AUGUSTA FLIES.
Of course, Augusta’s story, so far as it was publicly known, had
created no small stir, which was considerably emphasised when pictures
of her appeared in the illustrated papers, and it was discovered that
she was young and charming. But the excitement, great as it was, was as
nothing compared to that which arose when the first whispers of the
tale of the will, which was tattooed upon her shoulders, began to get
about. Paragraphs and stories about this will appeared in the papers,
but of course she took no notice of these.
On the fourth day, however, after she had been photographed for the
purposes of the Registry, things came to a climax. It so happened that
on that morning Lady Holmhurst asked Augusta to go to a certain shop in
Regent-street to get some lace which she required to trim her widow’s
dresses, and accordingly at about half-past twelve o’clock she started,
accompanied by the lady’s maid. As soon as they shut the front door of
the house in Hanover-square she noticed two or three doubtful-looking
men who were loitering about, and who instantly followed them, staring
at her with all their eyes. She made her way along, however, without
taking any notice until she got to Regent-street, by which time there
were quite a score of people walking after her whispering excitedly at
each other. In Regent-street itself, the first thing that she saw was a
man selling photographs. Evidently he was doing a roaring trade, for
there was a considerable crowd round him, and he was shouting something
which she could not catch. Presently a gentleman, who had bought one of
the photographs, stopped just in front of her to look at it, and as he
was short and Augusta was tall, she could see over his shoulder, and
the next second started back with an indignant exclamation. “No
wonder!” for the photograph was one of herself as she had been taken in
the low dress in the Registry. There was no mistake about it—there was
the picture of the will tattooed right across her shoulders.
Nor did her troubles end there, for at that moment a man came bawling
down the street carrying a number of the first edition of an evening
paper—
“Description and picture of the lovely ‘eroine of the Cockatoo,” he
yelled, “with the will tattooed upon ‘er! Taken from the original
photograph! Facsimile picture!”
“Oh, dear me,” said Augusta to the maid, “that is really too bad. Let
us go home.”
But meanwhile the crowd at her back had gathered and increased to an
extraordinary extent and was slowly inclosing her in a circle. The fact
was, that the man who had followed her from Hanover-square had told the
others who joined their ranks, who the lady was, and she was now
identified.
“That’s her,” said one man.
“Who?” said another.
“Why, the Miss Smithers as escaped from the Kangaroo and has the will
on her back, in course.”
There was a howl of exultation from the mob, and in another second the
wretched Augusta was pressed, together with the lady’s maid, who began
to scream with fright, right up against a lamp-post, while a crowd of
eager faces, mostly unwashed, were pushed almost into her own. Indeed,
so fierce was the crowd in its attempt to get a glimpse of the latest
curiosity, that she began to think that she would be thrown down and
trampled under foot, when timely relief arrived in the shape of two
policemen and a gentleman volunteer, who managed to rescue her and get
them into a hansom cab, which started for Hanover-square, pursued by a
shouting crowd of nondescript individuals.
Now, Augusta was a woman of good nerve and resolution; but this sort of
thing was too trying, and, accordingly, accompanied by Lady Holmhurst,
she went off, that very day, to some rooms in a little riverside hotel
on the Thames.
When Eustace, walking down the Strand that afternoon, found every
photograph-shop full of accurate pictures of the shoulders of his
beloved, he was simply furious; and, rushing to the photographer who
had taken the picture in the Registry, threatened him with proceedings
of every sort and kind. The man admitted outright that he had put the
photographs upon the market, saying that he had never stipulated not to
do so, and that he could not afford to throw away five or six hundred
pounds when a chance of making it came in his way.
Thereon Eustace departed, still vowing vengeance, to consult the legal
twins. As a result of this, within a week, Mr. James Short made a
motion for and injunction against the photographer, restraining the
sale of the photographs in question, on the ground that such sale,
being of copies of a document vital to a cause now pending in the
Court, those copies having been obtained through the instrumentality of
an officer of the court, Dr. Probate, the sale thereof amounted to a
contempt, inasmuch as, if for no other reason, the photographer who
obtained them became technically, and for that purpose only, an officer
of the Court, and had, therefore, no right to part with them, or any of
them, without the leave of the Court. It will be remembered that this
motion gave rise to some very delicate questions connected with the
powers of the Court in such a matter, and also incidentally with the
law of photographic copyright. It is also memorable for the unanimous
and luminous judgment finally delivered by the Lords Justices of
Appeal, whereby the sale of the photographs was stopped, and the
photographer was held to have been guilty of a technical contempt. This
judgment contained perhaps the most searching and learned definition of
constructive contempt that has yet been formulated: but for the text of
this, I must refer the student to the law reports, because, as it took
two hours to deliver, I fear that it would, notwithstanding its many
beauties, be thought too long for the purpose of this history.
Unfortunately, however, it did not greatly benefit Augusta, the victim
of the unlawful dissemination of photographs of her shoulders, inasmuch
as the judgment was not delivered till a week after the great case of
Meeson _v._ Addison and Another had been settled.
About a week after Augusta’s adventure in Regent-street, a motion was
made in the Court of Probate on behalf of the defendants, Messrs.
Addison and Roscoe, who were the executors and principal beneficiaries
under the former will of November, 1885, demanding that the Court
should order the plaintiff to file a further and better affidavit of
scripts, with the original will got up by him attached, the object, of
course, being to compel an inspection of the document. This motion,
which first brought the whole case under the notice of the public, was
strenuously resisted by Mr. James Short, and resulted in the matter
being referred to the learned Registrar for his report. On the next
motion day this report was presented, and, on its appearing from it
that the photography had taken place in his presence and accurately
represented the tattoo marks on the lady’s shoulders, the Court
declined to harass the “will” by ordering her to submit to any further
inspection before the trial. It was on this occasion that it transpired
that the will was engaged to be married to the plaintiff, a fact at
which the Court metaphorically opened its eyes. After this the
defendants obtained leave to amend their answer to the plaintiff’s
statement of claim. At first they had only pleaded that the testator
had not duly executed the alleged will in accordance with the
provisions of 1 Vic., cap. 26, sec. 2, and that he did not know and
approve the contents thereof. But now they added a plea to the effect
that the said alleged will was obtained by the undue influence of
Augusta Smithers, or, as one of the learned counsel for the defendants
put it much more clearly at the trial, “that the will had herself
procured the will, by an undue projection of her own will upon the
unwilling mind of the testator.”
And so the time went on. As often as he could, Eustace got away from
London, and went down to the little riverside hotel, and was as happy
as a man can be who has a tremendous law suit hanging over him. The
law, no doubt, is an admirable institution, out of which a large number
of people make a living, and a proportion of benefit accrues to the
community at large. But woe unto those who form the subject-matter of
its operations. For instance, the Court of Chancery is an excellent
institution in theory, and looks after the affairs of minors upon the
purest principles. But how many of its wards after, and as a result of
one of its well-intentioned interferences, have to struggle for the
rest of their lives under a load of debt raised to pay the crushing
costs! To employ the Court of Chancery to look after wards is something
as though one set a tame elephant to pick up pins. No doubt he could
pick them up, but it would cost something to feed him. It is a
perfectly arguable proposition that the Court of Chancery produces as
much wretchedness and poverty as it prevents, and it certainly is a
bold step, except under the most exceptionable circumstances, to place
anybody in its custody who has money that can be dissipated in law
expenses. But of course these are revolutionary remarks, which one
cannot expect everybody to agree with, least of all the conveyancing
counsel of the Court.
However this may be, certainly his impending lawsuit proved a fly in
Eustace’s honey. Never a day passed but some fresh worry arose. James
and John, the legal twins, fought like heroes, and held their own
although their experience was so small—as men of talent almost
invariably do when they are put to it. But it was difficult for Eustace
to keep them supplied even with sufficient money for out-of-pocket
expenses; and, of course, as was natural in a case in which such
enormous sums were at stake, and in which the defendants were already
men of vast wealth, they found the flower of the entire talent and
weight of the Bar arrayed against them. Naturally Eustace felt, and so
did Mr. James Short—who, notwithstanding his pomposity and the
technicality of his talk, was both a clever and sensible man—that more
counsel, men of weight and experience, ought to be briefed; but there
were absolutely no funds for this purpose, nor was anybody likely to
advance any upon the security of a will tattooed upon a young lady’s
back. This was awkward, because success in law proceedings so very
often leans towards the weightiest purse, and Judges however impartial,
being but men after all, are more apt to listen to an argument which is
urged upon their attention by an Attorney-General than on one advanced
by an unknown junior.
However, there the fact was, and they had to make the best of it; and a
point in their favour was that the case, although of a most remarkable
nature, was comparatively simple, and did not involve any great mass of
documentary evidence.