James Teacher's short address and the rebuttal by his opposite number,
before turning sternly to Chantelle.
Mrs. Alexander. The stern expression wavered slightly as he looked upon
the devastating beauty which sat demurely before him. Do you love your
son More than anything else in this life., Chantelle looked at him
steadily out of those vast dark eyes, And you are happy to take him on
this journey with you? I am the daughter of a sailor, if there was
danger I would understand it. I am happy to go myself and take my son
with me. The judge nodded, looked down at the papers on his desk for a
moment.
As I understand the circumstances, Mr. Teacher, it is common ground that
the mother has custody? That is so, my lord. But the father is the
child's guardian. I'm fully aware of that, thank you/ he snapped
acidly.
He paused again before resuming in the measured tones of judgement, We
are concerned here exclusively with the welfare and safety of the child.
It has been shown that the proposed journey will be made during the
holidays and that no loss of schooling will result.
On the other hand, I do not believe that the petitioner has shown that
there exists reasonable doubts about the safety of the vessel on which
the voyage will be made. It seems to be a modern and sophisticated
ship. To grant the petition would, in my view, be placing unreasonable
restraint on the child's mother. He swivelled in his chair to face
Nicholas and James Teacher. I regret, therefore, that I see
insufficient grounds to accede to your petition. in the back seat of
James Teacher's Bentley, the little lawyer murmured apologetically.
He was right, of course, Nicholas. I would have done the same in his
place. These domestic squabbles are always - Nicholas was not
listening. What would happen if I picked up Peter and took him to
Bermuda or the States? Abduct him? James Teacher's voice shot up an
octave, and he caught Nicholas arm with genuine alarm - I beg of you,
dismiss the thought. They would have the police waiting for you God!
Now he wriggled miserably in his seat. I can't bear to think of what
might happen. Apart from getting you sent to gaol, your former wife
might even get an order restraining you from seeing your boy again, she
could get guardianship away from you. If you did that, you could lose
the child, Nicholas. Don't do it. Please don't do it! Now he patted
Nicholas arm ingratiatingly. You'd be playing right into their hands.
And then with relief he switched his attention to the briefcase on his
lap.
Can we read through the latest draft of the agreement of sale again? he
asked, We haven't got much time, you know. Then, without waiting for a
reply, he began on the preamble to the agreement which would transfer
all the assets and liabilities of Ocean Salvage and Towage to the
Directors of the Bank of the East, as nominees for parties unnamed.
Nicholas slumped in the far corner of the seat, and stared thoughtfully
out of the window as the Bentley crawled in the traffic stream out of
the Strand, around Trafalgar Square with it wheeling clouds of pigeons
and milling throngs of tourists, swung into the Mall and accelerated
down the long straight towards the Palace.
