‘I am glad to hear it,’ said Sir John,—and
then he paused. ’That is to say, Mr. Caldigate,
I am bound in courtesy to you to make some such civil
reply as I should have made had I not been employed
in your case, and had circumstances then induced you
to make such a statement to me. But in truth,
as I am so employed, no statement from your lips ought
to affect me in the least. For your own sake
I will say that no statement will affect me.
It is not for me to believe or disbelieve anything
in this matter. If carried away by my feelings,
I were to appeal to the jury for their sympathy because
of my belief, I should betray your cause. It
will be my duty not to make the jury believe you, who,
in your position, will not be expected even to tell
the truth; but to induce them, if possible, to disbelieve
the witnesses against you who will be on their oath.
Second-hand protestations from an advocate are never
of much avail, and in many cases have been prejudicial.
I can only assure you that I understand the importance
of the interests confided to me, and that I will endeavour
to be true to my trust.’
Caldigate, who wanted sympathy, who wanted an assurance
of confidence in his word, was by no means contented
with his counsellor; but he was too wise at the present
moment to quarrel with him.
Chapter XLI
The First Day
Then came the morning on which Caldigate and Hester
must part. Very little had been said about it,
but a word or two had been absolutely necessary.
The trial would probably take two days, and it would
not be well that he should be brought back to Folking
for the sad intervening night. And then,—should
the verdict be given against him, the prison doors
would be closed against her, his wife, more rigidly
than against any other friend who might knock at them
inquiring after his welfare. Her, at any rate,
he would not be allowed to see. All the prison
authorities would be bound to regard her as the victim
of his crime and as the instrument of his vice.
The law would have locked him up to avenge her injuries,—of
her, whose only future joy could come from that distant
freedom which the fraudulent law would at length allow
to him. All this was not put into words between
them, but it was understood. It might be that
they were to be parted now for a term of years, during
which she would be as a widow at Folking while he would
be alone in his jail.
There are moments as to which it would be so much
better that their coming should never be accomplished!
It would have been better for them both had they been
separated without that last embrace. He was to
start from Folking at eight that he might surrender
himself to the hands of justice in due time for the
trial at ten. She did not come down with him
to the breakfast parlour, having been requested by
him not to be there among the servants when he took
his departure; but standing there in her own room,
with his baby in her arms, she spoke her last word,
’You will keep up your courage, John?’
Copyrights
John Caldigate from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
