Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:The Ways of The Hour
.pdf
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“Well, to my taste, the fee – bill is the most disagreeable of
the two. A man can stand any sort of law, and any sort of practice; but he can’t stand any sort of pay. I hear the circuit is to be
held by one of the new judges a people’s man, altogether.”
“You mean by that, I suppose, Timms, one of those who did
not hold office under the old system? It is said that the new
broom sweeps clean it is fortunate ours has not brushed away
all the old incumbents.”
“No, that is to come; and come it will, as sure as the sun
rises. We must have rotation on the bench, as well as in all
other matters. You see, ‘Squire, rotation is a sort of claim with
many men, who have no other. They fancy the earth to have
been created on a sort of Jim Crow principle, because it turns
round.”
“That is it; and it explains the clamour that is made about
it. But to return to this jury, Timms; on the whole, you like it,
I should infer?”
“Not too well, by any means. There are six or eight names
on the list that I’m always glad to see; for they belong to men
who are friendly to me “Good God, man it cannot be possible
that you count on such assistants in a trial for a human life!”
“Not count on it, ‘Squire Dunscomb! I count on it from an
action of trespass on the case, to this indictment count on it,
quite as much, and a good deal more rationally, than you count
on your law and evidence. Didn’t I carry that heavy case for the
railroad company on that principle altogether? The law was
dead against us they say, and the facts were against us; but the
verdict was in our favour. That’s what I call practising law!”
“Yes; I remember to have heard of that case, and it was always a wonder with the bar how you got along with it. Had
251
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
it been a verdict against a corporation, no one would have
thought anything of it but to carry a bad case for a company,
now – a – days, is almost an unheard – of thing.”
“You are quite right, sir. I can beat any railroad in the State,
with a jury of a neighbourhood, let the question or facts be
what they may; but, in this instance, I beat the neighbourhood,
and all through the faith the jury had in me. It’s a blessed institution, this of the jury, ‘Squire Dunscomb! no doubt it makes
us the great, glorious, and free people that we are!”
“If the bench continue to lose its influence as it has done,
the next twenty years will see it a curse of the worst character.
It is now little more than a popular cabal in all cases in the
least calculated to awaken popular feeling or prejudice.”
“There’s the rub in this capital case of ours. Mary Monson
has neglected popularity altogether; and she is likely to suffer
for it.”
“Popularity!” exclaimed Dunscomb, in a tone of horror
“and this in a matter of life and death! What are we coming to
in the law, as well as in politics! No public man is to be found
of sufficient moral courage, or intellectual force, to stem this
torrent; which is sweeping away everything before it. But in
what has our client failed, Timms?”
“In almost everything connected with this one great point;
and what vexes me is her wonderful power of pleasing, which
is completely thrown away. ‘Squire Dunscomb, I would carry
this county for Free Sile or ag’in it, with that lady to back me,
as a wife.”
“What, if she should refuse to resort to popular airs and
graces?”
252
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“I mean, of course, she aiding and abetting. I would give the
world, now, could we get the judge into her company for half
an hour. It would make a friend of him; and it is still something to have a friend in the judge in a criminal case.”
“You may well say `still,’ Timms; how much longer it will be
so, is another matter. Under the old system it would be hopeless to expect so much complaisance in a judge; but I will not
take it on myself to say what a people’s judge will not do.”
“If I thought the thing could be managed, by George I
would attempt it! The grand jurors visit the gaols, and why not
the judges? What do you think, sir, of an anonymous letter
hinting to his honour that a visit to Mrs. Gott who is an excellent creature in her way might serve the ends of justice!”
“As I think of all underhanded movements and trickery.
No, no, Timms; you had better let our client remain unpopular, than undertake anything of this nature.”
“Perhaps you are right, sir. Unpopular she is, and will be,
as long as she pursues her present course; whereas she might
carry all classes of men with her. For my part, ‘Squire Dunscomb, I’ve found this young lady” here
Timms paused, hemmed, and concluded by looking a little
foolish a character of countenance by no means common with
one of his shrewdness and sagacity.
“So, so, Master Timms,” said the senior counsel, regarding
the junior with a sort of sneer “you are as great a fool as my
nephew, Jack Wilmeter; and have fallen in love with a pretty
face, in spite of the grand jury and the gallows!”
Timms gave a gulp, seemed to catch his breath, and regained enough of his self – command to be able to answer.
253
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“I’m in hopes that Mr. Wilmeter will think better of this, sir,”
he said, “and turn his views to a quarter where they will be
particularly acceptable. It would hardly do for a young gentleman of his expectations to take a wife out of a gaol.”
“Enough of this foolery, Timms, and come to the point.
Your remarks about popularity may have some sense in them,
if matters have been pushed too far in a contrary direction. Of
what do you complain?”
“In the first place, she will not show herself at the windows;
and that offends a great many persons, who think it proud and
aristocratic in her not to act as other criminals act. Then, she
has made a capital mistake with a leading reporter, who sent in
his name, and desired an interview; which she declined granting. She will hear from that man, depend on it, sir.”
“I shall look to him, then for, though this class of men is fast
putting the law under foot, it may be made to turn on them, by
one who understands it, and has the courage to use it. I shall
not allow the rights of Mary Monson to be invaded by such a
fungus of letters.”
“Fungus of letters! Ahem if it was anybody but yourself,
‘Squire, that I was talking to, I might remind you that these
funguses flourish on the dunghill of the common mind.”
“No matter; the law can be made to touch them, when in
good hands; and mine have now some experience. Has this reporter resented the refusal of the prisoner to see him?”
“He is squinting that way, and has got himself sent to Biberry by two or three journals, to report the progress of the trial.
I know the man; he is vindictive, impudent, and always uses
his craft to indulge his resentments.”
254
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“Ay, many of those gentry are up to that. Is it not surprising,
Timms, that in a country for ever boasting of its freedom, men
do not see how much abuse there is of a very important interest, in suffering these irresponsible tyrants to ride rough –
shod over the community?”
“Lord, ‘Squire, it is not with the reporters only, that abuses
are to be found. I was present, the other day, at a conversation between a judge and a great town lawyer, when the last
deplored the state of the juries! `What would you have?’ says
his Honour; `angels sent down from Heaven to fill the jury –
boxes?’ Waal” Timms never could get over the defects of his
early associations “Waal, ‘Squire,” he continued, with a shrewd
leer of the eyes, “I thought a few saints might be squeezed in
between the lowest angel in Heaven and the average of our
Duke’s county pannels. This is a great fashion of talking that is
growing up among us to meet an objection by crying out, `men
are not angels;’ as if some men are not better than others.”
“The institutions clearly maintain that some men are better than others, Timms!”
“That’s news to me, I will own. I thought the institutions
declared all men alike that is, all white men; I know that the
niggers are non – suited.” “They are unsuited, at least, according to the spirit of the institutions. If all men are supposed to
be alike, what use is there in the elections? Why not draw lots
for office, as we draw lots for juries? Choice infers inequalities,
or the practice is an absurdity. But here comes McBrain, with a
face so full of meaning, he must have something to tell us.”
Sure enough, the bridegroom – physician came into the
room at that instant; and without circumlocution he entered
255
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
at once on the topic that was then uppermost in his mind. It
was the custom of the neighbourhood to profit by the visits of
this able practitioner to his country place, by calling on him
for advice in such difficult cases as existed anywhere in the
vicinity of Timbully. Even his recent marriage did not entirely
protect him from these appeals, which brought so little pecuniary advantage as to be gratuitous; and he had passed much
of the last two days in making professional visits in a circle
around his residence that included Biberry. Such were the
means by which he had obtained the information that now
escaped from him, as it might be, involuntarily.
“I have never known so excited a state of the public mind,”
he cried, “as now exists all around Biberry, on the subject of
your client, Tom, and this approaching trial. Go where I may,
see whom I will, let the disease be as serious as possible, all,
patients, parents, friends and nurses, commence business with
asking me what I think of Mary Monson, and of her guilt or
innocence.”
“That’s because you are married, Ned,” Dunscomb coolly
answered “Now, no one thinks of putting such a question to
me. I see lots of people, as well as yourself; but not a soul has
asked me whether I thought Mary Monson guilty or innocent.”
“Poh! You are her counsel, and no one could take the liberty. I dare say that even Mr. Timms, here, your associate, has
never compared notes with you on that particular point.”
Timms was clearly not quite himself; and he did not look as
shrewd as he once would have done at such a remark. He kept
in the back – ground, and was content to listen.
256
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“I do suppose association with a brother in the law, and
in a case of life and death, is something like matrimony, Dr.
McBrain. A good deal must be taken for granted, and not a
little on credit. As a man is bound to believe his wife the most
excellent, virtuous, most amiable and best creature on earth,
so is a counsel bound to consider his client innocent. The relation, in each case, is confidential, however; and I shall not
pry into your secrets, any more than I shall betray one of my
own.”
“I asked for none, and wish none; but one may express
surprise at the intense degree of excitement that prevails all
through Duke’s, and even in the adjacent counties.”
“The murder of a man and his wife in cold blood, accompanied by robbery and arson, are enough to arouse the community. In this particular case the feeling of interest is increased,
I make no doubt, by the extraordinary character, as well as by
the singular mystery, of the party accused. I have had many
clients, Ned, but never one like this before; as you have had
many wives, but no one so remarkable as the present Mrs.
McBrain.”
“Your time will come yet, Master Dunscomb recollect I
have always prognostieated that.”
“You forget that I am approaching sixty. A man’s heart is
as hard and dry as a bill in chancery at that age but, I beg your
pardon, Ned; you are an exception.”
“I certainly believe that a man can have affections, even at
four – scoreand what is more, I believe that when the reason
and judgment come in aid of the passions” Dunscomb laughed
outright; nay, he even gave a little shout, his bachelor habits
257
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
having rendered him more exuberant in manner than might
otherwise have been the case.
“Passions!” he cried, rubbing his hands, and looking round
for Timms, that he might have some one to share in what he
regarded as a capital joke. “The passions of a fellow of three –
score! Ned, you do not flatter yourself that you have been marrying the Widow Updyke in consequence of any passion you
feel for her?”
“I do, indeed,” returned the Doctor, with spirit; mustering
resolution to carry the war into the enemy’s country”Let me
tell you, Tom Dunscomb, that a warm – hearted fellow can
love a woman dearly, long after the age you have mentioned
that is, provided he has not let all feeling die within him, for
want of watering a plant that is the most precious boon of a
most gracious Providence.”
“Ay, if he begin at twenty, and keep even pace with his beloved down the descent of time.” “That may all be true; but, if
it has been his misfortune to lose one partner, a second”
“And a third, Ned, a third why not foot the bill at once, as
they say in the market?”
“Well, a third too if circumstances make that demand on
him. Anything is better than leaving the affections to stagnate
for want of cultivation.”
“Adam in Paradise, by Jove! But, I’ll not reproach you again,
since you have got so gentle and kind a creature, and one who
is twenty years your junior”
“Only eighteen, if you please, Mr. Dunscomb.”
“Now, I should be glad to know whether you have added
those two years to the bride’s age, or subtracted them from that
258
THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
of the bridegroom! I suppose the last, however, as a matter of
course.”
“I do not well see how you can suppose any such thing,
knowing my age as well as you do. Mrs. McBrain is forty – two,
an age when a woman can be as loveable as at nineteen more
so, if her admirer happens to be a man of sense.”
“And sixty – two. Well, Ned, you are incorrigible; and, for
the sake of the excellent woman who has consented to have
you, I only hope this will be the last exhibition of your weakness. So they talk a good deal of Mary Monson, up and down
the country, do they?”
“Of little else, I can assure you. I am sorry to say, the tide
seems to be setting strongly against her.”
“That is bad news; as few jurors, now – a – days, are superior to such an influence. What is said, in particular, Dr.
McBrain? In the way of facts, I mean?”
“One report is that the accused is full of money; and that a
good deal of that which she is scattering broad – cast has been
seen by different persons, at different times, in the possession
of the deceased Mrs. Goodwin.”
“Let them retail that lie, far and near, ‘Squire, and we’ll
turn it to good account,” said Timms, taking out his note –
book, and writing down what he had just heard. “I have reason
to think that every dollar Miss Monson has uttered since her
confinement”
“Imprisonment would be a better word, Mr. Timms,” interrupted the Doctor.
“I see no great difference,” replied the literal attorney “but
imprisonment, if you prefer it. I have reason to think that every
259
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
dollar Mary Monson has put in circulation since she entered
the gaol at Biberry, has come from either young Mr. Wilmeter
or myself, in exchange for hundred – dollar notes and, in one
instance, for a note of five hundred dollars. She is well off, I
can tell you, gentlemen; and if she is to be executed, her executor will have something to do when all is over.”
“You do not intend to allow her to be hanged, Timms?”
demanded McBrain, aghast.
“Not if I can help it, Doctor; and this lie about the money,
when clearly disproved, will be of capital service to her. Let
them circulate it as much as they please, the rebound will be
in proportion to the blow. The more they circulate that foolish
rumour, the better it will be for our client when we come to
trial.”
“I suppose you are right, Timms; though I could prefer
plainer dealings. A cause in which you are employed, however,
must have more or less of management.”
“Which is better, ‘Squire, than your law and evidence. But
what else has Dr. McBrain to tell us?”
“I hear that Peter Goodwin’s nephew, who it seems had
some expectations from the old people, is particularly savage, and leaves no stone unturned to get up a popular feeling
against the accused.”
“He had best beware,” said Dunscomb, his usually colourless but handsome face flushing as he spoke. “I shall not trifle
in a matter of this sort ha! Timms?”
“Lord bless you, ‘Squire, Duke’s county folks wouldn’t understand a denial of the privilege to say what they please in
a case of this sort. They fancy this is liberty; and `touch my
honour, take your poker,’ is not more sensitive than the feelin’
260
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]