The Bachelors

  ‘Oh, yes, he—’

  ‘Did you pay him for those repairs and decorations?’

  ‘Well, not exactly. I let the rent go. We were very friendly, you see, after I got to know him.’

  ‘And, finding him trustworthy as a medium, you had confidence in his practical advice and judgment?’

  ‘Yes, I told him everything.’

  ‘His lordship has asked you whether you have ever been in a trance. I am going to repeat that question.’

  ‘I don’t think so, sir.’

  ‘Think carefully. Because you said’ — he consulted his notes — ‘you told the court, when you looked at the letter, “It looks very like my writing. I couldn’t have written it unless I was in a trance or something.”‘ His voice rose with nasal emphasis on the words ‘or something’, and he repeated her words again: ‘unless I was in a trance or something.’ He put down his notes and breathed deeply. ‘Now, Mrs. Flower,’ he said, ‘I am going to put it to you that you have, in fact, had the experience of trances.’

  ‘I couldn’t say,’ she said. ‘It only looks funny that my handwriting should be on the letter and I don’t remember writing it.’

  ‘And it may have been written while you were in a trance?’

  The judge said, ‘Has anyone ever seen you in a state of trance? Has anyone ever told you or suggested to you that you have been in a trance?’

  ‘No, sir. But I could have been in a trance on my own.’

  ‘Were you in anything like a trance last April when it is suggested that the letter was written?’ said the judge.

  ‘I couldn’t really say. I was poorly in April.’ The Defence Counsel continued: ‘You admit the possibility that one day when you were alone you wrote that letter while in a state of trance?’

  ‘It is possible. If you’d seen as much as I have of spiritualism, you would know that the gift can descend on anyone, even an untrained person.’

  ‘By “gift”,’ said the judge, ‘do you mean a state of trance?’

  ‘Yes, and then becoming a medium and getting in touch,’ she said.

  ‘Let us get this clear,’ said the judge. ‘A person in a state of trance as you call it, rolls up his or her eyes, foams at the mouth and twitches. Then he or she begins to speak?’

  ‘Sometimes they say nothing.’

  ‘What happens,’ said the judge, ‘when they come out of their trance? Describe it.’

  ‘They look very exhausted, sir, and don’t know where they are for some minutes.’

  ‘Have you ever experienced a sensation, while alone, of exhaustion and not knowing where you are, by which you could assume you had just come out of a trance?’

  ‘Sometimes I’ve dropped off and felt a bit strange, my lord, for a few minutes.’

  ‘Have there been any other signs of a trance such as saliva from foaming at the mouth?’

  ‘Oh no, sir.’

  ‘Do you yourself think you have been in a state of unconsciousness,’ said the judge, very slow and clear, ‘and at the same time able to write that letter? Try to be explicit.’

  ‘I don’t know, sir, I’m sure.’

  Martin got up to re-examine her. ‘He’ll make matters worse,’ Matthew said, and he was right.

  Martin’s tones became menacing as she muddled on.

  ‘Mrs. Flower, I am going to call an expert,’ Martin said nastily to his witness, ‘who will swear that this letter is a forgery. Are you suggesting that he is mistaken?’

  ‘No, I’ll abide by what he says,’ said Freda.

  ‘Here comes Ronald,’ said Matthew, ‘in his new dark chalk-stripe. He should have been a Civil Servant.’

  ‘Detestable man,’ said Alice.

  ‘Not a bit of it,’ said Matthew. ‘You don’t know him at all.’

  ‘The jury are whispering together. Are they allowed to do that?’ Alice said.

  ‘Yes,’ said Matthew. ‘It’s their court, really. Everything depends on them.’

  ‘I don’t like that blonde woman,’ Alice said. ‘With her dyed hair she shouldn’t be on a jury.’

  Ronald, as he walked up the steps to the witness box, caught a flash-like impression of the jury, as they leaned across and consulted each other, head to head, and this reminded him of some fresco of the Last Supper. The jury righted itself when Ronald reached his post.

  Ronald’s evidence, as he compared the precise points at which the handwriting of the letter departed from examples of Freda Flower’s handwriting and coincided with examples of Patrick Seton’s, provided a perceptible rest-cure for the bewigged minds. The barristers stopped fidgeting with their papers. The judge stopped resting his head on his left hand.

  ‘I have found,’ said Ronald, ‘from microscopic examination that certain letters have been formed from a starting-point different from those of Mrs. Flower’s handwriting. The letter “o” for example — although to the naked eye it is completely closed both in Exhibits B and D — has apparently been formed by different hands. In Exhibit B the “o” has been started from the top. In Exhibit D the “o” has been started from the right hand curve.’

  ‘Exhibit B,’ said the judge to the jury, ‘is the letter which it is alleged has been forged. Exhibit D is the example of Mrs. Flower’s handwriting.’

  ‘The effect of trembling in some of the upward strokes of the signature in Exhibit B,’ said Ronald, ‘is visible under the microscope. This trembling in some of the upward strokes is not present in the body of the letter and suggests that the signature has been traced. The formation of the letter “1” in Exhibits B, C and D—”

  ‘Just a moment,’ said the judge. ‘The jury must be clear. Exhibit B is the alleged forgery. Exhibit D is the example of Mrs. Flower’s handwriting. Exhibit C is the example of the accused’s writing.’

  ‘The formation of the letter “l” in Exhibits—”

  ‘He’s marvellous,’ said Matthew. ‘I didn’t know Ronald had it in him.’

  Ronald was fumbling in his inner pocket.

  ‘Too damned smart,’ said Alice. ‘You just wait till he’s cross-examined. We’ve got a first-rate barrister in Farmer.’

  ‘What is your conclusion, Mr. Bridges?’ said Martin. ‘That the letter, Exhibit B, is a forgery and that it has been forged by the accused.’

  Ronald was fumbling in his outer pockets.

  ‘Now here’s our man,’ said Alice, as the Defence Counsel heaved himself to his feet.

  But Farmer was content to await the conflicting evidence of his expert, he was content to say to Ronald,

  ‘Mr. Bridges, have you ever made a mistake?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ronald.

  ‘This opinion of yours couldn’t be one of them?’

  ‘I have never, so far as I know, made a mistake in a case of forgery.’

  ‘So far as you know. Thank you, Mr. Bridges —Oh, oh, watch out…’

  Ronald swayed. He fumbled in his pockets for his pills. They were in his other suit, at home. He gave up. He stumbled down the steps and fell two steps before he got to the bottom. There he foamed at the mouth. His eyes turned upward, and the drum-like kicking of his heels began on the polished wooden floor.

  ‘Is this man a medium?’ said the judge.

  The clerk approached Ronald. Two male members of the jury came out of their places, looking suddenly deprived of any excuse for their presence in the court. It was difficult to get near Ronald. ‘Put something between his teeth,’ said Martin Bowles, in the tones of a zoophobic veterinary practitioner. ‘He’s an epileptic.’

  The judge rested his head in his left hand. Patrick looked solemnly up at Alice. She was peering over the balcony, looking down at Ronald. Patrick was filled with solace at the sight. I will look down on her, he thought, when she is lying on the mountainside, and the twitching will cease.

  ‘Do you believe in prayer?’ said Alice to Matthew when they went down, after the fuss was over, to lunch in the public canteen.

  ‘He’s putting up a marvellous fight,’ Alice
whispered. ‘I’ve never seen Patrick in such good form. I’ve never heard him speak up like this. It’s as if he was fighting for his life.’

  Once or twice Patrick glanced at her from the witness box, for he could get a better view of her from there. The thought of Alice kept him going.

  ‘I know,’ whispered Alice, ‘he’s making the effort for me. It’s as if he was fighting for my life. He’s not an outspoken man as a rule. It shows what’s in Patrick.’

  The answers came without hesitation, clear and strong. It might have been the voice of one of those army men who know exactly what they think, and say it. He took courage from his desire to be acquitted, rather than timidity from his fear of being convicted and the practised members of the jury noticed this. Ronald, sitting defiantly in his exhaustion among the witnesses, managed to recall the last time he had heard Patrick speak. That had been at the Maidstone Assizes. Then, Patrick had mumbled.

  Freda Flower sat horrified at Patrick’s manner.

  ‘I am, in spite of my calling, a man of the world, a practical man….

  ‘There was never any question of my buying defence bonds….

  ‘Mrs. Flower frequently went into a trance. She is herself an excellent medium with extraordinary psychic powers….

  ‘It is impossible that she does not know that she possesses this gift….

  ‘I suggest, without wishing to implicate Mrs. Flower further than necessary, that she became incensed when I left her, and dreamed up this story….

  ‘I prefer to say no more about my private relationship with Mrs. Flower, if that is permissible….

  ‘I made the statement at the police station while still in a state of semi-trance. In such a condition the subject is highly suggestible…. I signed this statement at the suggestion of the officer in charge. I have no recollection of doing so….

  ‘I would describe the statement as a forced confession….

  Patrick kept his eyes off Fergusson. He looked from time to time at Alice.

  ‘You would think he’d been saving it up,’ Alice breathed. ‘Like an athlete that spares himself till the time comes.’

  ‘I deny it,’ Patrick said, when asked if he had forged the letter.

  His counsel sat down. Martin Bowles coughed and stood up and adjusted his robes.

  ‘Do you really expect the court to believe, Mr. Seton, that a widow in Mrs. Flower’s position would hand you over her life savings of two thousand pounds to use for your own purposes?’

  ‘If you will refer to her letter you will see that she requested me to use the money to further my psychic and spiritual work. She did not ask me to use it for my own purposes. I have used the money to further my psychic and spiritual work as she requested.’

  ‘You have heard the evidence of the Crown’s graphologist. I suggest that Mrs. Flower did not write that letter, but that you forged it after you had made the statement to the police, in order to discredit the statement.’

  ‘I deny it; and I deny that I made a statement to the police in any circumstances which could be described as free.’

  Matthew whispered, ‘I wish my sister-in-law could have seen all this.’

  ‘What’s it got to do with her?’ said Alice.

  ‘Hush,’ said Matthew, ‘don’t talk.’

  The judge said, ‘In what manner have you used this money to further your psychic and spiritual work?’

  ‘I have spent it on the scientific training of mediums, the purchase of books on psychical research, and in travelling abroad to exchange views on the subject with foreign mediums, and on travelling in this country to extend my knowledge and impart it. Spiritualism is a science, and a science requires financial support.’

  ‘In what does the training of mediums consist?’ said the judge.

  ‘A scientific course comprising various exercises of mind and body. An untrained medium is proved by experience to be a menace to society. Properly trained, the medium is a useful and practical vehicle of human aspirations.’

  The blonde member of the jury was leaning forward attentively. Seton has got a new customer, Ronald thought, if he gets out of this.

  The judge’s pen scratched on. The typist in the corner listlessly pounded her silent machine. Martin continued:

  ‘Do you consider it a reputable action to accept money from a widow in Mrs. Flower’s circumstances to use for your professional advancement?’

  The moron, Ronald thought, why doesn’t he pin him down on the questions of the forgery and the bonds?

  ‘I was acting under Mrs. Flower’s instructions. I do not need professional advancement. I employed the money for the professional advancement of others.’

  ‘I suggest that if you spent two thousand pounds between April and August you spent it somewhat rapidly.’

  ‘Mrs. Flower said in her letter that she left the details of the disposal of the money entirely to me.’

  Why does he go on about the spending? — Ronald sat with the demonic aftermath of his fit working within him. Why doesn’t he plug away at the forgery, he has my evidence? Then it occurred to Ronald: He doesn’t believe in my evidence, he doubts its validity, and this barrister can’t argue a case he doesn’t believe in.

  ‘You admit,’ said Martin, ‘that you accepted two thousand pounds from a woman of middle age?’

  And you deny, thought Ronald, that you are swindling Isobel Billows?

  ‘You have said,’ said Martin, ‘in reply to a question, “I prefer to say no more about my private relationship with Mrs. Flower.”‘

  ‘That is correct,’ said Patrick.

  ‘May I ask why you are so reticent?’

  ‘My lord,’ said Patrick, addressing the judge, ‘if it is not relevant to the case, I would prefer’

  ‘I can’t see why you need go further into that question, Mr. Bowles,’ said the judge.

  ‘I submit that it is a relevant question,’ Martin said, ‘since the jury will wish to know the extent of the influence exerted by the accused upon Mrs. Flower.’

  ‘Very well,’ said the judge and rested his head on his hand.

  ‘I suggest that your relations with Mrs. Flower were of an intimate nature,’ said Martin.

  ‘I deny it,’ said Patrick with an elaborate air of gallantry.

  ‘And that you used these intimate relations to gain an influence over Mrs. Flower?’

  And, thought Ronald, on the strength of these intimate relations you obtained control of Isobel Billows’ money.

  ‘I deny it,’ said Patrick. ‘Mrs. Flower herself has said nothing of our intimate relations.’

  ‘And,’ said Martin, ‘you employed this influence to obtain Mrs. Flower’s savings.’

  ‘I deny it.’

  ‘In your statement to the police of the 12th August you said—” Martin shuffled and found his document — ‘you said “Early in April Mrs. Flower handed me a cheque for two thousand pounds for the purpose of purchasing premium bonds and defence bonds. I was tempted and fell. I did not purchase the bonds. I do not know where the money has gone.” Now, Mr. Seton,’ said Martin, ‘I put it to you that this is the true and accurate story.’

  ‘I deny it. I was incapable of making a statement. I was in a state of semi-trance, and was in a condition of high susceptibility to any suggestion whatsoever.’

  ‘Do you mean that Detective-Inspector Fergusson hypnotised you?’

  For a moment Patrick seemed to sag. His lower jaw receded.

  ‘Are you suggesting that Detective-Inspector Fergusson invented this story?’

  ‘He put the words in my mouth.’

  ‘I did not hear,’ said the judge, for Patrick’s voice had suddenly failed.

  Patrick looked at Alice and revived. ‘He put the words in my mouth,’ he said out loud.

  ‘How did you get to the police station if you were in a state of partial insensibility?’

  ‘I was taken there in a police car. Two policemen called at my rooms immediately after I had completed a séance.’

&n
bsp; ‘On the morning of 12th August?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do you usually conduct séances in the morning?’

  ‘This was a private séance.’

  Patrick was allowed to go. The judge looked at his watch. ‘Is medical evidence to be called as to the effects of a trance?’ he said.

  Patrick’s counsel said, ‘No, my lord, there appears to be no useful source of medical opinion devoted to the nature and effects of the spiritualistic trance specifically.’

  Martin Bowles looked confused. Ronald thought, he has slipped up properly. He should have brought in a cataleptist to refute them.

  The door from the witness’s room opened and Ronald looked round to see a fellow-graphologist, sweet old Fairley, emerging. Fairley climbed the steps to the witness box, took off his glasses and exchanged them for another pair. He read the oath slowly, and took his usual leisure throughout.

  ‘So that, in your opinion,’ said Patrick’s counsel, ‘mere inconsistencies in the formation of characters which can only be observed under the microscope do not imply that the characters have been formed by separate hands.’

  ‘I do not say so,’ drawled Fairley. ‘That would be too large a generalisation. I say only that, in my opinion, the inconsistencies between the formation of characters on the document marked Exhibit B and those on the document marked Exhibit C, taken together with peculiarities common to Exhibits B and D, do not necessarily lead to the conclusion that Exhibit B is a forgery.’

  The jury fidgeted.

  ‘You are saying,’ said the barrister, ‘that the letter which the Crown alleges to be a forged document, need not necessarily be so merely on the evidence afforded by the microscope?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Fairley.

  ‘What is the length of your experience in this field, Mr. Fairley?’

  ‘Forty-six years,’ said Fairley.

  Martin got up.

  ‘The methods of forgery detection have changed in forty-six years, have they not?’ Martin said.

  ‘There have been developments,’ said Fairley.

  ‘You changed your spectacles when you came into the witness box. Do you suffer from any weakness of eyesight?’ Martin said.

  It’s a dirty world, thought Ronald.

  ‘Yes,’ said Fairley courteously. ‘But I have an excellent optician who provides me with two pairs of spectacles. One pair is for normal use and the other is for reading.’