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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
known. Scoffers abound; and I take it that the feelings of
a believer ought to be treated more tenderly than those of an
unbeliever, for the church’s sake.”
“That is a fashion of the times too one of the ways of the
hour, whether it is to last or not. But, proceed if you please, my
good Mrs. Horton; I am quite curious to know by what particular
sin Satan managed to overcome this `professing Christian? ‘ “
“He drank, ‘Squire Dunscomb no, he guzzled, for that is the
best word. You must know that Dolly was avarice itself that’s
the reason she took this Mary Monson in to board, though
her house was no ways suited for boarders, standing out of the
way, with only one small spare bed – room, and that under
the roof. Had she let this stranger woman come to one of the
regular houses, as she might have done, and been far better accommodated than it was possible for her to be in a garret, it is
not likely she would have been murdered. She lost her life, as I
tell Horton, for meddling with other people’s business.”
“If such were the regular and inevitable punishment of
that particular offence, my good landlady, there would be a
great dearth of ladies,” said Tom Dunscomb, a little drily”but,
you were remarking that Peter Goodwin, the member of meeting, and Mary Monson’s supposed victim, had a weakness in
favour of strong liquor?”
“Juleps were his choiceI’ve heard of a part of the country,
somewhere about Virginny, I believe it is, where tee – totallers
make an exception in favour of julepsit may do there, ‘Squire
Dunscomb, but it won’t do here. No liquor undoes a body, in
this part of the country, sooner than mint juleps. I will find
you ten constitutions that can hold out ag’in brandy, or plain
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
grog, or even grog, beer and cider, all three together, where
you can find me one that will hold out ag’in juleps. I always set
down a reg’lar julep fancier as a case that is, in this part of the
country.”
“Very true, my good landlady, and very sensible and just. I
consider you a sensible and just woman, whose mind has been
enlarged by an extensive acquaintance with human nature”
“A body does pick up a good deal in and around a bar,
‘Squire Dunscomb!”
“Pick up, indeed I’ve known ‘em picked up by the dozen
myself. And Peter would take the juleps?”
“Awfully fond of them! He no more dared to take one at
home, however, than he dared to go and ask Minister Watch
to make him one. No, he know’d better where the right sort
of article was to be had, and always came down to our house
when he was dry. Horton mixes stiff, or we should have been
a good deal better off in the world than we are not that we’re
mis’rable, as it is. But Horton takes it strong himself, and he
mixes strong for others. Peter soon found this out, and he fancied his juleps more, as he has often told me himself, than the
juleps of the great Bowery – man, who has a name for ‘em, far
and near. Horton can mix a julep, if he can do nothing else.”
“And Peter Goodwin was in the habit of frequenting your
house privately, to indulge this propensity.”
“I’m almost ashamed to own that he did perhaps it was sinful in us to let him; but a body must carry out the idee of trade
our trade is tavern – keeping, and it’s our business to mix liquors, though Minister Watch says, almost every Sabbath, that
professors should do nothing out of sight that they wouldn’t
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
do before the whole congregation. I don’t hold to that, however; for it would soon break up tavern – keeping altogether.
Yes, Peter did drink awfully, in a corner.”
“To intoxication, do you mean, Mrs. Horton?”
“To delirrum tremus, siryes, full up to that. His way was to
come down to the village on the pretence of business, and to
come right to our house, where I’ve known him to take three
juleps in the first half – hour. Sometimes he’d pretend to go
to town to see his sister, when he would stay two or three days
upstairs in a room that Horton keeps for what he calls his
caseshe has given the room the name of his wardhospital –
ward he means.”
“Is the worthy Mr. Horton a member of the meeting also,
my good landlady?”
Mrs. Horton had the grace to colour; but she answered
without stammering, habit fortifying us in moral discrepancies much more serious than even this.
“He was, and I don’t know but I may say he is yet; though
he hasn’t attended, now, for more than two years. The question got to be between meetin’ and the bar; and the bar carried
the day, so far as Horton is concerned. I’ve held out better, I
hope, and expect to gain a victory. It’s quite enough to have
one backslider in a family, I tell my husband, ‘Squire.”
“A sufficient supply, ma’am quite a sufficiency. So Peter
Goodwin lay in your house drunk, days at a time?” “I’m sorry
to say he did. He was here a week once, with delirrum tremus
on him; but Horton carried him through by the use of juleps;
for that’s the time to take ‘em, everybody says; and we got him
home without old Dolly’s knowing that he hadn’t been with
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
his sister the whole time. That turn satisfied Peter for three
good months.” “Did Peter pay as he went, or did you keep a
score?”
“Ready money, sir. Catch us keeping an account with a
man when his wife ruled the roast! No, Peter paid like a king,
for every mouthful he swallowed.”
“I am far from certain that the comparison is a good one,
kings being in no degree remarkable for paying their debts.
But, is it not possible that Peter may have set his own house on
fire, and thus have caused all this calamity, for which my client
is held responsible?”
“I’ve thought that over a good deal since the murder, ‘Squire,
but don’t well see how it can be made out. Setting the building
on fire is simple enough; but who killed the old couple, and
who robbed the house, unless this Mary Monson did both?”
“The case has its difficulties, no doubt; but I have known
the day to dawn after a darker night than this. I believe that
Mrs. Goodwin and her husband were very nearly of the same
height?”
“Exactly; I’ve seen them measure, back to back. He was a
very short man, and she a very tall woman!” “Do you know
anything of a German female who is said to have lived with
the unfortunate couple?”
“There has been some talk of such a person since the fire;
but Dolly Goodwin kept no help. She was too stingy for that;
then she had no need of it, being very strong and stirring for
her time of life.”
“Might not a boarder, like Miss Monson, have induced
her to take this foreigner into her family for a few weeks? The
nearest neighbours, those who would be most likely to know
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
all about it, say that no wages were given; the woman working
for her food and lodging.”
“’Squire Dunscomb, you’ll never make it out that any German killed Peter and his wife.”
“Perhaps not; though even that is possible. Such, however,
is not the object of my present enquiries but, here comes my
associate counsel, and I will take another occasion to continue
this conversation, my good Mrs. Horton.”
Timms entered with a hurried air. For the first time in his
life he appeared to his associate and old master to be agitated.
Cold, calculating, and cunning, this man seldom permitted
himself to be so much thrown off his guard as to betray emotion; but now he actually did. There was a tremor in his form
that extended to his voice; and he seemed afraid to trust the
latter even in the customary salutations. Nodding his head, he
drew a chair and took his seat.
“You have been to the gaol?” asked Dunscomb. A nod was
the answer.
“You were admitted, and had an interview with our client?” Nod the third was the only reply.
“Did you put the questions to her, as I desired?”
“I did, sir; but I would sooner cross – examine all Duke’s,
than undertake to get anything she does not wish to tell, out
of that one young lady!”
“I fancy most young ladies have a faculty for keeping such
matters to themselves as they do not wish to reveal. Am I to
understand that you got no answers?”
“I really do not know, ‘Squire. She was polite, and obliging, and smiling but, somehow or other, I do not recollect her
replies.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“You must be falling in love, Timms, to return with such
an account,” retorted Dunscomb, a cold but very sarcastic
smile passing over his face. “Have a care, sir; ‘tis a passion that
makes a fool of a man sooner than any other. I do not think
there is much danger of the lady’s returning your flame; unless, indeed, you can manage to make her acquittal a condition
of the match.”
“I am afraid dreadfully afraid, her acquittal will be a very
desperate affair,” answered Timms, passing his hands down his
face, as if to wipe away his weakness. “The deeper I get into the
matter, the worse it appears!”
“Have you given our client any intimation to this effect?”
“I hadn’t the heart to do it. She is just as composed, and
calm, and tranquil, and judicious yes, and ingenious, as if she
were only the counsel in this affair of life and death! I couldn’t
distrust so much tranquillity. I wish I knew her history!”
“My interrogatories pointed out the absolute necessity of
her furnishing us with the means of enlightening the court
and jury on that most material point, should the worst come
to the worst.”
“I know they did, sir; but they no more got at the truth
than my own pressing questions. I should like to see that lady
on the stand, above all things! I think she would bother saucy
Williams, and fairly put him out of countenance. By the way,
sir, I hear he is employed against us by the nephew, who is
quite furious about the loss of the money, which he pretends
was a much larger sum than the neighbourhood has commonly supposed.”
“I have always thought the relations would employ some
one to assist the public prosecutor in a case of this magnitude.
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
The theory of our government is that the public virtue will
see the laws executed; but, in my experience, Timms, this public virtue is a very acquiescent and indifferent quality, seldom
troubling itself even to abate a nuisance, until its own nose is
offended, or its own pocket damaged.”
“Roguery is always more active than honesty I found that
out long since, ‘Squire. But, it is nat’ral for a public prosecutor
not to press one on trial for life, and the accused a woman,
closer than circumstances seem to demand. It is true, that popular feeling is strong ag’in Mary Monson; but it was well in the
nephew to fee such a bull – dog as Williams, if he wishes to
make a clean sweep of it.”
“Does our client know this?”
“Certainly; she seems to know all about her case, and has a
strange pleasure in entering into the mode and manner of her
defence. It would do your heart good, sir, to see the manner in
which she listens, and advises, and consults.
She’s wonderful handsome at such times!”
“You are in love, Timms; and I shall have to engage some
other assistant. First Jack, and then you! Umph! This is a strange
world, of a verity.”
“I don’t think it’s quite as bad with me as that,” said Timms,
this time rubbing his shaggy eye – brows as if to ascertain
whether or not he were dreaming, “though I must own I do
not feel precisely as I did a month since. I wish you would see
our client yourself, sir, and make her understand how important it is to her interest that we should know something of her
past history.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Do you think her name is rightfully set forth in the indictment?”
“By no meansbut, as she has called herself Mary Monson,
she cannot avail herself of her own acts.”
“Certainly not I asked merely as a matter of information.
She must be made to feel the necessity of fortifying us on that
particular point, else it will go far towards convicting her. Jurors do not like aliases.”
“She knows this already; for I have laid the matter before
her, again and again. Nothing seems to move her, however;
and as to apprehension, she appears to be above all fear.”
“This is most extraordinary! Have you interrogated the
maid?”
“How can I? She speaks no English; and I can’t utter a syllable in any foreign tongue.”
“Ha! Does she pretend to that much ignorance? Marie
Moulin speaks very intelligible English, as I know from having
conversed with her often. She is a clever, prudent Swiss, from
one of the French cantons, and is known for her fidelity and
trustworthiness. With me she will hardly venture to practise
this deception. If she has feigned ignorance of English, it was
in order to keep her secrets.”
Timms admitted the probability of its being so; then he entered into a longer and more minute detail of the state of the
case. In the first place, he admitted that, in spite of all his own
efforts to the contrary, the popular feeling was setting strong
against their client. “Frank Williams,” as he called the saucy
person who bore that name, had entered into the struggle
might and main, and was making his customary impressions.
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“His fees must be liberal,” continued Timms, “and I should
think are in some way dependent on the result; for I never saw
the fellow more engaged in my life.”
“This precious Code does allow such a bargain to be made
between the counsel and his client, or any other bargain that
is not downright conspiracy,” returned Dunscomb; “but I do
not see what is to be shared, even should Mary Monson be
hanged.”
“Do not speak in that manner of so agreeable a person,”
cried Timms, actually manifesting emotion”it is unpleasant to
think of. It is true, a conviction will not bring money to the
prosecution, unless it should bring to light some of Mrs. Goodwin’s hoards.”
Dunscomb shrugged his shoulders, and his associate proceeded with his narrative. Two of the reporters were offended,
and their allusions to the cause, which were almost daily in
their respective journals, were ill – natured, and calculated
to do great harm, though so far covered as to wear an air of
seeming candour. The natural effect of this “constant dropping,” in a community accustomed to refer everything to the
common mind, had been “to wear away the stone.” Many of
those who, at first, had been disposed to sustain the accused,
unwilling to believe that one so young, so educated, so modest in deportment, so engaging in manners, and of the gentler
sex, could possibly be guilty of the crimes imputed, were now
changing their opinions, under the control of this potent and
sinister mode of working on the public sentiment. The agents
employed by Timms to counteract this malign influence had
failed of their object; they working merely for money, while
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
those of the other side were resenting what they regarded as
an affront.
The family of the Burtons, the nearest neighbours of the
Goodwins, no longer received Timms with the frank cordiality that they had manifested in the earlier period of his intercourse with them. Then, they had been communicative, eager
to tell all that they knew, and, as the lawyer fancied, even a
little more; while they were now reserved, uneasy, and indisposed to let one – half of the real facts within their knowledge
be known. Timms thought they had been worked upon, and
that they might expect some hostile and important testimony
from that quarter. The consultation ended by an exclamation from Dunscomb on the subject of the abuses that were so
fast creeping into the administration of justice, rendering the
boasted freemen of America, though in a different mode, little
more likely to receive its benefit from an unpolluted stream,
than they who live under the worn out and confessedly corrupt systems of the old world. Such is the tendency of things,
and such one of the ways of the hour.
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