asked coolly. He needed Albie-indeed Albie was vital to the case- but Land could not keep the contempt out of his voice, the reminder to everyone that there was an unbridgeable gulf between them. He did not wish anyone, even in a moment's absence of mind, to imagine that they had any connection but this necessary one of duty.
Charlotte could understand. She would not have wished to be bracketed with him. Yet she was angry; perhaps it was unfair.
'I am a prostitute,' Albie said with cold derision. He understood the niceties, too, and despised them. But at least he would not hide in a hypocrisy of ignorance.
'A prostitute?' Land's voice rose in pretended disbelief. 'But you are a man?'
'I'm seventeen,' Albie replied. 'I began with my first customer when I was thirteen.'
' 'I did not ask your age!'' Land was annoyed. He was not interested in child prostitution-that was an entirely different matter, and one he was not concerned with. 'Do you sell your
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services to some kind of depraved women whose appetites are so gross they cannot be satisfied with a normal relationship?'
Albie was tired of this playacting. His whole trade was one long charade, a procession of people who pretended to be respectable.
'No, I don't,' he said flatly. 'I've never touched a woman. I sell myself to men, mostly rich men, toffs, who prefer boys to women and can't get them without paying, so they come to people like me. I thought you knew that-or why did you call me here? What use would I be to you if I didn't, eh?'
Land was furious. He turned to the judge.
'My lord! Will you order the witness to answer the questions and refrain from making impertinent observations that may well slander decent and honorable men, and can only distress the court! There are ladies present!''
Charlotte thought that was ridiculous, and would dearly like to have said so. Anyone attending this court-except witnesses, who were outside anyway-had come here precisely because they wanted to hear something shocking! Why else attend a murder trial where you know in advance the victim was abused and contaminated by a veneral disease? The hypocrisy was revolting; her whole body was rigid with anger.
The judge's face was even purpler than it had been.
'You will answer only the questions you are asked!' he said sharply to Albie. 'I understand the police have laid no charges against you. Conduct yourself here in a manner to insure that that remains so! Do you understand me? This is not an opportunity for you to advertise your vile trade, or to slander your betters!'
Charlotte thought bitterly that the men who used him, far from being his betters, were considerably inferior. They did not go to Albie out of ignorance or the need to survive. Albie was not innocent, but he could plead some mitigation. They had none but the compulsion of their appetites.
'I shall mention no one who is better than I am, my lord,' Albie said with a curl of his lip. 'I swear.'
The judge gave him a look of sour suspicion, but he had obtained the promise he had asked for. No complaint he could justify came to his mind.
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Charlotte found herself smiling with sharp satisfaction. She would like to have been able to say exactly that.
'So your customers are men?' Land continued. 'Just answer yes or no!'
'Yes.' Albie omitted the 'sir.'
'Do you see anyone in this courtroom who has been a customer of yours at any time.'
Albie's soft mouth widened into a smile and he began to look slowly, almost lingeringly around the room.
