The Luminaries

by Eleanor Catton

  ‘Mr. Carver had conveyed the news to me in person,’ said Mrs. Carver. ‘Naturally I made for Hokitika as swiftly as I was able. I would have liked to have attended the funeral; unfortunately I was too late.’

  ‘At the time you left Dunedin, did you know that the bulk of Mr. Wells’s estate comprised a fortune of unknown origin?’

  ‘No: it was not until I arrived in Hokitika that I read the account given in the West Coast Times.’

  ‘I understand that you sold your house and business in Dunedin prior to your departure, however.’

  ‘Yes, I did,’ said Mrs. Carver, ‘but it was not as radical a move as you might suppose. I am in the entertainment business, and the crowds at Dunedin are not what they once were. I had been considering a move to the West Coast for many months, and reading the West Coast Times with keen attention, with that future purpose in mind. When I read of Crosbie’s death, it seemed the perfect opportunity. I could start anew in a place where business was sure to be good—and I could also be close to his grave, which I very much desired. As I have said, we did not have a chance to resolve our differences before his death, and our separation had cut me very keenly.’

  ‘You and Mr. Wells were living apart at the time of his death, were you not?’

  ‘We were.’

  ‘How long had you been living apart?’

  ‘Some nine months, I believe.’

  ‘What was the reason for your estrangement?’

  ‘Mr. Wells had violated my trust,’ said Mrs. Carver.

  She did not go on, so Broham, with a nervous glance at the justice, said, ‘Can you elaborate on that, please?’

  Mrs. Carver tossed her head. ‘There was a young woman in my charge,’ she said, ‘whom Mr. Wells had used abominably. Crosbie and I had a dreadful row over her, and shortly after our disagreement, he quit Dunedin. I did not know where he went, and I did not hear from him. It was only when I read his obituary in the West Coast Times that I found out where he had gone.’

  ‘The young woman in question …’

  ‘Miss Anna Wetherell,’ said Mrs. Carver, crisply. ‘I had done her a charity, by taking her in, for which she was, as she asserted, very grateful. Mr. Wells tarnished that charity; Miss Wetherell abused it.’

  ‘Did the acquaintance between Miss Wetherell and Mr. Wells continue, after their joint relocation to Hokitika?’

  ‘I haven’t the faintest idea,’ said Mrs. Carver.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs. Carver. I have no further questions.’

  ‘Thank you, Mr. Broham,’ she said, serenely.

  Moody was already pushing his chair back, waiting for the invitation from the justice to rise. ‘Mrs. Carver,’ he said promptly, when the invitation came. ‘In the month of March, 1864, your late husband Crosbie Wells made a strike in the Dunstan Valley, is that correct?’

  Mrs. Carver was visibly surprised by this question, but she paused only briefly before saying, ‘Yes, that is correct.’

  ‘But Mr. Wells did not report this bonanza to the bank, is that also correct?’

  ‘Also correct,’ said Mrs. Carver.

  ‘Instead, he employed a private escort to transport the ore from Dunstan back to Dunedin—where you, his wife, received it.’

  A flicker of alarm showed in Mrs. Carver’s expression. ‘Yes,’ she said, cautiously.

  ‘Can you describe how the ore was packed and then transported from the field?’

  She hesitated, but Moody’s line of questioning had evidently caught her off guard, and she had not time enough to form an alibi.

  ‘It was packed into an office safe,’ she said at last. ‘The safe was loaded into a carriage, and the carriage was escorted back to Dunedin by a team of men—armed, of course. In Dunedin I collected the safe, paid the bearers, and wrote at once to Mr. Wells to let him know that the safe had arrived safely, at which point he sent on the key.’

  ‘Was the gold escort appointed by you, or by Mr. Wells?’

  ‘Mr. Wells made the appointment,’ said Mrs. Carver. ‘They were very good. They never gave us an ounce of trouble. It was a private business. Gracewood and Sons, or something to that effect.’

  ‘Gracewood and Spears,’ Moody corrected. ‘The enterprise has since relocated to Kaniere.’

  ‘Indeed,’ said Mrs. Carver.

  ‘What did you do with the bonanza, once it was delivered safely to you?’

  ‘The ore remained inside the safe. I installed the safe at our residence on Cumberland-street, and there it stayed.’

  ‘Why did you not take the metal to a bank?’

  ‘The price of gold was fluctuating daily, and the market for gold was very unpredictable,’ said Mrs. Carver. ‘We thought it best to wait until it was a good time to sell.’

  ‘By your degree of caution, I would hazard to guess the value of the bonanza was considerable.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Several thousand, we thought. We never had it valued.’

  ‘Following the strike, did Mr. Wells remain upon the field?’

  ‘Yes, he continued to prospect for another year: until the following spring. He was buoyed by his success, and felt that he might get lucky a second time; but he did not.’

  ‘Where is the bonanza now?’ Moody asked.

  She hesistated again, and then said, ‘It was stolen.’

  ‘My condolences,’ said Moody. ‘You must have been devastated by the loss.’

  ‘We were,’ said Mrs. Carver.

  ‘You speak on behalf of yourself and Mr. Wells, presumably.’

  ‘Of course.’

  Moody paused again, and then said, ‘I presume that the thief gained access, somehow, to the key.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Mrs. Carver, ‘or perhaps the lock was unreliable. The safe was of a modern design; and as we all know, modern technologies are never infallible. It’s also possible that a second key was cast, without our knowledge.’

  ‘Did you have any idea who might have stolen the bonanza?’

  ‘None at all.’

  ‘Would you agree that it is likely to have been someone in your close acquaintance?’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ said Mrs. Carver, tossing her head. ‘Any member of the gold escort might have betrayed us. They knew for a fact that there was a fortune in pure colour at number 35 Cumberland-street; and they knew the location of the safe, besides. It might have been anyone.’

  ‘Did you open the safe regularly, to check upon the contents?’

  ‘Not regularly, no.’

  ‘When did you first discover that the fortune was missing?’

  ‘When Crosbie returned the following year.’

  ‘Can you describe what happened when you made this discovery?’

  ‘Mr. Wells came back from the fields, and we sat down to take stock of our finances together. He opened the safe, and saw that it was empty. You can be sure that he was absolutely furious—as was I.’

  ‘What month was this?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Mrs. Carver, suddenly flustered. ‘April, maybe. Or May.’

  ‘April or May—of 1865. Last year.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs. Carver,’ said Moody, and then, to the justice, ‘Thank you, sir.’

  He felt, as he sat down, that the atmosphere in the courtroom was quickening. Harrington and Fellowes had ceased their whispering, and the justice was no longer taking notes. Every pair of eyes in the room watched Mrs. Carver as she descended the steps from the witness box and sat down.

  ‘The Court calls Mr. Francis Carver.’

  Carver was handsome in a dark green jacket and a pinned cravat. He gave his oath with his usual terse accent, and then turned, his expression sober, to face the barristers’ bench.

  Broham looked up from his notes. ‘Mr. Carver,’ he said. ‘Please describe for the Court how you first came to be acquainted with Mr. Staines.’

  ‘I met him in Dunedin,’ said Carver, ‘around about this time last year. He was fresh off the boat from Sydney, and lo
oking to set himself up as a prospector. I offered to be his sponsor, and he accepted.’

  ‘What did this sponsorship require of each of you?’

  ‘I’d loan him enough money to set him up on the diggings, and in return, he’d be obliged to give me half-shares in his first venture, with dividends in perpetuity.’

  ‘What was the exact monetary value of your sponsorship?’

  ‘I bought his swag and a store of provisions. I paid for his ticket over to the Coast. He was facing down a gambling debt in Dunedin; I paid that, too.’

  ‘Can you guess at a total value, please?’

  ‘I suppose I stood him eight pounds. Something in the neighbourhood of eight pounds. He got the short-term leg-up, and I got the long-term payoff. That was the idea.’

  ‘What was Mr. Staines’s first venture?’

  ‘He bought a two-acre plot of land within a mile of Kaniere,’ said Carver, ‘known as the Aurora. He wrote to me from Hokitika once he’d made his purchase, and forwarded on all the papers from the bank.’

  ‘How were the Aurora dividends paid out to you?’

  ‘By money order, care of the Reserve Bank.’

  ‘And in what frequency did these payments occur?’

  ‘Every quarter.’

  ‘What was the exact value of the dividend payment you received in October 1865?’

  ‘Eight pounds and change.’

  ‘And what was the exact value of the dividend payment you received in January 1866?’

  ‘Six pounds even.’

  ‘Over the last two quarters of last year, then, you received a total of approximately fourteen pounds in dividends.’

  ‘That is correct.’

  ‘In that case, Aurora’s total net profit must have been recorded as approximately twenty-eight pounds, over a six-month period.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did Mr. Staines make any mention to you of the bonanza discovered upon the Aurora by the Chinaman John Quee?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Were you aware, at the time of falsification, that Mr. Staines had falsified the Aurora’s quarterly report?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘When did you first become aware that the bonanza discovered in the cottage of the late Mr. Wells had originated from the Aurora mine?’

  ‘The same time everyone else did,’ said Carver. ‘When the bank published their records in the paper, saying that the ore had been found smelted, not pure, and that the smelting bore a signature.’

  Broham nodded, then, coughing slightly, changed the subject. ‘Mr. Staines has testified that he holds you in poor esteem, Mr. Carver.’

  ‘Maybe he does,’ said Carver, ‘but he never spoke a word to me about it.’

  ‘Did you, as Mr. Staines alleges, assault Miss Wetherell on the eleventh of October?’

  ‘I slapped her face,’ said Carver. ‘That’s all.’

  From the gallery, Moody heard a low growl of disapproval.

  ‘What provoked you to slap her face?’ said Broham.

  ‘She was insolent,’ said Carver.

  ‘Can you elaborate on that?’

  ‘I asked her for a direction, and she had a laugh at my expense, so I slapped her. It was the first and only time I ever laid a hand on her.’

  ‘Can you describe the encounter as you remember it, please?’

  ‘I was in Hokitika on business,’ Carver said, ‘and I thought I’d ride to Kaniere to have a look at the Aurora: the quarterly report had just come in, and I could see that the claim wasn’t pulling good dust, so I went to find out why. I met Miss Wetherell on the side of the road. She was up to the eyes in opium, and talking nonsense. I couldn’t get anything out of her, so I remounted and rode on.’

  ‘Mr. Staines has testified that Miss Wetherell lost her child that very same day.’

  ‘I don’t know anything about that,’ said Carver. ‘Last I saw her, she was still laughing, and stumbling about. Maybe she came to trouble after I left.’

  ‘Can you remember what you asked her, that afternoon?’

  ‘Yes. I wanted to find Wells,’ said Carver.

  ‘Why were you seeking news of Mr. Wells?’

  ‘I had a private matter to discuss with him,’ said Carver. ‘I hadn’t seen him since May, and I didn’t know where to find him, or who to ask. As Lydia said, he up and quit Dunedin in the night. Didn’t tell anyone where he was going.’

  ‘Did Miss Wetherell divulge Mr. Wells’s whereabouts to you at that time?’

  ‘No,’ said Carver. ‘She only laughed. That was why I slapped her.’

  ‘Do you believe that Miss Wetherell knew where Mr. Wells was living, and that she was concealing this information from you for a specific purpose?’

  Carver thought about this, but then he shook his head. ‘Don’t know. Wouldn’t want to say.’

  ‘What was the nature of the business you wished to discuss with Mr. Wells?’

  ‘Insurance,’ said Carver.

  ‘In what respect?’

  He shrugged, to indicate the answer was of no consequence. ‘The barque Godspeed was his ship,’ he said, ‘and I was her operating master. It wasn’t pressing business; I just wanted to talk some things over.’

  ‘Were you and Mr. Wells on good terms?’

  ‘Fair,’ said Carver. ‘I’d call them fair. It’s no secret that I was sweet on his wife, and quick to put my hand up when he passed, but I never came between them. I was decent to Wells, and Wells was decent to me.’

  ‘Thank you, sir,’ said Broham to the justice. ‘Thank you, Mr. Carver.’

  ‘Your witness, Mr. Moody.’

  Moody stood up promptly. ‘Mr. Carver,’ he said. ‘When did you and Mrs. Carver first become acquainted?’

  ‘We have known each other almost twenty years,’ said Carver.

  ‘In other words, over the entire course of her marriage to the late Mr. Wells.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I wonder if you might describe the circumstances of your engagement to Mrs. Carver.’

  ‘I’ve known Lydia since I was a young man,’ said Carver, ‘and we’d always thought we’d marry. But then I got ten years on Cockatoo, and during that time she fell in with Wells. By the time I got my leave ticket, they were married. I couldn’t fault her. Ten years is a long time to wait. I couldn’t fault him either. I know what calibre of woman she is. But I said to myself, if that marriage ever comes to an end, I’ll be next in line.’

  ‘You married shortly after Mr. Wells’s death, is that right?’

  Carver stared at him. ‘There was nothing disrespectful about it,’ he said.

  Moody inclined his head. ‘No, I’m sure,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if I implied otherwise. Allow me to backtrack a little. When was it that you were released from prison?’

  ‘June of ’sixty-four,’ said Carver. ‘Nearly two years ago now.’

  ‘What did you do, upon your release from Cockatoo Island?’

  ‘I made for Dunedin,’ said Carver. ‘Found myself some work on a ship making the trans-Tasman run. That was Godspeed.’

  ‘Were you captaining this craft?’

  ‘Crew,’ said Carver. ‘But I made captain the following year.’

  ‘Mr. Wells was digging the field at Dunstan at this time, is that correct?’

  Carver hesitated. ‘Yes,’ he said.

  ‘And Mrs. Carver—then wife of Mr. Wells—was residing in Dunedin.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you see Mrs. Wells often, over this period?’

  ‘I had a drink at her place every now and again,’ said Carver. ‘She kept a tavern on Cumberland-street. But I was mostly at sea.’

  ‘In May of 1865, Crosbie Wells returned to Dunedin,’ said Moody. ‘I understand that he made a purchase at that time.’

  Carver knew very well that he was being led into a trap, but he was powerless to stop it. ‘Yes,’ he said, curtly. ‘He bought Godspeed.’

  ‘Quite a purchase,’ said Moody, nodding, ‘not the least because it
was made so abruptly. The fact that he chose to invest in a ship, of all things, is also curious. Had Mr. Wells any prior interest in seafaring, I wonder?’

  ‘Couldn’t tell you,’ said Carver. ‘But he must have done, if he made the purchase.’

  Moody paused; then he said, ‘I understand that the deed of sale is currently in your possession.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘How did it come to be in your possession, please?’

  ‘Mr. Wells entrusted it to me,’ said Carver.

  ‘When did he entrust this deed to you?’

  ‘At the time of sale,’ said Carver.

  ‘Which was …?’

  ‘In May,’ said Carver. ‘Last year.’

  ‘Immediately before Mr. Wells quit Dunedin, in other words, and relocated to the Arahura Valley.’

  Carver could not deny it. ‘Yes,’ he said.

  ‘What was Mr. Wells’s reason, in entrusting this deed of sale to you?’ said Moody.

  ‘So that I could act as his proxy,’ said Carver.

  ‘In case of injury, you mean,’ said Moody. ‘Or death.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Carver.

  ‘Ah,’ said Moody. ‘Now, let me see if I have this straight, Mr. Carver. As of the beginning of last year, Mr. Wells was the rightful possessor of several thousand pounds’ worth of ore, excavated from a claim in the Dunstan Valley. The ore was stashed in a safe at his residence in Dunedin, where his wife—an old and very fond acquaintance of yours—was living. In May, Mr. Wells returned home to Dunedin from the fields at Dunstan, and, without notifying his wife, cleared the safe. He immediately sank the entire bonanza into the purchase of the barque Godspeed, entrusted that ship and its operation to you, and promptly fled to Hokitika without informing any person of his destination or his design.

  ‘Of course,’ Moody added, ‘I am making an assumption, in presuming that it was Mr. Wells, and not another party, who removed the ore from the safe … but how else could he have purchased Godspeed? He possessed no shares or bonds of any kind—we are quite sure of that—and the transfer of ownership, printed in the Otago Witness upon the fourteenth of May that year, explicitly states that the ship was bought for gold.’

  Carver was scowling. ‘You’re leaving out the whore,’ he said. ‘She was the reason he quit Dunedin. She was the reason he fell out with Lydia.’