At this remark the jurors leaned forward,expectant.
“Who did she name as the father of heraborted child?” Most barristers would have delivered this climacticquestion with a melodramatic verve and a head-swing to draw thejury into the moment. Cambridge, however, asked it in anear-toneless whisper – which had the same effect.
“Her exact words were, ‘ Seamus’ – she saidthe name twice out loud. We all heard it, crystal clear.”
The gasps in the jury were drowned out bythose in the galleries. All eyes swung up to the huddled figure inthe dock.
“Were you shocked to hear this?”
“I was. And yet I wasn’t.”
“Why was that?”
“My Betsy was a maid up at Spadina where aMr. Seamus Baldwin lives.” Some of the latent scorn leakedout of Thurgood as he added, “Everybody knows that bigwigs arealways interferin’ with the hired help.”
“Milord!” Marc was on his feet.
The judge scowled at the witness. “Sir, youare to refrain from making remarks not called for by the questionsput to you. The jury will ignore that remark.”
And good luck to them, Marcsighed.
“So, with her dying breath your daughternamed the defendant, Mr. Seamus Baldwin, as the father ofher child?”
“She did.”
“Now, sir, I wish to take you back to anincident that happened earlier in the evening, one we skipped overbut one that is critical to the Crown’s case against SeamusBaldwin.”
“I was wonderin’ why you didn’t ask aboutthat.”
“Earlier you told how Mrs. Trigger was alonewith Betsy in her room for a long time. About twenty minutes, yousaid.”
“Yes, sir, that’s right.”
“Tell us now what, if anything, Mrs. Triggersaid to you and your wife in the kitchen just before she ranoff.”
Ah, Marc thought, Cambridge had kept thebusiness about the five-pound note until after the dramatic namingof the babe’s father. Very clever, that.
“She said that Betsy’d just had amiscarriage. And she had the gall to wave a five-pound note in ourfaces.”
“Did she say that Betsy had given it to herin payment for assisting in this ‘miscarriage’?”
“Not exactly, but we assumed she had.”
“Milord,” Marc said quietly.
“Your answer to the question, sir, shouldhave been a simple ‘no’,” the judge said sternly.
“At a later time, Milord, the Crown intendsto show a direct connection between the five-pound note and theaccused.”
“Proceed, then, Mr. Cambridge.”
“I have no more questions for the witness atthis time, but I would like to recall him when we are further intothe events at the centre of this trial.”
Marc stood up, adjusted his wig and as DickDougherty had done in the past, pretended to consult the notes infront of him. He realized that he must tread carefully with thiswitness, who had gained the jury’s sympathy immediately. He neededto probe without seeming to inflict further pain on a grievingfather.
“Mr. Thurgood, we have a witness-statementthat claims that while your daughter did speak the words ‘Seamus,Seamus,’ there was a third word in her response to your wife’squestion. Do you recall that word?”
Thurgood set his lower jaw, determined toresist any onslaught from the defense counsel. “She might’vemumbled somethin’ between the two ‘Seamuses.’”
“But you don’t recall the word?”
“No.”
“In what tone of voice did Betsy deliverthese final, fateful words?”
“I don’t know what ya mean!”
“No need to get upset, sir. I just meant wasthere a hint of accusation in her naming of the father? Or atenderness, perhaps?”
Neville Cambridge moved smoothly to his feet.“Milord, counsel is leading the witness.”
“Let the witness find his own words,” thejudge said to Marc.
“Mr. Thurgood, was your daughter notsuffering from loss of blood and a severe fever?”
Thurgood looked away, struggling to keep hisnatural belligerence in check. “’Course she was. Mrs. Cobb was setto wrap her with cold cloths.”
“And is it not usual for people experiencinga high fever to become delirious and disoriented – not quite surewhere they are or who they’re talking to?”
“I ain’t no doctor.”
“Isn’t it possible that Betsy, in her feverdelirium, did not hear or did not register the meaning of Mrs.Thurgood’s question?”
“Why would she answer it, then? Rightoff?”
Marc backed off, having pushed far enough andplanted some doubt in the jury’s mind. Dora Cobb would be up laterto expand upon this doubt.
“Sir, let’s move to your testimony about Mrs.Trigger’s hasty exit. You said she waved a five-pound note at youand referred to your daughter’s ‘miscarried’ babe?”
“That’s right. Bold as brass, she was.”
“Do you know for a fact that the banknote wasgiven to Mrs. Trigger by your daughter in payment for what provedto be a botched and fatal abortion? Yes or no, please.”
Thurgood scowled. “No,” he mumbled.
“For all you know, Mrs. Trigger could havepulled it out of her apron, couldn’t she?”
“That ain’t likely.”
“Perhaps she was feeling guilty about whathappened and wanted to make it look like a normal transaction forher visit and assistance in a genuine miscarriage?”
“The coroner said she was butchered with aknittin’ needle. And I saw the needle before she hid it away!”
“Mr. Thurgood,” the judge said, more inexasperation than anger, “please restrain yourself.”
Marc rushed on. “Perhaps she wanted to makeit look as if the abortion was your daughter’s idea right from thestart and that money had changed hands when it actuallyhadn’t?”
“Milord,” said Cambridge evenly, with just ahint of sarcasm, “Mr. Edwards is beginning to fantasize.”
“I agree,” said the judge. “Move on, Mr.Edwards.”
“When Betsy, earlier in the evening, told youshe might be pregnant but, being an innocent, did not know forsure, whose idea was it to call in Mrs. Trigger?”
Thurgood hesitated, head down. “It was mine .. . and I deeply regret doin’ it.”
“So Betsy herself did not request a midwife?She did not herself specifically request Mrs. Trigger, a woman witha questionable reputation at best?”
“I don’t have money fer doctors! I sent ferthe midwife in our area. I did what I thought best. I ain’t richlike the Baldwins!”
Marc felt the wave of sympathy from thegentlemen of the jury.
“What I’m suggesting, sir, is that if Betsyhad a five-pound banknote hidden in her room and was angling for anabortion, would she herself not have initiated the request for Mrs.Trigger, whose reputation went before her as a potentialabortionist?”
Thurgood leaned against the railing andglared across the room at Marc. “I don’t know. All I know is thatso-called gentleman up there done in my little girl!”
Marc sat down, and Thurgood was helped fromthe witness-stand. His final cri de coeur had struck thejury hard, and Uncle Seamus had flinched and rocked back on hisheels, the first visible signs that he was following theproceedings. The bailiff’s deputy was steadying him and, withoutthe fellow’s assistance, Uncle Seamus could not have continuedstanding upright in the dock. Marc was annoyed at Thurgood’smanipulation of the jury – with and without the connivance of theprosecutor – but when the dust settled, he trusted that he had madesome dents in the Crown’s armour. He had definitely weakened thelink between Betsy and the five-pound note and the Crown’scontention that Betsy plotted to have the abortion with the aid ofher seducer. He could have embarrassed Thurgood regarding hischoice of Mrs. Trigger, whose drunkenness was well known, and evenhinted that father and mother knew full well what she would get upto and perhaps themselves had supplied that “five pounds” (or adollar or two) in order to secure an abortion for their daughter.Also, Robert had mentioned Thurgood’s clumsy attempt at blackmail,but to use it simply to discredit a grieving father would, like anaccusation of securing an abortion, more likely than not havebackfired. Moreover, he could use these angles later, if he chose,when Thurgood was recalled. All in all, Marc was satisfied with hisfirst cross-examination: he felt the ghost of Dick Doughertysmiling over his shoulder.