by M. P. Shiel
XII
THE ROSE
On the third morning of his confinement in Norwich, Hogarth was hurriedinto the hall of justice and the witness-box--in the dock Fred Bates.
Bates had denied--with sufficient impudence, it seemed: for his wifehad been found dead, battered and burned about the face, Bates' own handalso burned by the poker with which, _red-hot_, he was presumed to havebeaten her.
The same afternoon Bates was sentenced to death: but, having hadsunstroke in Egypt, was afterwards reprieved.
And two mornings later Hogarth heard the bar of the prisoner's dockclang behind himself.
The speech of leading counsel for the Crown was short: a letter, foundon the prisoner, would be produced, in which some busybody had falselyinformed the prisoner that Mr. Frankl would meet his sister under acertain elm-tree: and the prisoner, in a crisis of passion, had hurriedfrom the pulpit to that tree, on observing that his sister had left thechapel (to keep a real appointment with Mr. Frankl elsewhere). Underthat tree the prisoner had encountered the murdered man, whose Orientaldress on a dark night would give him a resemblance to Mr. Frankl,himself a Jew. The prisoner had then shot the deceased, mistaking himfor Mr. Frankl, and had been found holding the smoking weapon, whichhe admitted to be his own. It was a painful case; but the chain ofinference was not assailable.
"Not assailable" found an echo in the minds of solicitor and counsel forHogarth, who with growing anxiety were awaiting the coming of Margaretwith her story of the weapons. Margaret was where her name was changedto Rachel.
Now was the regime of examining counsel for the prosecution. The ushercalled: "Baruch Frankl!"
A voice in the gallery shouted: "Caps and tassels!" while Frankl, in thewitness box, bowed largely to both bench and bar. He put his palms onthe red-hot rail, caught them up, put them again, caught up, put them;and still he bowed, while a trembling of the chin gave to his beard adownward waving.
"Now explain to the court the reasons for the state of the prisoner'sfeelings toward you".
"For one thing I had turned him out, because he could not pay his rent;for another, his sister was inclined, my lord, to be a little bit weakon my account--"
"A little bit _what_?" asked his lordship.
"Just a little bit weak, my lord".
"A _reciprocal_ weakness?"
"Well, my lord, you know the world--so do the gentlemen of the jury--"
"And of the Jewry!" screamed his lordship, amid laughter from the merrywigs.
As Frankl stepped down, a name was called at which Hogarth went cold asa ghost: "Rebekah Frankl".
And in she stepped splendent, to stand like a Nubian woman, with thatretreat of the hips, her ears torn with their load of gold, her throatand breast ablaze, she bringing into that English court the gaudy heatof the Orient, Baal and Astarte, orgies of Hindoo women in temples ofParvati, the pallid passion of Bacchantes. Though not tall, she waslofty, and her ebon eyes had that very royalty of the stare of the bentform in the dock, whose heart throbbed quick like paddle-wheels thatthrash the sea, she his wild divinity, wild wife of his wild youth....
At her shocking beauty the Court stood hushed.
She suggested the East: but in her speech was the energy of theWest--sharp--a bass almost like her father's.
"You recognize the prisoner?"
"Yes". She smiled.
"You were present on the day of the 11th November when the prisonerentered your father's house, and attempted to strike him?"
"Did strike him".
"He did?"
"Yes".
"Did he seem in a passion?"
"Seemed severe".
"Severe! But was he not highly excited?"
"He did not seem so. Frowned and flogged".
"By whom was he ejected?"
"Went of his own accord".
"But--try to remember. What made him go?"
"He suddenly saw _me_, and fled".
Laughter droned through the court, in which she naively joined, whileHogarth's eyes and hers met one instant, blazed outrageously, anddropped....
That was all. Counsel bowed.
The day grew toward evening, and still the stuffy Court sat.
But Margaret Hogarth did not come; a defending counsel finishedexamination, counsel on the other side again addressed the Court,and again defending counsel. The judge then held the scales, the jurytrooped away, the crowd buzzed.
The light in the room seemed to brood to a denser yellow, and anon togrow dim; the stuffed court festered; voices spoke, but low. The King ofTerrors was here.
When the jury came, the judge was called, Hogarth stood up, and theclerk of arraigns put a question to the foreman.
The foreman said: "We find the prisoner guilty: but beg to recommend himto the mercy of the Crown".
"On what grounds?" asked his lordship.
"On the grounds of past good conduct and strong provocation".
The judge then placed on his head a square of velvet and passed thesentence of the Court.
During the reign of stillness that followed, while the court clock'sticking was still loud, something which was thrown struck Hogarth on thearm, a red rose, black at heart, that had lain on the breast of Rebekah,who, when Hogarth looked round at her, was calmly drawing her mass ofcloak about her throat.