Never Land the First Fish

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Part 1

Wellbridge had suggested arriving early, and just as well. Already, two hours before the Assize Court was due to begin, a queue had formed outside Bristol's Guildhall. Maddox, with Emily on his arm, took his place in the line.

Before and behind them, people were sharing the most lurid of stories about Gills and Julia's supposed transgressions. Even though some people had heard enough about Soddenfield's brutality to think he deserved his fate, no one doubted the guilt of the two accused.

Maddox felt Emily grow more and more tense, until a street entertainer arrived to distract the gossipers with a comic routine involving disappearing coins and a scarf that apparently turned into a rabbit.

The conjurer was followed by a group of jugglers, and then a singer whose sweet voice was accompanied by a man with a penny whistle.

Then the door before them opened, and the line began to move inside, to be ushered through the entrance hall past the scaffolding from a renovation project and along a passage to the large hall where the Assizes would be held.

Several banks of seats had been set along the walls facing the judges' bench and the pews for the grand jury. More had been created by putting planks on the scaffolding along the back wall.

The usher waved towards the banks. "Take a seat, ladies and gents. We'll be a while I reckon. An hour till Their Honours arrive, and then some uncontested cases to get through, if it's the Gildeforte-Soddenfield trial you're here for. But take a seat before there are none left."

"You expect a large crowd, then?" Maddox asked.

"Huge. Loads of interest, isn't there?" The man's voice turned ghoulish. "All the good stuff. Murder, adultery, petty treason, violence, and then they had to be brought back from foreign parts! We usually have a common court in here at the same time as the Assizes, but it has been postponed for the week of the trial."

"Where will the defendants sit?" Maddox asked, and pressed a coin into the man's palm when he was directed to the right-hand side of the room.

"A week?" Emily commented, as they chose a spot towards the end of one bench, to the left of the defendant's dock, where Julia and Gills would sit side on the spectators, with the judges before them and the jury to their right. "They expect the trial to last a week? Poor Gills and Julia! I wish we had been able to visit them, Maddox."

Maddox covered her hand with his own. He hoped the barristers knew what they were doing. Public opinion certainly didn't seem to be on the side of the accused.

***

The trip from Brickdale was excruciating. Gills and his brother were ignoring one another, and Julia could feel the anger beating off Gills. Whatever Lord Coventon had said, Gills was furious with him.

The other passengers did nothing to improve the atmosphere. Lady Coventon was ignoring Julia and Gills. The warders, one male and one female, who had been "sent to escort the prisoners" ignored everyone once they had established that they either travelled in the Coventon carriage or Julia and Gills were locked in the back of the box prison on wheels they had brought with them.

Julia tried to hold onto the joy of the previous night, but it slipped away bit by bit, bolstered only by the fact that Gills took her hand and held it firmly throughout the trip.

It was no better on the train. The Wellbridges had arranged a private carriage, with appointments that wrenched a smile from the male warder and a scowl from the female.

It at least gave them some room to spread out. Gills and Julia sat as far away from the others as they could but Julia couldn't think of anything reassuring to say, and she refused to burden Gills with more of her fears.

Another carriage waited at the station in Bristol, and all of a sudden the journey was over.

"This is it, then," Coventon said, awkwardly. "We will see you later." He descended the carriage and turned to help Lady Coventon down. Gills began to get up to go next, but the female warder waved him back and got out on her own, then beckoned Julia to follow her.

The Coventons waited in the courtyard, but said nothing as the warder took Julia by the arm and marched past them. Julia looked back to see Gills follow his own warder out of the carriage. Coventon stepped forward and suddenly threw his arms around his brother, who froze for a moment before returning the hug.

"Hurry along, Soddenfield," the female warder grumbled, manhandling Julia in front of her up a couple of steps and through a door.

"My daughter will be addressed as befits her rank." The Marquess of Firthley, Julia's father, glared at the female warder, who scowled back, but dropped Julia's arm at a nod from a small rotund man in clerical robes and a wig.

They were in a small functional room, furnished with hard upright chairs. It was painted an unfortunate shade of salmon, and its sole gesture towards adornment was a painting of the Queen, which hung on the wall.

Mother and Father looked as out of place as a rose in a midden. Mother approached and enfolded Julia in a perfumed embrace.

"Five minutes," said the clerk.

"Jewel, you have got yourself into a mess, child," said Father. "You will take our advice for once in your life and we may bring you clear yet."

Those were his first words to her in a year? At least Mother had started with a kiss. Mind you, she reflected, as she listened to her mother's contribution to the conversation, so did Judas. "You need to denounce Gildeforte," the marchioness insisted. "He abducted you from Lord Athol's house and took you off overseas while you were unconscious. Indeed! I expect he drugged you."

"That is what you need to say," Father agreed.

Julia stepped back from her mother and regarded them steadily as Gills and his warder entered the room behind her. "I need to tell the truth, Mother, Father, and I will. I truly believe I would have died that day at Athol's hands, had it not been for Gills. He rescued me, and instead of asking me to blame him, you should be thanking him."

The marquess glared at Gills, then turned his frown on Julia. "Come along, Charlotte. The child will not listen. She was always determined to go her own way."

Gills came up beside Julia as Mother made to follow Father from the room, then stopped just inside the door. "We did not know how bad he was. I want you to know that, Jewel. Your father and I would have... I just..." She stuttered to a stop then looked at Gills. "Thank you." In a swirl of skirts, she left the room, with the clerk scurrying behind.

The scene between the brothers before they left Brickdale suddenly made sense. "Coventon wanted you to blame me, didn't he?" Julia commented.

"Two families with but a single thought." Gills squeezed her hand. "Your father had a tear in his eye, did you notice? He wanted to save you, Julia. You can blame me if you think it will help."

"I can tell the truth," Julia repeated.

"No more talking," the female warder growled. "Soddenfield! Oh, I beg your ladyship's pardon." She made a grotesque parody of a simper. "Lady Athol Soddenfield, come and sit over here. No touching the other prisoner."

Julia reluctantly obeyed.