“The gaoler opened the door and stood back for me to go in,” he began in a level, careful voice. “I had sought permission to speak to Caleb alone. I knew it might very well be the last time I had such an opportunity. The trial was not going in his favor.” His hesitation was barely perceptible. “I… I had certain things I wanted to say to him which were of a personal nature. Probably it was foolish of me, but I hoped that for Angus's widow's sake, he might tell me what had happened between Angus and himself, and she could know that Angus was…

at peace, if you will.” The coroner nodded. There was a sigh around the room.

Genevieve caught her breath in a gasp, but made no other sound. She closed her eyes, as if she could not bear to see.

Rathbone glanced at Goode and saw a flicker of question in his eyes. “Of course it was futile,” Ravensbrook resumed. “Nothing I could say had any effect upon him, or softened the anger inside him.”

“Was he in a rage when you first went in, Lord Ravensbrook?” the coroner asked, his eyes wide and gentle. “The gaoler seems not to know.”

“He was… sullen,” Ravensbrook replied, frowning slightly. If he were aware of Selina Herries staring at him as if she would imprint his features in her mind, he gave no sign of it at all. “I asked him, for Genevieve's sake, to tell me what had happened in that last meeting,” he continued.

“But he would not. I assured him I would not repeat it to the authorities.

It was only for the family I wished to know. But he was adamant.” His voice was level, but seemed tight in his throat, as though he had to force it out, and several times he licked his lips.

Rathbone glanced around the room again. Enid sat stiffbacked, leaning a trifle forward, as if she would be closer to him. Genevieve looked from the witness stand to Enid, and back. Selina Herries clenched her knuckles in front of her, and her bold face was filled with pain, but her eyes did not waver.

“He asked me for pen and paper,” Ravensbrook said, resuming his account.

“He said he wanted to write a last testament…”

“Did he mean a will, or a statement, do you know?” the coroner inquired.

“He did not say, and I did not ask,” Ravensbrook answered. “I assumed it was some statement, perhaps a form of last words. I hoped it would be his confession or contrition, for his own soul's sake.”

In the audience Selina let out a little cry, then immediately stifled it.

Another woman gave a stifled sob, but whether of personal grief or simply the emotion of the scene, it was impossible to say.

Titus Niven put his hand on Genevieve's, discreetly, very gently, and the tightness in her shoulders eased a fraction.

“So you asked the gaoler for a pen, ink and paper,” the coroner prompted.

“Yes,” Ravensbrook agreed. The emotion in the room did not seem to touch him; perhaps his own turmoil was too great. “When they came, I returned to the cell and gave them to Caleb. He tried to use the pen, but said it was scratchy. The nib needed recutting. I took out my penknife to do it for him…”

“You did not offer him the knife?” the coroner asked, leaning forward earnestly.

Ravensbrook's mouth tightened and his brows furrowed. “No, of course not!”

“Thank you. Proceed.”

Ravensbrook stood even more rigidly. The desperate grip on his emotions, the fragility of his hold, was painfully apparent. He was a man walking through a nightmare, and not a soul in the room could be unaware of it.

This time even the coroner did not prompt him.

Ravensbrook took a deep breath and let it out in an inaudible sigh.

“Without the slightest warning, without saying a word, Caleb launched himself at me. The first I knew of it, he was at my throat, his hand clasping my wrist and attempting to seize the knife from me. We struggled-I to save my life, he to gain mastery over me, whether to kill me or to snatch the knife in an attempt to take his own life, I do not know, nor will I guess.”

There was a slight murmur of assent, a sigh of pity.

“For God's sake, where's Monk?” Goode whispered to Rathbone. “This can't be strung out beyond tomorrow!”

Rathbone did not answer. There was nothing else to say.

“I cannot tell you precisely what happened,” Ravensbrook started again. “It was all too quick. He managed to stab at me several times, half a dozen or so. We fought back and forth. It probably seemed for longer than it was.”

He turned to face the coroner, looking at him earnestly. “I have very little idea whether it was seconds or minutes. I managed to force him away from me. He slipped and my own impetus carried me forward. I tripped over his leg and we landed together. When I arose, he was lying on the floor with the knife in his throat.”

He stopped. There was total motionless silence in the room. Every face was turned towards him, emotions naked in horror and compassion.

Selina Herries looked like a ghost, suddenly thinner, sadder, the brave arrogance leached away.

“When I could gather my senses,” Ravensbrook said, taking up his account again, “and realized that I was no longer in danger from him, I leaned forward and attempted to find his pulse. He was bleeding very profusely, and I feared he was beyond help. I turned to the door and banged and called out for the gaolers. One of them opened it and let me out. The rest I believe you already know.”

“Indeed, my lord,” the coroner agreed. “I do not need to trouble you any further. May I offer you and your family my deepest sympathy in your double loss.”

“Thank you.” Ravensbrook turned to leave.

Goode rose to his feet.

The coroner made a motion with his hand to stop Ravensbrook, who looked at Goode as he would an enemy in the field of battle.

“If you must,” the coroner conceded reluctantly.

“Thank you, sir.” Goode turned to Ravensbrook, smiling courteously, showing all his teeth.

“By your own account, my lord, and by the evidence of your most unfortunate injuries…” he began. “By the way, I hope you are beginning to recover?”

“Thank you,” Ravensbrook said stiffly.

“I am very glad.” Goode inclined his head. “As I was saying, by your own account, my lord, you did not cry out for help until the struggle with Caleb had continued for some moments. Why did you not call immediately? You surely must have appreciated that you were in very considerable danger?”

Ravensbrook stared at him, his face white.

“Of course I knew that,” he said, his jaw clenched, the muscles visible even from where Rathbone sat.

“And yet you did not cry out,” Goode persisted. “Why not?”

Ravensbrook looked at him with loathing.

“I doubt you would understand, sir, or you would not ask. For all his sins and ingratitude, his disloyalty, Caleb Stonefield had been a son to me. I hoped I might deal with the matter without the authorities ever needing to know of it. It was the most tragic accident that it ended as it did. I could have hidden my own wounds until I was clear of the courthouse. He was, until the end, unhurt.”

“I see,” Goode replied expressionlessly.

He went on to ask all manner of further questions, sought explanations of the finest points. Rathbone did the same after him, until it was apparent he had lost all sympathy from the crowd and worn the coroner's patience threadbare. He conceded at quarter past four in the afternoon, and was called by the coroner to take the stand himself. The coroner elicited his evidence and dispatched him within twelve minutes.

Goode racked his brains, and could think of nothing further to ask him.

At twenty-nine minutes to five Monk was called, and found to be absent.

Rathbone protested that he should be located. The coroner pointed out that since Rathbone himself had been in Monk's presence every moment of the relevant time, there was nothing useful that Monk could add.