“I think you have done right, Mister Ellis,” she said, “not to have brought a physician here.”
“I am very glad to hear you say so, Miss Barton, for it has worried me this whole morning.”
“I spoke unjustly to you earlier this morning.”
“Pray do not mention it, Miss Barton. It is quite forgotten.”
Day gave way to evening, with our vigil continuing, as if watching Newton were an act of religious observance. I lit a fire which warmed the room, and offered to fetch Miss Barton a shawl, which she declined; and as darkness finally chased off the last glimmers of daylight, I lit some candles and placed one close to Newton’s face so that we might apprehend any palpable change in his physiognomy; and holding the candle up to Newton’s eye, I saw the dark matter at the centre of his iris shift most perceptibly, so that I began to suspect that my master was not so very disturbed in his mind as to be reduced to the level of some living corpse. It was an experiment which I encouraged Miss Barton to repeat, to the satisfaction of her own mind that all might yet be well.
Sleep gradually o’ertook us both, and it was dawn when Melchior, leaping into my lap, awakened me. For a moment a rigidity of neck and limb kept away thoughts of any other than myself, and I forgot why it was that I had slept in the office at all; but when, a moment later, I looked for Newton in his chair by the hearth, I saw that he was gone from there, and, jumping up, I called out to Miss Barton most anxiously.
“It’s all right,” said Newton, who was standing by the window now. “Calm yourselves. I believe that I am quite recovered. I have been watching the sun come up. I recommend it to you both. It is a most enlightening spectacle.”
Miss Barton smiled delightedly at me, and for a brief instant everything that was precious to me seemed to have been restored, although in truth Newton still seemed distant to us both. I think she even kissed him and then me, on the cheek; and it was as if Miss Barton had drunk from that river in Hades which induces forgetfulness of the past; so that the two of us stood beside Newton, marvelling at his recovery and all the while grinning like horses and finding pleasure in each other’s company.
“Why, sir,” she exclaimed to him, beginning to sound an aggrieved note, “whatever was the matter? You have given us such a fright. We were sure your mind was gone.”
“I apologise for having alarmed you both,” he whispered. “There are times when my thinking so occupies me that it produces certain outward effects upon my person that give the appearance of my having suffered a stroke of God’s almighty hand. The cause is quite a mystery even to me, and therefore I don’t apologise for saying I have no other explanation for you, except to say that a great clarity of thought is usually brought about by this strange excursion from my own physical body, which, rest assured, is something I have encountered before.”
But examining his face I saw that he looked pale and drawn, as if a great weight still lay upon his soul.
“But are you quite sure you are recovered, sir?” enquired Miss Barton. “Should a physician not be called to ascertain that you are indeed as well as you say?”
“’Tis true, sir,” I said. “You look pale.”
“Perhaps you should eat something,” suggested Miss Barton. “Drink some coffee, perhaps.”
“My dear, I am quite recovered,” insisted Newton. “You did well to listen to Mister Ellis.”
“You were able to hear our discourse?” I asked.
“Oh yes, I have seen and heard everything that has gone on in this room.”
“Everything?” demanded Miss Barton. I could see by her blushing that she referred to that business with the chamber pot.
“Everything,” confirmed Newton, whose confession had chased away every remnant of her smile.
“But, sir,” I said, changing the subject for pity of her, “perhaps you are not as recovered as you think you are. For it was not earlier today that Miss Barton spoke of physicians, but yesterday. It is almost twenty-four hours since I found you seated in that chair.”
“So long as that?” breathed Newton, and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Aye sir.”
“I was thinking about the cipher,” he said absently.
“This morrow you must appear before the Lords Justices,” said I.
Newton shook his head. “Say no more on that for now,” he said.
“Then what would you have me do, sir?”
“There’s nothing to be done.”
“I agree with Miss Barton,” said I. “We should all eat some breakfast. And speaking for myself, I am uncommonly hungry.”
I never ate so much as I ate that morning. But Newton sipped some coffee and ate only a little dried bread, as if he had little appetite for food. No doubt he was much preoccupied with his meeting with Their Lordships, which was now imminent. And, after breakfast, we took Miss Barton back to Jermyn Street, at which point Newton declared, most strangely, “It is my considered opinion, that girl is in love.”
“What makes you think so, sir?” I asked coolly, although I felt myself blushing.
“I live with her, Ellis. Do you think my own niece is invisible to me? I may not read sonnets all night, but I think I can recognise love’s peculiar manifestations. What’s more, I’ll warrant I know the lucky fellow.” And with that he smiled at me, a most knowing smile, so that I found myself smiling back at him like an idiot, and thinking that perhaps there was still some hope for me.
From Jermyn Street, Mister Woston conveyed us both to Whitehall, and Their Lordships. Newton seemed more perturbed by the ordeal that lay before him than I had ever seen him; even when he had faced Scroope’s pistol, he had not seemed so much affected as he was now.
“It is only an informal audience,” he said, as if trying to reassure himself about what was to happen. “Their Lordships’ letter was most specific about that. And I have every hope that this matter will be quickly resolved. But, if you will be so kind, I should like you to record my words, in case I have need of a formal transcript of these proceedings.”
And so it was that I was permitted to enter the chamber where the Lords Justices who governed the country were assembled. Their faces did not encourage optimism, viewing Newton as if they wished to be elsewhere, and as if they had conceived some disdain for him, and would not suffer his renowned intelligence to make fools of them.
I was quickly able to perceive the true character of the allegations that were being made, and how perhaps my master had underestimated the gravity of his position—if one might say such a thing about Isaac Newton—for, soon after our going into Their Lordships, they touched upon the seriousness of the situation and their strong dislike of all religious dissenters and occasional conformists. After which the porter brought Count Gaetano into the room —he that had attempted fraudulently to deceive my master into believing that he had turned lead into gold.
Remaining on his feet, to make his statement before Their Lordships, Gaetano appeared nervous and most unpersuasive, but even so I had not expected the Italian to lie so egregiously, and there were moments during his testimony when I was so shocked at his testimony that I was almost unable to keep a note of what he said.
He charged that Newton had dishonestly solicited a bribe in order that that he should verify that the gold sample the Count had shown him was genuine. He also charged that Newton had threatened to go before the Royal Society and, upon his oath, to denounce the Count as a fraud if he did not pay my master the sum of fifty guineas; and that when the Count cautioned Newton against false swearing, my master had laughed and told him how he cared not what he swore upon the Bible, since he did not believe anything that was written in it anyway.
Reminding Newton that, by case of law of 1676, English common law was the custodian of Scripture and, to some extent, doctrine, Their Lordships said that these were serious allegations made against Newton, although he was not on trial; and that their only aim was to make certain that the wardenship of the Mint was entrusted to a fit and proper person. It was milord Harley who led the enquiry against Newton, and milord Halifax who did the most to defend him.
Newton rose to his feet to answer the Italian’s charges. He spoke entirely without emotion, as if he had been debating a matter of science with members of the Royal Society; but I could see how shaken he was by these allegations, which did cleverly mix the circumstances of the Count’s transmutation with the ambiguous character of Newton’s faith.
“I should like Your Lordships’ permission to lay before Your Lordships a letter that has been sent to me from the Dutch ambassador in London,” said Newton.
Their Lordships nodded, at which point Newton did hand me the letter to convey to their table. I got up,
