Christopher Nicole [Hilton 03 Mistress of Darkness (v1.5) (ep

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.This man, Manton.He has not accompanied you.Why?''You've read his testimony,' Matt said.'My associates and I thought it best for him to remain out of sight, so to speak, until we had commenced our action against Mr.Hodge.Mr.Manton, as our chief witness, may well be in some physical danger.''Oh, indeed he will be,' Loman agreed.'And he is not exactly your chief witness, Mr.Hilton.He is your only witness.''At the moment,' Matt argued.'All others will surely be restrained by fear.But once Hodge is apprehended, why, we shall find a host of witnesses, I have no doubt at all.''Once Hodge is apprehended,' Loman remarked, speaking apparently to his wine glass.He raised his head, and sighed.'When I received your letter, I undertook certain investigations.Oh, in strictest confidence, I do assure you, Mr.Hilton.Now I want you to be very clear on one tiling.I regard slavery as a distasteful business.When I was required to move myself here, I protested that surely it was unwise of my lords of Trade and Plantations to impose upon their colonists someone who would necessarily be lacking in sympathy towards their society.I was commanded to come, and so I am here, and in all the circumstances I have no doubt it is my duty to obey the dictates of my conscience, and I also have no doubt that my superiors understood this when they appointed me.On the other hand, it is equally necessary that, as representative of the King, God bless him, whatever I do is unassailably fair, and above all legal.Again, I would like you to be sure that what I have been able to learn about James Hodge, and about his appalling wife, convince me that they are two of the greatest criminals who have ever walked the face of this earth, and I am sure that they are quite capable of having perpetrated all the crimes listed in this paper.''Well, then.' Matt began.Loman held up his hand.'Unfortunately, I cannot operate on prejudice.I need proof.And this paper is totally worthless, as it stands.''But.''It is a list of quite monstrous crimes, alleged to have been committed by Hodge or his wife, on certain black men and women.But it is a list composed by this man Manton alone, and attested by no one else.And even more unfortunately, as I have told you, when I investigated Manton's background I learned that he was dismissed his place on Hodges after being found so drunk as to be quite incapable.''He has explained that,' Matt said.'He got drunk from sheer horror at watching the slave drowned in a vat of boiling molasses.''Which is again merely unsupported testimony,' the Administrator pointed out, very gently.'The point is, Mr.Manton would be very rapidly destroyed by any defending counsel as a credible witness, and with him would disappear your entire case and you could be worse off than before you started.And if I may say so, Mr.Hilton, any competent defence attorney would also destroy your motives in bringing the action with no less ease.I am referring to the tragic case of Miss Nicholson, of course.There is no one in Nevis, perhaps in the whole West Indies, who is not horrified by what happened to that poor girl, what indeed may still be happening to her.But still Hodge acted entirely within his rights and within the law.Your only recourse there would be to bring an action against the person who was responsible for her situation, and in England, not the West Indies.''My own cousin,' Matt muttered.'I understand your predicament.But you must see that any jury would easily be convinced you are acting out of sheer vengeance, in hounding Hodge to his death.For be sure it is a matter as serious as that; the penalty for unreasoning homicide of a slave is death.On the other hand, to obtain a conviction on that basis would be quite impossible.'Matt stared at his half empty wine glass.'You mean I am wasting my time? Hodge or any other monster, is as free as air, merely by being a planter?''I did not say that, Mr.Hilton,' Loman pointed out.‘I merely insist that when we bring a charge against one of these gentlemen, we must be in a position to press it home.If you could procure the testimony of some independent witness, now, there would be a different matter.''Do you suppose Hodge makes a practice of his excesses here in Nevis, before an invited audience?'Loman sighed.'To lose your temper with me, much less with Hodge, would be to defeat your own objective, Mr.Hilton.I will wish you good day.'It was Matt's turn to sigh, as he stood up.'At any rate, Mr.Loman, I must thank you for receiving me at all.My apologies for wasting your time.'Loman held out his hand, clasped the young man's fingers.'You have not wasted my time.For a moment or two you raised my hopes that we might at last find ourselves in a position to bring down one of these rascals, and by so doing influence the rest to act in a more Christian manner.But no, I will not be despondent.You have raised my hopes, Mr.Hilton.And I will promise you this.Regardless of the consequences, and I am sure you understand these will be considerable, do you bring me a single person of standing in this community willing to testify to but a tenth of the outrages enumerated in this statement, and I will have Hodge under arrest if it takes me the support of the entire militia to accomplish it.'Enthusiasm which even brought a smile to Matt's lips.'No man could ask fairer than that.I will see what can be done.'He left the room, went down the corridor, and out into the suddenly intense heat.Grave words.But the fact was, he did not even know a single other person in Nevis, much less have the ability to introduce them as a witness against Hodge.He paused on the dusty street, watched a pony and trap rolling towards him, scattering dust; perhaps he could subpoena Robert himself.There would be a remarkable event.Except that Robert would doubtless defy the Courts without a thought [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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