A Place Called Freedom (26 page)

He felt shaky. He had done his best, and now his life was in the hands of others.

Gordonson got to his feet. “We were expecting a character witness to appear on McAsh’s behalf—the Reverend Mr. York, pastor of the church in the village of his birth—but he has not yet arrived.”

Mack was not very disappointed about York, for he did not expect York’s testimony to have much effect, and neither did Gordonson.

The judge said: “If he arrives he may speak before sentencing.” Gordonson raised his eyebrows and the judge added: “That is, unless the jury finds the defendant not guilty, in which case further testimony would be superfluous, needless to say. Gentlemen, consider your verdict.”

Mack studied the jurors fearfully as they conferred. He thought, to his dismay, that they looked unsympathetic. Perhaps he had come on too strong. “What do you think?” he said to Gordonson.

The lawyer shook his head. “They’ll find it hard to believe that the Jamisson family entered into a shabby conspiracy with Sidney Lennox. You might have done better to present the coal heavers as well intentioned but misguided.”

“I told the truth,” Mack said. “I can’t help it.”

Gordonson smiled sadly. “If you weren’t that kind of man, you might not be in so much trouble.”

The jurors were arguing. “What the devil are they talking about?” Mack said. “I wish we could hear.” He could see the skeptical one making a point forcefully, wagging his finger. Were the others listening attentively, or ranged against him?

“Be grateful,” Gordonson said. “The longer they talk, the better for you.”

“Why?”

“If they’re arguing, there must be doubt; and if there is doubt, they have to find you not guilty.”

Mack watched fearfully. The skeptical one shrugged and half turned away, and Mack feared he had lost the argument. The foreman said something to him, and he nodded.

The foreman approached the bench.

The judge said: “Have you reached a verdict?”

“We have.”

Mack held his breath.

“And how do you find the prisoner?”

“We find him guilty as charged.”

Lady Hallim said: “Your feeling for this miner is rather strange, my dear. A husband might find it objectionable.”

“Oh, Mother, don’t be so ridiculous.”

There was a knock at the dining room door and a footman came in. “The Reverend Mr. York, madam,” he said.

“What a lovely surprise!” said Mother. She had always been fond of York. In a low voice she added: “His wife died, Lizzie—did I tell you?—leaving him with three children.”

“But what’s he doing here?” Lizzie said anxiously. “He’s supposed to be at the Old Bailey. Show him in, quickly.”

The pastor came in, looking as if he had dressed hastily. Before Lizzie could ask him why he was not at the trial he said something that momentarily took her mind off Mack.

“Lady Hallim, Mrs. Jamisson, I arrived in London a few hours ago, and I’ve called on you at the earliest possible moment to offer you both my sympathies. What a dreadful—”

Lizzie’s mother said,
“No
—” then clamped her lips tight.

“—blow to you.”

Lizzie shot a puzzled look at her mother and said: “What are you talking about, Mr. York?”

“The pit disaster, of course.”

“I don’t know anything about it—although I see my mother does.…”

“My goodness, I’m terribly sorry to have shocked you. There was a roof collapse at your pit, and twenty people were killed.”

Lizzie gasped. “How absolutely dreadful.” In her mind she saw twenty new graves in the little churchyard by the bridge. There would be so much grief: everyone in the neighborhood would be mourning someone. But something else worried her. “What do you mean when you say ‘your’ pit?”

“High Glen.”

Lizzie went cold.
“There is no pit at High Glen.”

“Only the new one, of course—the one that was begun when you married Mr. Jamisson.”

Lizzie felt frozen with rage. She rounded on her mother. “You knew, didn’t you?”

Lady Hallim had the grace to look ashamed. “My dear, it was the only thing to do. That’s why Sir George gave you the Virginia property—”

“You betrayed me!” Lizzie cried. “You all deceived me. Even my husband. How could you? How could you lie to me?”

Her mother began to cry. “We thought you’d never know. You’re going to America—”

Her tears did nothing to blunt Lizzie’s outrage. “You thought I’d never know? I can hardly believe my ears!”

“Don’t do anything rash, I beg you.”

An awful thought struck Lizzie. She turned to the pastor. “Mack’s twin sister …”

“I’m afraid Esther McAsh was among the dead,” he said.

“Oh, no.” Mack and Esther were the first twins Lizzie had ever seen, and she had been fascinated by them. As children they were hard to tell apart until you got to know them. In later life Esther looked like a female Mack, with the same striking green eyes and the miner’s squat muscularity. Lizzie remembered them a few short months ago, standing side by side outside the church. Esther had told Mack to shut his gob, and that had made Lizzie laugh. Now Esther was dead and Mack was about to be condemned to death—

Remembering Mack, she said: “The trial is today!”

York said: “Oh, my goodness, I didn’t know it was so soon—am I too late?”

“Perhaps not, if you go now.”

“I will. How far is it?”

“Fifteen minutes’ walk, five minutes in a sedan chair. I’m coming with you.”

Mother said: “No, please—”

Lizzie made her voice harsh. “Don’t try to stop me, Mother. I’m going to plead for Mack’s life myself. We killed the sister—perhaps we can save the brother.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Lady Hallim.

* * *

The Sessions Yard was crammed with people. Lizzie was confused and lost, and neither York nor her mother was any help. She pushed through the crowd, searching for Gordonson or Mack. She came to a low wall that enclosed an inner yard and at last saw Mack and Caspar Gordonson through the railings. When she called, Gordonson came out through a gate.

At the same time Sir George and Jay appeared.

Jay said in a reproving tone: “Lizzie, why are you here?”

She ignored him and spoke to Gordonson: “This is the Reverend Mr. York, from our village in Scotland. He’s come to plead for Mack’s life.”

Sir George wagged a finger at York. “If you’ve got any sense you’ll turn around and go straight back to Scotland.”

Lizzie said: “And I’m going to plead for his life, too.”

“Thank you,” Gordonson said fervently. “It’s the best thing you could possibly do.”

Lady Hallim said: “I tried to stop her, Sir George.”

Jay flushed with anger and grabbed Lizzie by the arm, squeezing hard. “How dare you humiliate me like this?” he spat. “I absolutely forbid you to speak!”

“Are you intimidating this witness?” said Gordonson.

Jay looked cowed and let go. A lawyer with a bundle of papers pushed through the middle of their little group. Jay said: “Do we have to have this discussion here where the whole world can see?”

“Yes,” said Gordonson. “We can’t leave the court.”

Sir George said to Lizzie: “What the devil do you mean by this, my girl?”

The arrogant tone maddened Lizzie. “You know damn well what I mean by it,” she said. The men were all startled to hear her swear, and two or three people standing nearby turned and looked at her. She ignored their reactions. “You all planned this riot to trap McAsh. I’m not going to stand by and see you hang him.”

Sir George reddened. “Remember that you’re my daughter-in-law and—”

“Shut up, George,” she interrupted. “I won’t be bullied.”

He was thunderstruck. No one ever told him to shut up, she was sure.

Jay took up the cudgels. “You can’t go against your own husband,” he stormed. “It’s disloyal!”

“Disloyal?” she repeated scornfully. “Who the hell are you to talk to me about loyalty? You swore to me that you would not mine coal on my land—then went ahead and did exactly that. You betrayed me on our wedding day!”

They all went quiet, and for a moment Lizzie could hear a witness giving evidence loudly on the other side of the wall. “You know about the accident, then,” said Jay.

She took a deep breath. “I might as well say now that Jay and I will be leading separate lives from today. We’ll be married in name only. I shall return to my house in Scotland, and none of the Jamisson family will be welcomed there. As for my speaking up for McAsh: I’m not going to help you hang my friend, and you can both—both—kiss my arse.”

Sir George was too stupefied to say anything. No one had spoken to him this way for years. He was beetroot red, his eyes bulged, and he spluttered, but no words came out.

Caspar Gordonson addressed Jay. “May I make a suggestion?”

Jay gave him a hostile glare but said curtly: “Go on, go on.”

“Mrs. Jamisson might be persuaded not to testify—on one condition.”

“What?”

“You, Jay, should plead for Mack’s life.”

“Absolutely not,” said Jay.

Gordonson went on: “It would be just as effective. But it would save the family the embarrassment of a wife going against her husband in open court.” He suddenly looked sly. “Instead, you would look magnanimous. You could say that Mack was a miner in the Jamisson pits and for that reason the family wishes to be merciful.”

Lizzie’s heart leaped with hope. A plea for mercy from Jay, the officer who had quelled the riot, would be much more effective.

She could see hesitation flicker across Jay’s face as he weighed the consequences. Then he said sulkily: “I suppose I have to accept this.”

Before Lizzie had time to feel exultant, Sir George intervened. “There’s one condition, which I know Jay will insist upon.”

Lizzie had a bad feeling that she knew what was coming.

Sir George looked at her. “You must forget all this nonsense about separate lives. You are to be a proper wife to Jay in every way.”

“No!” she cried. “He has betrayed me—how can I trust him? I won’t do it.”

Sir George said: “Then Jay will not plead for McAsh’s life.”

Gordonson said: “I must tell you, Lizzie, that Jay’s plea will be more effective than yours, because he’s the prosecutor.”

Lizzie felt bewildered. It was not fair—she was being forced to choose between Mack’s life and her own. How could she decide such a thing? She was pulled both ways, and it hurt.

They were all staring at her: Jay, Sir George, Gordonson, her mother, and York. She knew she should give in, but something inside would not let her. “No,” she said defiantly. “I will not trade my own life for Mack’s.”

Gordonson said: “Think again.”

Then her mother said: “You have to.”

Lizzie looked at her. Of course her mother would urge her to do the conventional thing. But Mother was on the verge of tears. “What is it?”

She began to cry. “You have to be a proper wife to Jay.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re going to have a baby.”

Lizzie stared at her. “What? What are you talking about?”

“You’re pregnant,” her mother said.

“How would you know?”

Mother spoke through sobs. “Your bosom has got bigger and food makes you feel sick. You’ve been married for two months: it’s not exactly unexpected.”

“Oh, my God.” Lizzie was dumbfounded. Everything was turned upside-down. A baby! Could it be? She thought back and realized she had not had the curse since her wedding day. So it was true. She was trapped by her own body. Jay was the father of her child. And Mother had realized this was the one thing that could change Lizzie’s mind.

She looked at her husband. On his face she saw anger mixed with a pleading look. “Why did you lie to me?” she said.

“I didn’t want to, but I had to,” he said.

She felt bitter. Her love for him would never be quite the same, she knew. But he was still her husband.

“All right,” she said. “I accept.”

Caspar Gordonson said: “Then we’re all in agreement.”

It sounded to Lizzie like a life sentence.

“Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes!” shouted the court crier. “My lords, the king’s justices, strictly command all manner of persons to keep silence while the sentence of death is passing on the prisoners at the bar, on pain of imprisonment.”

The judge put on his black cap and stood up.

Mack shuddered with loathing. Nineteen cases had been tried on the same day, and twelve people had been found guilty. Mack suffered a wave of terror. Lizzie had forced Jay to plead for mercy, which meant that his death sentence should be reprieved, but what if the judge decided to discount Jay’s plea or just made a mistake?

Lizzie was at the back of the court. Mack caught her eye. She looked pale and shaken. He had not had a chance to speak to her. She tried to give him an encouraging smile, but it turned into a grimace of fear.

The judge looked at the twelve prisoners, standing in a line, and after a moment he spoke. “The law is that thou shalt return from hence, to the place whence thou earnest, and from thence to the place of execution, where thou shalt hang by the neck, till the body be dead! dead! dead! and the Lord have mercy on thy soul.”

There was an awful pause. Cora held Mack’s arm, and he felt her fingers digging into his flesh as she suffered the same dreadful anxiety. The other prisoners had little hope of pardon. As they heard their death sentences some screamed abuse, some wept, and one prayed loudly.

“Peg Knapp is reprieved and recommended for transportation,” the judge intoned. “Cora Higgins is reprieved and recommended for transportation. Malachi McAsh is reprieved and recommended for transportation. The rest are left to hang.”

Mack put his arms around Cora and Peg, and the three of them stood in a mutual embrace. Their lives had been spared.

Caspar Gordonson joined in the embrace, then he took Mack’s arm and said solemnly: “I have to give you some dreadful news.”

Mack was scared again: would their reprieves somehow be overturned?

“There has been a roof collapse in one of the Jamisson pits,” he went on. Mack’s heart missed a beat: he dreaded what was coming. “Twenty people were killed,” Gordonson said.

“Esther …?”