62. A second day in court

I rose early the next morning - I could hear Barclay setting out my washing and shaving water in my dressing room, and I was forced to disentangle myself from between the twins. I will admit that it was difficult to leave them both and go, but I was due at the courts that morning to give testimony. Henry too was due and he would be returning with me to Rogeringham House for the night.

My night with my twin sisters had been most enjoyable, but it is my understanding that judges get most upset when they are kept waiting.

When I stood up to testify, Mr Black my barrister, had me recount the sequence of events, culminating with Montague Fellowes' involvement being identified to me by my steward's widow. Sir Montague's defence tried to suggest that this had been a malicious slander by Mrs Dodgson. My argument in reply was that Fellowes' actions at the ball had confirmed the report, especially as he had not been on the original list of invitations.

The mention of Emily Dodgson's name caused the Judge to call both lawyers to his bench to discover more. He wanted to know why she had not been called as a witness. Mr Black explained further that Emily's role had been purely coincidental, and while she had identified Sir Montague at the ball, all of the details of the actual case had been discovered by Mr Langton in the documents that Mr Dodgson had left.

Mrs Dodgson's part in the matter had been documented in a sworn affidavit, in the presence of and signed by Sir Arthur Walker, the Justice of the Peace.

As Mr Langton noted to me the previous day, the defence did not want Mrs Dodgson present, as they felt she would be prejudicial to their case.

The defence did though, attempt to besmirch Emily Dodgson, by referring to the Dodgson's incestuous status, but Mr Black objected on the grounds that incest was not a crime, and that anyway, she had been forced into it by Alfred. He supported his objection with two more affidavits - one from myself and one from Dr Locksley - the vicar of Rogeringham church, attesting to Mrs Dodgson's good character. The judge took a few moments to ask me about my affidavit.

"You have attested to Mrs Dodgson's character, Your Grace?"

I told him that I had.

"Considering her involvement in this affair, I am surprised that you have testified so. Would Your Grace please explain your decision? So that I have it clear in my mind, that is."

I was still under oath from previously, so explained that Emily had provided the books of her own volition, and because she wanted to 'make things right'. Mrs Dodgson was as much a victim in this as she had lost her brother and the father of her children. The whole affair had been of great distress to her, I said, and yet she had borne it all steadfastly and with great grace and courage.

The judge was dubious, as I was affirming the character of a witness of a case in which I was the plaintiff. The principle reason that he was prepared to allow this was simply due to my rank. As one of the highest-ranking nobles of the realm, that wasn't a member of the royal family - in the judge's eyes my word was worth more than a commoner's, in this case Sir Montague's. If I said that Emily Dodgson was of good character, then she must be. Iniquitous? Indubitably. No man's word should be better than another's just because of his rank. But today I would play that very advantage, and Sir Montague could go and stew about it.

It seemed to win the trick anyway, and the judge ruled that the two documents were sufficient for him to rule in favour of Mr Black's objection.

So, the judge accepted Emily's sworn testimonial and my part in the case was effectively ended.

That afternoon Henry Adams testified how the estate documents showed exactly what had transpired. I was most impressed with Henry's part in the trial. He was clear and he was precise and his recall of details was very impressive.

Once again, the defence tried to attack Henry's character, but Mr Black had only begun to say the words "I object", when the judge himself ruled that that ploy was out of order. "Mr Adams," he said, "Is obviously a man of quality, and because of that there was no question about his good character."

Henry and I were done, Mr Langton had some administrative matters to conclude at the courts and then at his chambers, but then he would join Henry and I for some supper and we would go with my sisters to a concert in St James's Park.

It was a very pleasant evening which lasted late into the night, when we returned to Rogeringham House. I found the company of the two men to be most enjoyable. We talked about a variety of subjects and found ourselves in agreement on many of them - the ways forward for the estate, the employment of old soldiers, expanding into industrial interests. Henry suggested that we look at involving James Barthomley there and utilise his connections to our mutual benefit, which surprised me, but it made a degree of sense, as we did not have those skills and it was thought that James might.

They also both agreed with my beliefs about women and their role in society - Mr Langton's wife, Constance was probably a force behind his agreement. She is a formidable woman, charming, attractive and witty, but also possessing a strong will and a fine intellect. Henry's muse in this was my sister Caroline, and of course there was my mother, all of my sisters and women like the Dorringtons. It was with those women in mind that we agreed that their inclusion would be central in the things that we did. We had no illusions that we were going to change English society over-night, none of the three of us was in any way that optimistic, but we aimed to take any actions we could in whatever way that we could.

Eventually, though, it was time to retire.

I was very tired, it had been a long day and I hadn't slept very much the night before, so when I found both of the twins asleep and entwined in my bed - they looked delightful sleeping there, I was torn and I did not want to disturb them. Just then Margaret opened an eye and saw me standing next to the bed. Sleepily she pushed Louise to one side so that I could get between them. And thus, it was that we slept the night away.