Chapter X.
THE BENCH.
The wooden Jail and the wooden Court-house of Port Nassau faced oneanother across an unpaved grass-grown square planted with maples.To-day--for the fall of the leaf was at hand--these maples flamed withhectic yellows and scarlets; and indeed thousands of leaves, stripped bythe recent gales, already strewed the cross-walks and carpeted theground about the benches disposed in the shade--pleasant seats to which,of an empty afternoon, wives brought their knitting and gossiped whiletheir small children played within sight; haunts, later in the day, ofyouths who whittled sticks or carved out names with jack-knives--ancientsolace of the love-stricken; rarely thronged save when some transgressorwas brought to the stocks or the whipping-post.
These instruments of public discipline stood on the northern side of thesquare, before the iron-studded door of the Jail. The same hand, maybe, that had blackened over the Jail's weather-boarded front with a coatof tar, had with equal propriety whitewashed the facade of theCourt-house; an immaculate building, set in the cool shade, itsstraight-lined front broken only by a recessed balcony, whence, asoccasion arose, Mr. George Bellingham, Chief Magistrate, delivered thetext of a proclamation, royal or provincial, or declared the poll whenthe people of Port Nassau chose their Selectmen.
This morning Mr. Bellingham held session within, in the long, airyCourt-room, and dispensed justice with the help of threefellow-magistrates--Mr. Trask, Mr. Somershall, and our friendMr. Wapshott. They sat at a long baize-covered table, with theJustices' Clerk to advise them. On the wall behind and above theirheads hung a framed panel emblazoned with the royal escutcheon, the lionand unicorn for supporters, an inscription in old French to the effectthat there is shame in evil-thinking, and another:--
CAR II.
FID DEF.
distributed among the four corners of the panel, with the date 1660below. This had been erected (actually in 1664, but the artist hadreceived instructions to antedate it) when the good people ofMassachusetts after some demur rejoiced in the Restoration and acceptedKing Charles II. as defender of their Faith.
The four magistrates had dealt (as we know) with a case ofSabbath-breaking; had inflicted various terms of imprisonment on twodrunkards and a beggar-woman; had discharged for lack of evidence (butwith admonition) a youth accused of profane swearing; and were nowworking through a list of commoner and more venial offences, such ascheating by the use of false weights.
These four grave gentlemen looked up in slightly shocked deprecation;for the Collector entered without taking account of the constable at thedoor, save to thrust him aside. The Clerk called "Silence in theCourt!" mechanically, and a deputy-beadle at his elbow as mechanicallyrepeated it.
"Your Worships"--the Collector, hat in hand advanced to the table andbowed--"will forgive an interruption which only its urgency can excuse."
"Ah! Captain Vyell, I believe?" Mr. Bellingham arose from hishigh-backed throne of carved oak, bowed, and extended a hand across thetable. "I had heard that you were honouring Port Nassau with a visit;but understanding from our friend Mr. Wapshott that the visit was--er--not official--that, in fact, it was connected with government businessnot--er--to be divulged, I forbore to do myself the pleasure--"Mr. Bellingham had a courtly manner and a courtly presence. He was atallish man, somewhat thin in the face and forehead, of classicalfeatures, and a sanguine complexion. He came of a family highlydistinguished in the history of Massachusetts; but he was in fact a weakman, though he concealed this by some inherited aptitude for publicbusiness and a well-trained committee manner.
"I thank you." The Collector shook the preferred hand and bowed again."You will pardon my abruptness? A girl has fainted outside here, in thestreet--"
Mr. Bellingham's well-shaped brows arched themselves a trifle higher.
"Indeed?" he murmured, at a loss.
"A young girl who--as I understand--was suffering public punishmentunder sentence of yours."
"Yes?" Mr. Bellingham's smile grew vaguer, and his two hands touchedfinger-tips in front of his magisterial stomach--an adequate stomach butwell on the right side of grossness. He glanced at hisfellow-magistrates right and left. "It--er---sometimes happens," hesuggested.
"I dare say." Captain Vyell took him up. "But she has fainted under thepunishment. She has passed the limit of her powers, poor child; andthey tell me that what she has endured is to be followed, and at once,by five hours in the stocks. Gentlemen, I repeat I am quite well awarethat this is most irregular--you may call it indecent; but I saw thepoor creature fall, and, as it happens, I know something that might havesoftened you before you passed sentence."
Here the Clerk interposed, stiffening the Chief Magistrate, who wore asmile of embarrassed politeness.
"As His Honour--as Captain Vyell--suggests, your Worships, this is quiteirregular."
"To be sure--to be sure--of course," hemm'd Mr. Bellingham. "We canonly overlook that, when appealed to by a person of your distinction;"here he inclined himself gently. "Still, you will understand, asentence is a sentence. As for a temporary faintness, that is by nomeans outside our experience. Our Beadle--Shadbolt--invariably managesto revive them sufficiently to endure--er--the rest."
I'll be shot if he will this time, thought the Collector grimly, with aglance down at a smear across the knuckle of his right-hand glove.The sight of it cheered him and steadied his temper. "Possibly," saidhe aloud. "But your worships may not be aware--and as merciful men maybe glad to hear--that this poor creature's offence against the Sabbathwas committed under stress. Her mother and grandfather have starvedthis week through, as I happen to know."
"That may or may not be," put in Mr. Trask--a dry-complexioned,stubborn, malignant-looking man, seated next on the Chairman's right."But the girl--if you mean Ruth Josselin--has not been scourged forSabbath-breaking. For that she will sit in the stocks--our invariablesentence for first offenders in this respect." From under hisdown-drawn brows Mr. Trask eyed the Collector malevolently."Ruth Josselin," he continued, "has suffered the scourge for havingresisted Beadle Shadbolt in the discharge of his duty, and for unlawfulwounding."
"Excuse me," put in Mr. Somershall, speaking across from the Chairman'sleft. Mr. Somershall was afflicted with deafness, but liked to asserthimself whenever a word by chance reached him and gave him a cue.He leaned sideways, arching a palm around his one useful ear."Excuse me; we brought it in 'attempted wounding,' I believe? I have itnoted so, here on the margin of my charge-sheet." He glanced at theClerk, who nodded for confirmation.
"It didn't matter," Mr. Trask snapped brutally. "She got it, just thesame."
"Oh, quite so!" Mr. Somershall took his hand from his ear and nodded,satisfied with having made his point.
"Wounding?" echoed the Collector, addressing the Chairman. "To be frankwith you, sir, I had not heard of this--though it scarcely affects myplea."
Mr. Bellingham smiled indulgently. "Say no more, Captain Vyell--praysay no more! This is not the first time an inclination to deem ussevere has been corrected by a fuller acquaintance with the facts. . . .Yes, yes--chivalrous feeling--I quite understand; but you see--"He concluded his sentence with a gentle wave of the hand. "You will beglad to hear, since you take an interest in the girl, that Providenceoverruled her aim and Shadbolt escaped with a mere graze of the jaw--soslight, indeed, that, taking a merciful view, we decided not to considerit an actual wound, and convicted her only of the attempt. By the way,Mr. Leemy, where is the weapon?"
The Clerk produced it from his bag and laid it on the table.Captain Vyell drew a sharp breath.
"It is my pistol."
"Eh?"
"I have the fellow to it here." He pulled out the other and handed itby the muzzle.
"To be sure--to be sure; the pattern is identical," murmured Mr.Bellingham, examining it and for the moment completely puzzled."You--er--suggest that she stole it?"
"Certainly not. I lent it to her."
There fo
llowed a slow pause. It was broken by the grating voice of Mr.Trask--
"You remember, Mr. Chairman, that the prisoner stubbornly refused totell how the pistol came in her possession? Does Captain Vyell give usto understand that his interest in this young woman is of older datethan this morning's encounter?"
"My interest in her--such as it is--dates, sir, from the evening beforelast, when she was dismissed from the Bowling Green Inn. The hour waslate; her home, as you know, lies at some distance--though doubtlesswithin the ambit of your authority. I lent her this small weapon toprotect herself should she be molested."
"And she used it next day upon the Beadle! Dismissed, you say? Why wasshe dismissed?"
"I regret that I was not more curious at the time," answered theCollector with the politest touch of weariness. "I believe it was forsaving the house from fire--something of that sort. As told to me, itsounded rather heroical. But, sir--" he turned again to the Chairman--"I suggest that all this does not affect my plea. Whatever her offence,she has suffered cruelly. She is physically unfit to bear this secondpunishment; and when I tell you on my word as a gentleman--or on oath,if you will--that on Saturday I found her grandparent starving and thather second offence was committed presumably to supply the householdwants, surely I shall not entreat your mercy in vain?"
The Chief Magistrate hesitated, and a frown showed his annoyance."To tell you the truth, Captain Vyell, you put me in a quandary.I do not like to refuse you--" Here he glanced right and left.
"But it can't be done," snapped Mr. Trask. Mr. Wapshott, sitting justbeyond, shook his head gently and--as he hoped--unperceived by theCollector.
"You see, sir," explained Mr. Bellingham with a sigh, "we sit here toadminister justice without fear or favour. You see also to what scandalit might give rise if a culprit--merely on the intercession of agentleman like yourself--influential--er--and, in short--"
"--In short, sir," the Collector broke in, "you have in the name ofjustice committed one damnable atrocity upon this child, and plead yourcowardice as an excuse for committing another. Influential, am I?And you prate to me of not being affected by that? Very well; I'll takeyou at your word. This girl resisted your ruffian in the discharge ofhis duty? So did I just now, and with such effect that he will resumeit neither to-day nor to-morrow. She inflicted, it appears, a slightgraze on his chin. I inflicted two cuts on his face and knocked inthree of his teeth. You can take cognisance of _my_ wounding, I promiseyou. Now, sir, will you whip _me_ through your town?"
"This is mere violence, sir." Mr. Bellingham's face was flushed, but heanswered with dignity. "The law is as little to be exasperated asdefied."
"I will try you in another way, then," said the Collector, recoveringgrip of his temper and dropping his voice to a tone of politestinsolence. "It is understood that you have not the courage to do thisbecause, seated here and administering what you call justice, you have,each one of you, an eye upon England and preferment, and you know wellenough that to touch me would play the devil among the tailors with yourlittle ambitions. I except"--with a bow towards Mr. Trask--"thisgentleman, who seems to have earned his influence on your counsels byrugged force of character, And--" for here Mr. Trask, who enjoyed a digat his colleagues, cast his eyes down and compressed a grin--"is, Ishould judge, capable of striking a woman for the mere fun of it."Here Mr. Bellingham and Mr. Wapshott looked demure in turn; for thatMr. Trask led his wife a dog's life was notorious.
"--In truth, gentlemen," the Collector continued easily, "I am at someloss in addressing you, seeing that through some defect of courtesy youhave omitted to wait on me, albeit informed (I believe) that I came asHis Majesty's Commissioner, and that therefore I have not even thepleasure of knowing your names. I may except that of Mr. Wapshott, whomI am glad to see convalescent this morning." Here he inclined to Mr.Wapshott, whose gills under the surprised gaze of his colleagues took aperceptibly redder tinge. "Mr. Wapshott, gentlemen," explained theCollector, smiling, "had a slight attack of vertigo yesterday, on thesteps of his Place of Worship. Well, sirs, as I was saying, I will tryyou in another way. You have not the courage to bring me to trial forassaulting your beadle. You have not even the courage, here and now, tothrow me out. I believe, however, that upon a confessed breach of thelaw--supported by evidence, if necessary--I can force you to try me.The Clerk will correct me if I am wrong. . . . Apparently he assents.Then I desire to confess to you that yesterday, at such-and-such anhour, I broke your laws or bye-laws of Lord's Day Observance; by bathingin the sea for my pleasure. I demand trial on this charge, and, if youconvict me--here you can hardly help yourselves, since to my knowledgesome of you witnessed the offence--I demand my due punishment of thestocks."
"Really--really, Captain Vyell!" hemm'd the Chief Magistrate."Passing over your derogatory language, I am at a loss to understand--"
"Are you? Yet it is very simple. Since you reject my plea for thispoor creature, I desire to share her punishment."
"Let him," snapped the mouth of Mr. Trask again, opening and shuttinglike a trap.
"_You_ at any rate, sir, have sense," the Collector felicitated him andturned to the Chief Magistrate. "And you, sir, if you will oblige me,may rest assured that I shall bear the magistracy of Port Nassau nogrudge whatever."