.

  ‘You?' Sue asked.

  'My word,' Coke remarked. "You, Mr. Hilton?'

  ‘I,' Robert said. 'Shoot at my sister, would they, by God. Overturn my coach, would they, by God. Seek to trample me would they, by God. Oh, aye, if Hodge's people are responsible for this, I'll give them the pleasure of watching him swing for it.'

  'You'll raise your right hand, Mr. Hilton, and repeat after me,' said the clerk of the court.

  Matt obeyed, uttered the words as instructed, ‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.' And while he spoke he surveyed the crowded courtroom, the endless rows of hostile faces from the visitors' benches, the brooding gaze of Janet Hodge, seated close to the defending counsel, and the contemptuous smile on the thin-moustached face of the defendant himself. It came as some surprise for him to realize that this was the first time they had ever seen each other, after all but ten years of unmitigated hostility, at least on his part.

  But then, he had seen hardly any of these people before. Since their arrival in Charleston, some weeks ago now, he and Robert had been kept in such seclusion they had occasionally wondered whether they were not actually the prisoners. And even within the walled and sentried privacy of the Administrator's House, they had heard the chanting of the crowds in the streets, whipped up by the plantocracy, who had indeed closed ranks behind the member of their privileged order who was being assailed, marching back and forth denouncing the abolitionists and emancipators as enemies to order and prosperity, and crying out the name of Hodge. Why, should he be acquitted here, the man would be an immediate hero. As he was no doubt well aware, Matt thought.

  But now Mr. Malahine was waiting for him, willing him to concentrate. They were in a unique position. Matt could add nothing to what had already been said, but he had brought the original indictment, and everyone in the room had heard of Gislane; was he not being called by the prosecution, he would certainly have been called as a witness for the defence. 'Would you state your full name, and present address, please.'

  'Matthew George Hilton, of Plantation Hilltop, in Jamaica.'

  'Thank you, Mr. Hilton. Are you known to the defendant?'

  'I have never met the defendant,' Matt said. 'I know of him. I imagine he knows of me.'

  'Thank you, Mr. Hilton. You are, however, aware that the defendant stands charged with several monstrous crimes?'

  'I am.'

  'Would you tell us how you became aware of them?'

  He had already been warned to keep his answer precise. 'I was approached by Mr. Charles Manton, a gentleman who had previously worked as an overseer on Hodges.'

  'Thank you, Mr. Hilton. Now, of course, you are not in a position to give this court any testimony regarding these alleged crimes.' Mr. Malahine smiled at Mr. Corder, the Defence Counsel, who was poised to stand at the hint of an incorrect question. ‘We have, indeed, already heard a considerable recital of the miserable occurrences on Hodges, not only through the depositions of Mr. Manton, who is now unhappily deceased, and of Mistress Nelson, who is unable to be present, but also of various other witnesses. Yet it is of Mr. Manton that I would have you speak. You say he approached you. May I ask why?'

  'With a view to having the defendant prosecuted.'

  'Indeed sir. But why you, in particular?'

  'Because my opposition to the very idea of slavery is well known I would say.'

  'Ah. You were the champion he sought. Yes, indeed, and the result was that you approached the authorities and persuaded them to indict Mr. Hodge. Now, sir, would you tell us how Mr. Manton died.'

  'He was murdered by a mob, in Kingston, but two months ago.'

  'Murdered, you say. Struck down, by a blackguard. Have you an opinion as to what this mob was about?'

  'Their intention appeared to be to prevent Mr. Manton and myself from travelling to Nevis to give evidence in this case.'

  'Ah. A very one-sided mob. Would you suppose they had been instigated to this act?'

  Mr. Corder was on his feet. ‘I must protest, Your Lordship.'

  Sir Ralph Payne scratched his wig with the tip of his quill; burly and red-faced, the Chief Justice was as much a planter as anyone in the room.

  ‘I am but asking witness for an opinion, Your Lordship.' Mr. Malahine protested in turn. 'Which he is surely qualified to give, as he was one of the objectives of this very mob, and was indeed only rescued by a regiment of cavalry.'

  ‘Is that so?' asked Sir Ralph. 'None the less, I think you have made the point that the mob intended to prevent Mr. Hilton's departure. To investigate the causes of the crowd gathering would be to embark upon an entirely irrelevant course. Objection sustained.'

  'Very good, My Lord. I have but one more question to ask of you, Mr. Hilton. Your opinion of the man Manton. He had been an overseer, on Hodges, for some time. Until at last events there grew too strong for his stomach. Or so he claims in his deposition. Was he an honest man?' 'In my opinion, yes,' Matt said.

  'Would you have any reason to suppose that Mr. Manton should lie about his former employer?'

  'No,' Matt said. 'In the four years I knew Mr. Manton, I always found him a very reliable fellow.'

  'Thank you, Mr. Hilton.' Mr. Malahine sat down, but immediately took out a large pocket handkerchief to mop his brow. As Mr. Corder rose to his feet an immense rustie went right round the courtroom. Everyone was aware that here was the true crisis of the trial. As indeed Mr. Malahine had warned Matt in advance. And as Mr. Corder clearly intended to illustrate to the jury.

  For the moment he was smiling, if a trifle sadly. He read from his notes. 'Matthew George Hilton,' he remarked. 'Yours is a famous name in these islands, sir.'

  Matt did not consider this to be a question.

  'Indeed,' said Mr. Corder, 'were a roll call to be taken of every family which has ever planted cane here in the Carribean, the name Hilton would occur very near the top. But more, are you not related to the Warners?'

  'Distantly.'

  'Oh, indeed. Your great-grandmother was a Warner. And that family was the very first to plant cane in the British Islands. One could almost say that cane juice might run in your veins instead of blood, Mr. Hilton.' He smiled, and the court smiled with him.

  'One might,' Matt agreed.

  'But you, the very last of this long and famous and indeed glorious line of planters and leaders of planters, have lost interest in the ancient and profitable art.'

  ‘I would prefer to say that my interest has been redirected,' Matt said.

  'Oh, indeed. How stupid of me. Because if you refuse to manage a sugar plantation yourself, you yet enjoy the luxury offered by your cousin's plantation, which you give as your address.'

  ‘I live there, yes,' Matt said.

  'Of course. It is your home. And believe me, sir, I have nothing but sympathy for a man who must continually be undergoing the most frightful pangs of conscience. But now, Mr. Hilton, I am going to ask you for your assistance. Oh, I am well aware that you are a prosecution witness. But then, sir, you see, this is an unusual, indeed, a unique case. What normally happens in the case of a murder? Suppose a man kills his wife. She is missed, perhaps, or the neighbours hear screams, and they hurry along to the magistrates who in turn instruct the constables, who descend upon the criminal's house with a warrant and search it, and either fail to find the wife altogether, in which case a more general search may be inaugurated, supposing the accused cannot provide them with a satisfactory account of her disappearance, or they find traces of the unhappy woman, perhaps even a body, and thus take the husband into custody. And the conduct of thus straightforward a case is even so a long and difficult business. Mr. Hilton, I must confess myself to be entirely in a fog in this present instance.' Mr. Corder continued to smile as if to indicate he enjoyed fogs. 'Because here, sir, we have a man accused of a cr
ime, not against his wife, or some stranger, but against his own chattels. I was quite unaware that such a crime was possible.'

  He paused for breath, and Mr. Malahine was on his feet. 'Is my learned friend addressing the jury, Your Lordship?' he inquired. 'Or is he in fact asking witness a question?'

  Sir Reginald snorted. 'Mr. Corder?'

  'My apologies, Your Lordship. I was but endeavouring to make witness understand my questions better. Surely I cannot be accused of leading a prosecution witness?'

  'Hm,' remarked the Chief Justice. 'Well, I suppose you cannot. But make it brief, man. Make it brief.'

  'I was merely going to point out, Mr. Hilton,' said Mr. Corder, 'that supposing such a crime were possible, in this case we have no bodies, nor any search for bodies, as I understand it. We have in fact, a single accuser, the late Charles Manton. Oh, I am well aware that my learned friend has introduced a whole host of evidence consisting entirely of suggestion and innuendo. It has been suggested, time and again, that there was an atmosphere of terror on Hodges Plantation. This is not a criminal matter. We have had the admirably written testimony of Mistress Nelson that her first husband, Dr. Nisbet, told her of treating the most frightful injuries on Hodges Plantation, but there has been not one jot of evidence to indicate that those injuries were received as other than normal punishment for insubordination, for stealing, or for downright mutiny. There is no crime. No, sir, Mr. Hilton, the prosecution case, your case, rests entirely on the testimony sworn by the late Charles Manton. I must therefore cross-examine you, sir, as if you were indeed that gentleman, as it is you who introduced his evidence in the first place, as I understand it.'

  'That is correct,' Matt agreed.

  'Well, sir, still is my difficulty not resolved. I cannot ask you questions of fact, as you were not present at any of the incidents described by Mr. Manton. I can only attempt to arrive at a valuation of the truth of these accusations, at the truth, indeed, of the entire statement. For instance, sir, you have testified that you never knew Charles Manton before he appeared in Kingston and offered this testimony. May I ask why he selected you?'

 

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