“It was Constable Langford,” said Mr. Marsden. ”He said he found this man, Curtin, asleep in the gutter.”
“Did Mr. Curtin resist arrest? Give him any trouble at all?”
“No sir, not according to the arrest report. Just keeping him upright was the hardest part.”
“All right, thank you, Mr. Marsden.” Sir John turned back to the prisoner and addressed him directly: ”Henry Curtin, I know who you are. I am aware that you expect special treatment in my court and-”
“Oh, no sir,” Curtin said, interrupting, ”I wouldn’t dare to-”
“Don’t interrupt! I do the interrupting hereabouts. Now, as I understand it, what was said to you was something less than a promise of leniency, yet it was enough to allow you to suppose you would receive easy treatment from me. I am not bound by what was said. In fact, I should like to burden you with the severest penalty that the law allows just to teach the individual involved to make no more promises in my name.”
At that, Curtin threw at me a look expressing great misery.
“But it would not be fair to you to make you suffer in order to teach another a lesson.” Sir John paused at that point, then asked, ”Tell me, Mr. Curtin, have you money enough to pay a fine?”
“No sir,” said he. ”All I got is a little at home to eat on till next I get paid. The five shillings was drunk up or stolen from me whilst I lay in the gutter.”
“Well, I wouldn’t see you starve whilst waiting to be paid, nor would I wish to see you lose your job as coachman because you were serving a term in jail. But let us fix a fine of five shillings, for that is the sum you foolishly threw away on drink. Let it be payable to the Bow Street Court when next you are paid. You may work out the date, et cetera, with Mr. Marsden here. But I warn you, you must pay the fine, or we shall come after you, and next time I shall not be so accommodating. Are we done, then, Mr. Marsden?”
“We are, sir.”
“Then the Bow Street Court is adjourned until noon tomorrow.” Sir John beat upon the table with his gavel, then laid it aside and made a hasty exit through the door behind him, which led directly to his chambers.
Because Mr. Curtin had been charged to settle matters with Mr. Marsden, I was able to evade him. I managed to slip out through the door which led back to the strong room and, by a longer route, to Sir John’s chambers; it was to him I went, as one to receive just punishment.
“Is that you, Jeremy?”
He had barely settled in his chair and taken up the bottle of beer from the desk when I entered.
“It is sir,” said I, properly humble.
“I take it you were present during Mr. Curtin’s appearance?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Well, shut the door and seat yourself. Let us talk about this.”
I did as he said, and once I was settled, he resumed.
“Jeremy, we who have to do with the law must keep a firm hand upon ourselves. Now, we discussed your slip with Henry Curtin. You know you did wrong, so there is no need to repeat what was said. I’m confident you will not repeat that error. But I have had reason during the last day or two to question myself. As a personal favor to me, John Bilbo sailed in with his crew and saved us there on Goodwin Sands. We could not have won the day without him, his sloop, and his cannon. Then yesterday, he asked, as a personal favor to him, if I might put Lady Grenville in his charge that she might not be forced to languish in Newgate Gaol awaiting her trial-or her rescue by the French ambassador. I allowed it. I pray God that I am not given reason to regret granting that favor.
“And you saw the Lord Chief Justice himself bend law and legal practice for personal reasons. He denied my recommendation for leniency to that fellow Potter simply because Sir Simon’s father had been his friend. The judge who had condemned hundreds to death could not bear thus to condemn a murderer whom he had held as a baby.
“We all have our weaknesses, and perhaps it is just that we should. Justice may be blind, but you may believe me, blindness is an affliction and only rarely an advantage. If you-”
A knock sounded upon the door.
“That will be Mr. Marsden. Go now, Jeremy. We may talk about this again sometime-and then again, we may not.”
As an addendum to this, let me say that Lord Mansfield regained at least some of his resolve, for Sir Simon was tried along with the rest of his crew on a charge of smuggling, and no preferment was given him. He was sentenced to three years to be served in Newgate Gaol along with the rest. The French seamen were allowed to return to France through the diligent efforts of the French ambassador.
And Marie-Hélène, Lady Grenville? What of her?
Another time, perhaps.
