A Loveless Marriage

Chapter 39: Mary

"The witness fainted," Mr Reeves said, slightly chastened.

"That is not evidence! That is because she is a lady of delicate sensibilities who had just been asked one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard in court," Mr Marshall Hall countered. "Your Honour, how would your wife, or mine, react to such questions?"

"Indeed. Mr Reeves, I am shocked and appalled that you would ask such questions in my courtroom on such flimsy evidence."

"But, Your Honour..."

"No buts! Good Heavens! Mrs Wilkes is a close friend of the Marchioness of Moseley, she's a woman of importance in society and you have just asked her questions that I wouldn't allow be asked of a charwoman! Any more of that sort of questioning and I will hold you in contempt of court. This is England, man, we do not speak to ladies of such things."

We returned to the courtroom, the prosecutrix was chastised for his questioning based entirely on falsehoods and ordered it struck from the record. But what has been said can never be unsaid, and I knew the whispers of my ordeal would follow me now. This case was always going to ruin my reputation, I just hoped that my past would not ruin Fred. His life hung in the balance, whether he had murdered Daniel or not, I needed him to be safe from the noose.

"No further questions, your Honour," Mr Reeves said, releasing me from the torment of his cross-examination.

"Mrs Wilkes, I must apologise for the questioning from my learned friend, the counsel for the prosecution," Mr Marshall Hall said. "Now to ask another indelicate question, do you love your husband?"

"With all my heart," I said.

"And in your heart, do you believe that your husband, a man who admittedly acts rashly and maybe even brawls like a sailor rather than a gentleman, do you think he would plan a cold-blooded murder rather than act in the heat of passion?"

"No, I can't see my husband doing something like that. He is a man who acts firsts and thinks second. He doesn't forge notes or lurk in corners waiting to pounce."

"Mr Reeves has made much of your letters, but you had told your husband that you had written them in your youth?"

"Yes."

"And was he angry?"

"No, if anything he was amused and teased me a little," I said, straying further from the truth than I would like. "He couldn't believe that I had ever been so foolish."

"And your husband, is he one for concealing his emotions?"

"Oh no, he very much wears his heart on his sleeve."

"No further questions, Your Honour."

I waited in the motorcar until Mr Marshall Hall left the court and then stopped him as he walked by.

"Mr Marshall Hall, can my driver take you home? It is very cold today."

"If you talk to me about the case, I'll have to bill you," he said.

Lawyers would never fail to bill you for their time.

"I can pay," I said.

I knew that he knew the truth. There was something about the way he had protested so vehemently to the judge, as if he was trying to protect me.

"I think you're a very kind man," I said. "Kind to women, I hear."

"Not always, I'm afraid," he said. "My first wife told me very early that she was unable to ever love me. She took a lover, I am afraid she died very tragically. I carry that guilt with me."