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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
the well – known avarice of the nephew of the Goodwins, and
who was in danger of becoming the victim of a chain of extraordinary occurrences that had thrown her into the meshes
of the law. It is true, this reasoning was backed by liberal gifts;
which, however, were made to assume the aspect of compensation fairly earned; for the biggest villain going derives a certain degree of satisfaction in persuading himself that he is acting under the influence of motives to which he is, in truth, a
stranger. The homage which vice pays to virtue is on a much
more extended scale than is commonly supposed.
Williams’s men had much the best of it with the mass. They
addressed themselves to prejudices as wide as the dominion
of man; and a certain personal zeal was mingled with their
cupidity. Then they had, by far, the easiest task. He who merely aids the evil principles of our nature, provided he conceal
the cloven foot, is much more sure of finding willing listeners
than he who looks for support in the good. A very unusual sort
of story was circulated in this bar – room at the expense of the
accused, and which carried with it more credit than common,
in consequence of its being so much out of the beaten track of
events as to seem to set invention at defiance.
Mary Monson was said to be an heiress, well connected,
and well educated or, as these three very material circumstances were stated by the Williams’ men”well to do herself,
of friends well to do, and of excellent schooling.” She had
been married to a person of equal position in society, wealth
and character, but many years her senior too many, the story
went, considering her own time of life; for a great difference,
when one of the parties is youthful, is apt to tax the tastes too
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
severely and that connection had not proved happy. It had
been formed abroad, and more on foreign than on American
principles; the bridegroom being a Frenchman. It was what is
called a mariage de raison, made through the agency of friends
and executors, rather than through the sympathies and feelings that should alone bring man and woman together in this,
the closest union known to human beings. After a year of married life abroad, the unmatched couple had come to America,
where the wife possessed a very ample fortune. This estate the
recently enacted laws gave solely and absolutely to herself; and
it soon became a source of dissension between man and wife.
The husband, quite naturally, considered himself entitled to
advise and direct, and, in some measure, to control, while the
affluent, youthful, and pretty wife, was indisposed to yield any
of the independence she so much prized; but which, in sooth,
was asserted in the very teeth of one of the most salutary laws
of nature. In consequence of this very different manner of
viewing the marriage relation, a coolness ensued, which was
shortly followed by the disappearance of the wife. This wife
was Mary Monson, who had secreted herself in the retired
dwelling of the Goodwins, while the hired agents of her husband were running up and down the land in search of the
fugitive in places of resort. To this account, so strange, and yet
in many respects so natural, it was added that a vein of occult
madness existed in the lady’s family; and it was suggested that,
as so much of her conduct as was out of the ordinary course
might be traced to this malady, so was it also possible that the
terrible incidents of the fire and the deaths were to be imputed
to the same deep affliction.
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
We are far from saying that any rumour expressed in the
terms we have used, was circulating in Mrs. Horton’s bar –
room; but one that contained all their essentials was. It is one
of the curious effects of the upward tendency of truth that almost every effort to conceal it altogether fails; and this at the
very time when idle and heartless gossip is filling the world
with lies. The tongue does a thousand times more evil than
the sword; destroys more happiness, inflicts more incurable
wounds, leaves deeper and more indelible scars. Truth is rarely
met with unalloyed by falsehood.
“This or that unmix’d, no mortal e’er shall find”
Was the judgment of Pope a century since; nor has all the
boasted progress of these later times induced a change. It is
remarkable that a country which seems honestly devoted to
improvement of every sort, that has a feverish desire to take
the lead in the warfare against all sorts and species of falsehood, gives not the slightest heed to the necessity of keeping
the channels of intelligence pure, as well as open! Such is the
fact; and it is a melancholy but a just admission to acknowledge that with all the means of publicity preserved by America, there is no country in which it is more difficult to get unadulterated truth impressed on the common mind. The same
wire that transmits a true account of the price of cotton from
Halifax to New Orleans, carries a spark that imparts one that
is false. The two arrive together; and it is not until each has
done its work that the real fact is ascertained.
Notwithstanding these undoubted obstacles to the circulation of unalloyed truth, that upward tendency to which we
have alluded occasionally brings out clear and strong rays of
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
the divine quality, that illumine the moral darkness on which
they shine, as the sun touches the verge of the thunder – cloud.
It is in this way that an occasional report is heard, coming from
no one knows where; originating with, no one knows whom;
circulating in a sort of under – current beneath the torrents
of falsehood, that is singularly, if it be not absolutely correct.
Of this character was the strange rumour that found its way
into Biberry on the morning of Mary Monson’s trial, touching
the history of that mysterious young woman’s past life. Wilmeter heard it, first, with a pang of disappointment, though Anna
had nearly regained her power in his heart; and this pang was
immediately succeeded by unbounded surprise. He told the
tale to Millington; and together they endeavoured to trace the
report to something like its source. All efforts of this nature
were in vain. One had heard the story from another; but no
one could say whence it came originally. The young men gave
the pursuit up as useless, and proceeded together towards the
room of Timms, where they knew Dunscomb was to be found,
just at that time.
“It is remarkable that a story of this nature should be in
such general circulation,” said John, “and no one be able to
tell who brought it to Biberry. Parts of it seem extravagant. Do
they not strike you so, sir?”
“There is nothing too extravagant for some women to do,”
answered Millington, thoughtfully. “Now, on such a person as
Sarah, or even on Anna Updyke, some calculations might be
made certain calculations, I might say; but, there are women,
Jack, on whom one can no more depend, than on the constancy of the winds.”
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“I admire your `even on Anna Updyke!’ “
“Do you not agree with me?” returned the unobservant
Millington. “I have always considered Sarah’s friend as a particularly reliable and safe sort of person.
“Even on Anna Updyke! and a particularly reliable and
safe sort of person!You have thought this, Mike, because she is
Sarah’s bosom friend!”
“That may have prejudiced me in her favour, I will allow;
for I like most things that Sarah likes.”
John looked at his friend and future brother – in – law
with an amused surprise; the idea of liking Anna Updyke on
any account but her own, striking him as particularly absurd.
But they were soon at Timms’s door, and the conversation
dropped as a matter of course.
No one who has ever travelled much in the interior of
America, can easily mistake the character of one of the small
edifices, with the gable to the street, ornamented with what are
erroneously termed Venitian blinds, painted white, and with
an air of tobacco – smoke and the shabby – genteel about it,
notwithstanding its architectural pretensions. This is a lawyer’s office, thus brought edgeways to the street, as if its owner
felt the necessity of approaching the thoroughfare of the world
a little less directly than the rest of mankind. It often happens
that these buildings, small as they usually are, contain two, or
even three rooms; and that the occupants, if single men, sleep
in them as well as transact their business. Such was the case
with Timms, his “office,” as the structure was termed, containing his bed – room, in addition to an inner and an outer apartment devoted to the purposes of the law. Dunscomb was in the
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
sanctum, while a single clerk and three or four clients, countrymen of decent exterior and very expecting countenances,
occupied the outer room. John and Millington went into the
presence with little or no hesitation.
Wilmeter was not accustomed to much circumlocution;
and he at once communicated the substance of the strange
rumour that was in circulation, touching their interesting client. The uncle listened with intense attention, turning pale as
the nephew proceeded. Instead of answering or making any
comment, he sank upon a chair, leaned his hands on a table
and his head on his hands, for fully a minute. All were struck
with these signs of agitation; but no one dared to interfere. At
length, this awkward pause came to a close, and Dunscomb
raised his head, the face still pale and agitated. His eye immediately sought that of Millington.
“You had heard this story, Michael?” demanded the counsellor.
“I had, sir. John and I went together to try to trace it to
some authority.” “With what success?”
“None whatever. It is in every one’s mouth, but no one can
say whence it came. Most rumours have a clue, but this seems
to have none.”
“Do you trace the connection which has struck which has
oppressed me?”
“I do, sir, and was so struck the moment I heard the rumour; for the facts are in singular conformity with what you
communicated to me some months since.”
“They are, indeed, and create a strong probability that there
is more truth in this rumour than is commonly to be found in
such reports. What has become of Timms?”
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“On the ground, ‘Squire,” answered that worthy from the
outer room “just despatching my clerk” this word he pronounced `clurk’ instead of `clark,’ by way of showing he knew
how to spell “with a message to one of my men. He will find
him, and be with us in a minute.”
In the mean time, Timms had a word to say to each client
in succession; getting rid of them all by merely telling each
man, in his turn, there was not the shadow of doubt that he
would get the better of his opponent in the trial that was so
near at hand. It may be said here, as a proof how much a legal prophet may be mistaken, Timms was subsequently beaten
in each of these three suits, to the great disappointment of as
many anxious husbandmen, each of whom fondly counted on
success, from the oily promises he had received.
In a very few minutes the agent expected by Timms appeared in the office. He was plain – looking, rather rough and
honest in appearance, with a most wily, villanous leer of the
eye. His employer introduced him as Mr. Johnson.
“Well, Johnson, what news?” commenced Timms. “These
are friends to Mary Monson, and you can speak out, always
avoiding partic’lar partic’lars.”
Johnson leered, helped himself to a chew of tobacco with
great deliberation, a trick he had when he needed a moment
of thought before he made his revelations; bowed respectfully
to the great York lawyer; took a good look at each of the young
men, as if to measure their means of doing good or harm; and
then condescended to reply.
“Not very good,” was the answer. “That foreign instrument,
which they say is just such an one as David used when he played
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
before Saul, has done a good deal of harm. It won’t do, ‘Squire
Timms, to fiddle off an indictment for murder! Mankind gets
engaged in such causes; and if they desire music on the trial,
it’s the music of law and evidence that they want.”
“Have you heard any reports concerning Mary Monson’s
past life? if so, can you tell where they come from?” Johnson
knew perfectly well whence a portion of the rumours came;
those which told in favour of the accused;
but these he easily comprehended were not the reports to
which Timms alluded.
“Biberry is full of all sorts of rumours,” returned Johnson,
cautiously, “as it commonly is in court – time. Parties like to
make the most of their causes.”
“You know my meaning we have no time to lose; answer
at once.”
“I suppose I do know what you mean, ‘Squire Timms; and I
have heard the report. In my judgment, the person who set it
afloat is no friend of Mary Monson’s.”
“You think, then, it will do her damage?”
“To the extent of her neck. Eve, before she touched the apple, could not have been acquitted in the face of such a rumour.
I look upon your client as a lost woman, ‘Squire Timms.”
“Does that seem to be the common sentimentthat is, so far
as you can judge?” “Among the jurors it does.”
“The jurors!” exclaimed Dunscomb”what can you possibly
know of the opinions of the jurors, Mr. Johnson?”
A cold smile passed over the man’s face, and he looked
steadily at Timms, as if to catch a clue that might conduct him
safely through the difficulties of his case. A frown that was
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
plain enough to the agent, though admirably concealed from
all others in the room, told him to be cautious.
“I only know what I see and hear. Jurors are men, and other
men can sometimes get an insight into their feelings, without
running counter to law. I heard the rumour related myself, in
the presence of seven of the panel. It’s true, nothing was said of
the murder, or the arson; but such a history of the previous life
of the accused was given as Lady Washington couldn’t have
stood up ag’in, had she been livin’, and on trial for her life.”
“Was anything said of insanity?” asked Dunscomb.
“Ah, that plea will do no good, now – a – days; it’s worn
out. They’d hang a murderer from Bedlam. Insanity has been
overdone, and can’t be depended on any longer.”
“Was anything said on the subject?” repeated the counsellor.
“Why, to own the truth, there was; but, as that told for Mary
Monson, and not ag’in her, it was not pressed.” “You think,
then, that the story has been circulated by persons in favour of
the prosecution?”
“I know it. One of the other side said to me, not ten minutes
ago`Johnson,’ said he`we are old friends’he always speaks to
me in that familiar way`Johnson,’ said he, `you’d a done better to have gi’n up. What’s five thousand dollars to the likes of
her? and them you know is the figures.”
“This is a pretty exhibition of the manner of administering
justice!” exclaimed the indignant Dunscomb. “Long as I have
been at the bar, I had no conception that such practices prevailed. At all events, this illegality will give a fair occasion to
demand a new trial.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Ay, the sharpest lawyer that ever crossed Harlem bridge
can l’arn something in old Duke’s,” said Johnson, nodding.
“’Squire Timms will stand to that. As for new trials, I only wonder the lawyers don’t get one each time they are beaten; for the
law would bear them out.”
“I should like to know how, Master Johnson,” put in Timms.
“That would be a secret worth knowing.” “A five – dollar note
will buy it.”
“There’s one of tennow, tell me your secret.”
“Well, ‘Squire, you be a gentleman, whatever folks may say
and think of you. I’d rather do business with you, by one – half,
than do business with Williams; notwithstanding he has such
a name, up and down the country. Stick to it, and you’ll get the
nomination to the Sinat’; and the nomination secured, you’re
sure of the seat. Nomination is the government of Ameriky;
and that’s secured by a wonderful few!”
“I believe you are more than half right, Johnson” Here
Dunscomb, his nephew, and Millington left the office, quite
unnoticed by the two worthies, who had entered on a subject
as engrossing as that of Timms’s elevation to the Senate. And,
by the way, as this book is very likely to be introduced to the
world, it may be well enough to explain that we have two sorts
of “Senates” in this country; wheels within wheels. There is the
Senate of each State, without an exception now, we believe;
and there is the Senate of the United States; the last being,
in every sense, much the most dignified and important body.
It being unfortunately true, that “nominations” are the real
people of America, unless in cases which arouse the nation,
the State Senates very often contain members altogether un-
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