JOHN KENNEBY'S DOOM.
On the evening but one after the trial was over Mr. Moulder
entertained a few friends to supper at his apartments in Great St.
Helen's, and it was generally understood that in doing so he intended
to celebrate the triumph of Lady Mason. Through the whole affair he
had been a strong partisan on her side, had expressed a very loud
opinion in favour of Mr. Furnival, and had hoped that that scoundrel
Dockwrath would get all that he deserved from the hands of Mr.
Chaffanbrass. When the hour of Mr. Dockwrath's punishment had come he
had been hardly contented, but the inadequacy of Kenneby's testimony
had restored him to good humour, and the verdict had made him
triumphant.
"Didn't I know it, old fellow?" he had said, slapping his friend
Snengkeld on the back. "When such a low scoundrel as Dockwrath is
pitted against a handsome woman like Lady Mason he'll not find a jury
in England to give a verdict in his favour." Then he asked Snengkeld
to come to his little supper; and Kantwise also he invited, though
Kantwise had shown Dockwrath tendencies throughout the whole
affair;--but Moulder was fond of Kantwise as a butt for his own
sarcasm. Mrs. Smiley, too, was asked, as was natural, seeing that she
was the betrothed bride of one of the heroes of the day; and Moulder,
in the kindness of his heart, swore that he never was proud, and told
Bridget Bolster that she would be welcome to take a share of what was
going.
"Laws, M.," said Mrs. Moulder, when she was told of this. "A
chambermaid from an inn! What will Mrs. Smiley say?"
"I ain't going to trouble myself with what Mother Smiley may say or
think about my friends. If she don't like it, she may do the other
thing. What was she herself when you first knew her?"
"Yes, Moulder; but then money do make a difference, you know."
Bridget Bolster, however, was invited, and she came in spite of the
grandeur of Mrs. Smiley. Kenneby also of course was there, but he was
not in a happy frame of mind. Since that wretched hour in which he
had heard himself described by the judge as too stupid to be held
of any account by the jury he had become a melancholy, misanthropic
man. The treatment which he received from Mr. Furnival had been very
grievous to him, but he had borne with that, hoping that some word of
eulogy from the judge would set him right in the public mind. But no
such word had come, and poor John Kenneby felt that the cruel hard
world was too much for him. He had been with his sister that morning,
and words had dropped from him which made her fear that he would
wish to postpone his marriage for another space of ten years or so.
"Brick-fields!" he had said. "What can such a one as I have to do
with landed property? I am better as I am."
Mrs. Smiley, however, did not at all seem to think so, and welcomed
John Kenneby back from Alston very warmly in spite of the disgrace to
which he had been subjected. It was nothing to her that the judge had
called her future lord a fool; nor indeed was it anything to any one
but himself. According to Moulder's views it was a matter of course
that a witness should be abused. For what other purpose was he had
into the court? But deep in the mind of poor Kenneby himself the
injurious words lay festering. He had struggled hard to tell the
truth, and in doing so had simply proved himself to be an ass. "I
ain't fit to live with anybody else but myself," he said to himself,
as he walked down Bishopsgate Street.
At this time Mrs. Smiley was not yet there. Bridget had arrived, and
had been seated in a chair at one corner of the fire. Mrs. Moulder
occupied one end of a sofa opposite, leaving the place of honour at
the other end for Mrs. Smiley. Moulder sat immediately in front of
the fire in his own easy chair, and Snengkeld and Kantwise were on
each side of him. They were of course discussing the trial when Mrs.
Smiley was announced; and it was well that she made a diversion by
her arrival, for words were beginning to run high.
"A jury of her countrymen has found her innocent," Moulder had said
with much heat; "and any one who says she's guilty after that is
a libeller and a coward, to my way of thinking. If a jury of her
countrymen don't make a woman innocent, what does?"
"Of course she's innocent," said Snengkeld; "from the very moment
the words was spoken by the foreman. If any newspaper was to say she
wasn't she'd have her action."
"That's all very well," said Kantwise, looking up to the ceiling
with his eyes nearly shut. "But you'll see. What'll you bet me, Mr.
Moulder, that Joseph Mason don't get the property?"
"Gammon!" answered Moulder.
"Well, it may be gammon; but you'll see."
"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" said Mrs. Smiley, sailing into the room;
"upon my word one hears all you say ever so far down the street."
"And I didn't care if they heard it right away to the Mansion House,"
said Moulder. "We ain't talking treason, nor yet highway robbery."
Then Mrs. Smiley was welcomed;--her bonnet was taken from her and her
umbrella, and she was encouraged to spread herself out over the sofa.
"Oh, Mrs. Bolster; the witness!" she said, when Mrs. Moulder went
through some little ceremony of introduction. And from the tone of
her voice it appeared that she was not quite satisfied that Mrs.
Bolster should be there as a companion for herself.
"Yes, ma'am. I was the witness as had never signed but once," said
Bridget, getting up and curtsying. Then she sat down again, folding
her hands one over the other on her lap.
"Oh, indeed!" said Mrs. Smiley. "But where's the other witness, Mrs.
Moulder? He's the one who is a deal more interesting to me. Ha, ha,
ha! But as you all know it here, what's the good of not telling the
truth? Ha, ha, ha!"
"John's here," said Mrs. Moulder. "Come, John, why don't you show
yourself?"
"He's just alive, and that's about all you can say for him," said
Moulder.
"Why, what's there been to kill him?" said Mrs. Smiley. "Well, John,
I must say you're rather backward in coming forward, considering what
there's been between us. You might have come and taken my shawl, I'm
thinking."
"Yes, I might," said Kenneby gloomily. "I hope I see you pretty well,
Mrs. Smiley."
"Pretty bobbish, thank you. Only I think it might have been Maria
between friends like us."
"He's sadly put about by this trial," whispered Mrs. Moulder. "You
know he is so tender-hearted that he can't bear to be put upon like
another."
"But you didn't want her to be found guilty; did you, John?"
"That I'm sure he didn't," said Moulder. "Why it was the way he gave
his evidence that brought her off."
"It wasn't my wish to bring her off," said Kenneby; "nor was it my
wish to make her guilty. All I wanted was to tell the truth and do my
duty. But it was no use. I believe it never is any use."
"I think you did very well," said Moulder.
"I'm sure Lady Mason ought to be very much obliged to you," said
Kantwise.
"Nobody needn't care for what's said to them in a court," said
Snengkeld. "I remember when once they wanted to make out that I'd
taken a parcel of teas--"
"Stolen, you mean, sir," suggested Mrs. Smiley.
"Yes; stolen. But it was only done by the opposite side in court, and
I didn't think a halfporth of it. They knew where the teas was well
enough."
"Speaking for myself," said Kenneby, "I must say I don't like it."
"But the paper as we signed," said Bridget, "wasn't the old
gentleman's will,--no more than this is;" and she lifted up her
apron. "I'm rightly sure of that."
Then again the battle raged hot and furious, and Moulder became angry
with his guest, Bridget Bolster. Kantwise finding himself supported
in his views by the principal witness at the trial took heart
against the tyranny of Moulder and expressed his opinion, while Mrs.
Smiley, with a woman's customary dislike to another woman, sneered
ill-naturedly at the idea of Lady Mason's innocence. Poor Kenneby had
been forced to take the middle seat on the sofa between his bride and
sister; but it did not appear that the honour of his position had
any effect in lessening his gloom or mitigating the severity of the
judgment which had been passed on him.
"Wasn't the old gentleman's will!" said Moulder, turning on poor
Bridget in his anger with a growl. "But I say it was the old
gentleman's will. You never dared say as much as that in court."
"I wasn't asked," said Bridget.
"You weren't asked! Yes, you was asked often enough."
"I'll tell you what it is," said Kantwise, "Mrs. Bolster's right in
what she says as sure as your name's Moulder."
"Then as sure as my name's Moulder she's wrong. I suppose we're to
think that a chap like you knows more about it than the jury! We all
know who your friend is in the matter. I haven't forgot our dinner at
Leeds, nor sha'n't in a hurry."
"Now, John," said Mrs. Smiley, "nobody can know the truth of this so
well as you do. You've been as close as wax, as was all right till
the lady was out of her troubles. That's done and over, and let us
hear among friends how the matter really was." And then there was
silence among them in order that his words might come forth freely.
"Come, my dear," said Mrs. Smiley with a tone of encouraging love.
"There can't be any harm now; can there?"
"Out with it, John," said Moulder. "You're honest, anyways."
"There ain't no gammon about you," said Snengkeld.
"Mr. Kenneby can speak if he likes, no doubt," said Kantwise; "though
maybe it mayn't be very pleasant to him to do so after all that's
come and gone."
"There's nothing that's come and gone that need make our John hold
his tongue," said Mrs. Moulder. "He mayn't be just as bright as some
of those lawyers, but he's a deal more true-hearted."
"But he can't say as how it was the old gentleman's will as we
signed. I'm well assured of that," said Bridget.
But Kenneby, though thus called upon by the united strength of the
company to solve all their doubts, still remained silent. "Come,
lovey," said Mrs. Smiley, putting forth her hand and giving his arm a
tender squeeze.
"If you've anything to say to clear that woman's character," said
Moulder, "you owe it to society to say it; because she is a woman,
and because her enemies is villains." And then again there was
silence while they waited for him.
"I think it will go with him to his grave," said Mrs. Smiley, very
solemnly.
"I shouldn't wonder," said Snengkeld.
"Then he must give up all idea of taking a wife," said Moulder.
"He won't do that I'm sure," said Mrs. Smiley.
"That he won't. Will you, John?" said his sister.
"There's no knowing what may happen to me in this world," said
Kenneby, "but sometimes I almost think I ain't fit to live in it,
along with anybody else."
"You'll make him fit, won't you, my dear?" said Mrs. Moulder.
"I don't exactly know what to say about it," said Mrs. Smiley. "If
Mr. Kenneby ain't willing, I'm not the woman to bind him to his word,
because I've had his promise over and over again, and could prove
it by a number of witnesses before any jury in the land. I'm an
independent woman as needn't be beholden to any man, and I should
never think of damages. Smiley left me comfortable before all the
world, and I don't know but what I'm a fool to think of changing.
Anyways if Mr. Kenneby--"
"Come, John. Why don't you speak to her?" said Mrs. Moulder.
"And what am I to say?" said Kenneby, thrusting himself forth from
between the ample folds of the two ladies' dresses. "I'm a blighted
man; one on whom the finger of scorn has been pointed. His lordship
said that I was--stupid; and perhaps I am."
"She don't think nothing of that, John."
"Certainly not," said Mrs. Smiley.
"As long as a man can pay twenty shillings in the pound and a trifle
over, what does it matter if all the judges in the land was to call
him stupid?" said Snengkeld.
"Stupid is as stupid does," said Kantwise.
"Stupid be d----," said Moulder.
"Mr. Moulder, there's ladies present," said Mrs. Smiley.
"Come, John, rouse yourself a bit," said his sister. "Nobody here
thinks the worse of you for what the judge said."
"Certainly not," said Mrs. Smiley. "And as it becomes me to speak,
I'll say my mind. I'm accustomed to speak freely before friends, and
as we are all friends here, why should I be ashamed?"
"For the matter of that nobody says you are," said Moulder.
"And I don't mean, Mr. Moulder. Why should I? I can pay my way, and
do what I like with my own, and has people to mind me when I speak,
and needn't mind nobody else myself;--and that's more than everybody
can say. Here's John Kenneby and I, is engaged as man and wife. He
won't say as it's not so, I'll be bound."
"No," said Kenneby, "I'm engaged I know."
"When I accepted John Kenneby's hand and heart,--and well I remember
the beauteous language in which he expressed his feelings, and always
shall,--I told him, that I respected him as a man that would do his
duty by a woman, though perhaps he mightn't be so cute in the way
of having much to say for himself as some others. 'What's the good,'
said I, 'of a man's talking, if so be he's ashamed to meet the baker
at the end of the week?' So I listened to the vows he made me, and
have considered that he and I was as good as one. Now that he's been
put upon by them lawyers, I'm not the woman to turn my back upon
him."
"That you're not," said Moulder.
"No I ain't, Mr. Moulder, and so, John, there's my hand again, and
you're free to take it if you like." And so saying she put forth her
hand almost into his lap.
"Take it, John!" said Mrs. Moulder. But poor Kenneby himself did not
seem to be very quick in availing himself of the happiness offered to
him. He did raise his right arm slightly; but then he hesitated, and
allowed it to fall again between him and his sister.
"Come, John, you know you mean it," said Mrs. Moulder. And then with
both her hands she lifted his, and placed it bodily within the grasp
of Mrs. Smiley's, which was still held forth to receive it.
"I know I'm engaged," said Kenneby.
"There's no mistake about it," said Moulder.
"There needn't be none," said Mrs. Smiley, softly blushing; "and I
will say this of myself--as I have been tempted to give a promise,
I'm not the woman to go back from my word. There's my hand, John; and
I don't care though all the world hears me say so." And then they sat
hand in hand for some seconds, during which poor Kenneby was unable
to escape from the grasp of his bride elect. One may say that all
chance of final escape for him was now gone by.
"But he can't say as how it was the old gentlemen's will as we
signed," said Bridget, breaking the silence which ensued.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said Kantwise, "as Mrs. Bolster has
come back to that matter, I'll tell you something that will surprise
you. My friend Mr. Moulder here, who is as hospitable a gentleman as
I know anywhere wouldn't just let me speak before."
"That's gammon, Kantwise. I never hindered you from speaking."
"How I do hate that word. If you knew my aversion, Mr. Moulder--"
"I can't pick my words for you, old fellow."
"But what were you going to tell us, Mr. Kantwise?" said Mrs. Smiley.
"Something that will make all your hairs stand on end, I think." And
then he paused and looked round upon them all. It was at this moment
that Kenneby succeeded in getting his hand once more to himself.
"Something that will surprise you all, or I'm very much mistaken.
Lady Mason has confessed her guilt."
He had surprised them all. "You don't say so," exclaimed Mrs.
Moulder.
"Confessed her guilt," said Mrs. Smiley. "But what guilt, Mr.
Kantwise?"
"She forged the will," said Kantwise.
"I knew that all along," said Bridget Bolster.
"I'm d---- if I believe it," said Moulder.
"You can do as you like about that," said Kantwise; "but she has.
And I'll tell you what's more: she and young Mason have already left
Orley Farm and given it all up into Joseph Mason's hands."
"But didn't she get a verdict?" asked Snengkeld.
"Yes, she got a verdict. There's no doubt on earth about that."
"Then it's my opinion she can't make herself guilty if she wished it;
and as for the property, she can't give it up. The jury has found a
verdict, and nobody can go beyond that. If anybody tries she'll have
her action against 'em." That was the law as laid down by Snengkeld.
"I don't believe a word of it," said Moulder. "Dockwrath has told
him. I'll bet a hat that Kantwise got it from Dockwrath."
It turned out that Kantwise had received his information from
Dockwrath; but nevertheless, there was that in his manner, and in the
nature of the story as it was told to them, that did produce belief.
Moulder for a long time held out, but it became clear at last that
even he was shaken; and now, even Kenneby acknowledged his conviction
that the signature to the will was not his own.
"I know'd very well that I never did it twice," said Bridget Bolster
triumphantly, as she sat down to the supper table.
I am inclined to think, that upon the whole the company in Great St.
Helen's became more happy as the conviction grew upon them that a
great and mysterious crime had been committed, which had baffled two
courts of law, and had at last thrust itself forth into the open
daylight through the workings of the criminal's conscience. When
Kantwise had completed his story, the time had come in which it
behoved Mrs. Moulder to descend to the lower regions, and give some
aid in preparation of the supper. During her absence the matter
was discussed in every way, and on her return, when she was laden
with good things, she found that all the party was contented except
Moulder and her brother.
"It's a very terrible thing," said Mrs. Smiley, later in the evening,
as she sat with her steaming glass of rum and water before her. "Very
terrible indeed; ain't it, John? I do wish now I'd gone down and
see'd her, I do indeed. Don't you, Mrs. Moulder?"
"If all this is true I should like just to have had a peep at her."
"At any rate we shall have pictures of her in all the papers," said
Mrs. Smiley.