Страница 44 из 91
An hour later, when Sacheverall was finished and turned with a smile of invitation to Rathbone, he had established a regular pattern of visits between the two men and that they frequently lasted for several hours. He could not and would not guess as to what happened within Wolff's rooms once the outer door was closed, but the pinkness of his cheeks and his evident embarrassment and rising anger made his thoughts transparent.
Rathbone rose with his mind in turmoil. He had seldom felt so inadequate to a case or so angry with his adversary. He had often fought hard, and lost more than he wished, but to a better case, and to a man he respected. Indeed, Ebenezer Goode, a man he had often faced, was also a personal friend.
He loathed Wystan Sacheverall, and it was more than just the fact he was wi
"Major Hillman," Rathbone began courteously, walking forward towards the witness stand, "I am sure you would rather not be here on this matter, and I should not press you were there not absolute necessity."
"Thank you, sir," the major said stiffly. He did not know what to make of Rathbone, and it was clear in the expression in his rather plain face.
"Are you acquainted with Mr. Wolff? Do you speak to him if you should meet on the landing or stairs?"
"Yes-yes, I have until now." Hillman was obviously nonplussed.
"But something here has changed your mind?" Rathbone suggested helpfully. "Something that has been said today?"
Hillman looked acutely unhappy. He stood as if to attention, shoulders square, back stiff, eyes straight ahead.
"Perhaps I can assist you," Rathbone offered. "Mr. Sachev-erall has suggested a relationship which would be quite improper, and you might find that repugnant to you?"
"I should, sir! I should…" Hillman was shaking, his voice thick with emotion.
"Extremely repugnant?" Rathbone nodded.
Hillman was tight-lipped. "Extremely."
Sacheverall was leaning across his table, listening with a half smile on his face.
The jurors were watching Rathbone intently.
Melville had his head down, refusing to look at anyone.
"Quite so," Rathbone agreed. "You are not alone, Major Hillman. Most of us do not care to think or imagine the intimate details of other people's lives. We consider it intrusive at best, at worst a form of emotional illness."
Sacheverall started to his feet.
McKeever gestured him to silence, but his glance at Rathbone warned him that he would not indulge him much longer.
"But before coming here today, Major Hillman," Rathbone said with a smile, "you had not entertained such thoughts? You did not speak pleasantly while at the same time believing him to be practicing the acts Mr. Sacheverall has hinted at?"
"Certainly not, sir!" Hillman said sharply. "I believed him to be a normal man-indeed, a gentleman."
"So it is Mr. Sacheverall who has changed your mind?"
"Yes sir."
Rathbone smiled. "And here were we supposing it was your testimony which had changed his. Thank you for correcting our errors, sir. I am obliged to you. That is all I have to trouble you with."
There was a ripple of laughter around the room. But it was a short-lived victory, as Rathbone had known it would be. Hard on the major's heels was a man of much less repute, a grubby-minded idler with nothing better to do than to watch and imagine. His evidence was as well embroidered. The jury's contempt for his testimony was marked plainly in their faces, but they had to listen to his leering account, and however hard they might have wished to expunge it from their minds, it was not possible. One ca
Rathbone could discredit the man, but it was hardly worth the effort. He had discredited himself. There was no point in trying to shake his actual testimony. To draw attention to it at all, whether to rebut, argue, or deny, was only to fix it more firmly in the jurors' minds.
"No thank you, my lord," Rathbone said when offered his chance to examine the witness. "I ca
The luncheon adjournment was brief, only sufficient to eat the hastiest meal, and then they returned to court. An occupant of the building where Melville lived swore unhappily that he had seen Isaac Wolff visit Melville's rooms and remain for some time. No matter how Sacheverall pressed, he would not put an hour to it. Perversely, his very honesty and reluctance made his evidence the more powerful. It was apparent he both liked Melville personally and regarded this proceeding as an intrusion into those areas of a man's life which should remain private.
It was clear in the jurors' expressions that they attached great weight to his word. He refused point-blank, and with some show of temper, to speculate.
Sacheverall dismissed him with almost palpable satisfaction.
Glancing at Barton Lambert, and at Zillah sitting beside him, so stricken with misery and dismay she looked almost numbed, Rathbone had only one more card to play, and it was a desperate one, with only a shred of hope.
He asked for a fifteen-minute adjournment to consult with Sacheverall.
McKeever granted it, perhaps with more pity than legal reason.
Outside in the hall, Rathbone saw Monk and spoke with him momentarily, but he had nothing to offer, and two minutes later Rathbone strode after Sacheverall, leaving Melville standing alone.
"Well?" Sacheverall asked with a grin. "What now?"
"Ask Lambert if he wants to pursue this," Rathbone demanded. He loathed appealing to Sacheverall, of all people, for mercy, but he had nothing else left.
Sacheverall's fair eyebrows rose in amazement. "For God's sake, what for? He can't lose!"
"He can't lose the case," Rathbone agreed. "He can lose his daughter's happiness and peace of conscience. Have you looked at her face? Do you think this is giving her pleasure? She has her vindication; she does not want or need to ruin Melville as well. Ask Lambert if he needs to go any further."
"I don't need to," Sacheverall said with a broad smile.
"Yes, you do!" Rathbone was furious, but he tried to conceal it for his own dignity. "In case you have temporarily forgotten it, you are acting for the Lambert family, not for yourself!"
Sacheverall flushed. "I'll ask him," he agreed gracelessly. "But I shall also advise him. Now, if that was all you had to say, then we should not delay the court any longer." And without waiting for Rathbone to reply, he turned on his heel and marched back to the courtroom, leaving Rathbone to follow.
Sacheverall produced his final witness, and she was damning. She might have called herself an adventuress, but she was little more than an unpleasantly ambitious prostitute, both experienced and astute as to the appetites of men and women. She had no doubt whatever that Wolff and Melville were lovers. She had seen them embracing and her evidence was possibly the more unpleasant because her entire ma
There was nothing for Rathbone to do. He was completely beaten. It was not merely in Sacheverall's jubilant face but in the grim disgust of the majority of the jurors as well. Even those few who might have felt either pity or a sense that it was a private matter and not a public concern could not argue the issue that Killian Melville had broken his promise to marry Zillah Lambert because of a fault that lay within himself. He had deceived her as to his nature and his intentions and she had every right to demand and to receive reparation from him for the slight to her honor and her reputation.