Garrow's Law: Tales from the Old Bailey (2009) s02e04 Episode Script

Criminal Conversation is a euphemism For sexual intercourse with another man's wife.
Custody of Samuel shall reside with yourself.
If you shall admit the child imposed upon your husband is the child of Mr Garrow.
He will never make good this debt.
I will not signwhat is not true.
So it appears you have not been honest with me in how you have spent your time.
I would not betray you, even for my son.
You shall not be deprived of either of the loves you have.
The fair readers of the Crimcon Gazette are agog to hear you on this remarkable good idea, Mr Garrow! That a new law be passed permitting men of low cut, out of envy for their betters, the freedom to lift the skirts of titled wives! I am the guardian and fair arbiter of good society.
Lady Sarah Hill is the ladder by which you hope to mount into that society? Thomas Wiley was indicted for feloniously stealing, on the 6th September, out of the General Post-Office, a letter directed to Messrs William, Son, and Company, Bankers, London.
Good luck to you, Garrow! Here's hoping she was worth the 10,000! Gentlemen! This offence, most grievous, is one of theft from the King's Mail.
Thomas, don't be afraid.
My name is William Garrow.
I'm your defence counsel.
Do you understand? Mr Garrow? Are you quite with us? Will the boy speak in his defence? He cannot, my Lord, he is mute.
So am I to play no role in the resolving of my difficulties? This is a situation requiring of caution, requiring of delicacy.
And you think that beyond my range? You have employed me and must let me act from experience.
We must have no more unwelcome visitations.
All I ask is that you do nothing.
And say nothing.
Call John Evans Davis.
What dealings had you with the prisoner, either at or after leaving the post office? I spoke hardly a word to him, sir.
And he never spoke any to me.
The court is uncomfortable familiar with you, is it not, Mr Davis? On five occasions in this session alone you have been accused, by innocents like this boy of pressing them to theft for your own advantage.
I fear I have a face easily mistaken for another.
Thomas Wiley saw you steal letters from the inland office.
You then threatened him with murder to keep that secret.
Is that not so? I did not, sir.
I never saw the lad from the time I was left till now.
"The boy is mistaken.
" "There is some mistake made by this girl.
" "I have not seen this youth before today.
" "The child is in error.
" Do you have a question, sir? Is that not how your task here goes? Five times in as many months you have been accused, and still you ask this court to see you innocent? Mr Garrow if you have witnesses to support the claim, you will no doubt call them.
I have been unable to find any witnesses.
Too busy tupping his titled lady.
How many more times will he use this court and this jury as executioner for his unwilling assistants? My Lord, do I have to remind Mr Garrow not to address the jury.
Mr Garrow, have you witnesses to call? Every man and woman here is a witness to this man's wickedness.
Mr Garrow! Have you witnesses? I have none, my lord.
Then I think all has been said.
Gentlemen.
You've heard the evidence.
You will confer.
You have a verdict? Guilty.
Thomas Wiley - take you hence to the place where you camest and then to a place of execution, where you will be hanged by the neck until you be dead.
Take him down.
Mr Southouse How is this? No jibes, Mr Farmer? No gloating at the victory over William Garrow you imagine already yours? Rest easy, Mr Southouse.
Preparation goes well.
Can it be you feel your purse is in some doubt? That two shillings you take from every pound of damages? Mr Southouse.
We will see your man fall.
I wonder.
It was a trial, just as any other.
I could have done more.
I fear he will hang because my head was too filled with politics and other nonsense.
You must, you will, forget this day.
How do I forget the fear in his eyes? Ah.
I stopped looking in the eyes of unfortunates I sentence to hang some years ago.
William, it doesn't help them, and I sleep better.
I think I could not so easily turn away.
Then as long as you continue in this profession .
.
you will not sleep.
What do they want from me, Mr Southouse? All the things you do not wish to give them.
You do not play the game.
I have no desire for easy-won repute.
Which make you in their eyes a very poor adulterer.
I propose we withdraw.
We stay.
I will not be menaced by such people.
And you should know, I intend to take my seat in the courtroom for the trial.
What did you ask me here to say? That I sense there has been a shift of mood in your husband's cause.
A change of heart? Nothing so clear, or so pleasing.
But I have seen something in Mr Farmer.
Lady Sarah.
My lord.
Mr Southouse.
You both might do well to attend to Mr Garrow.
I believe he's in need of reassurance.
What kind of foul swamp is this in which I must live and make my living? I cannot decipher which half of it is worse .
.
the endless .
.
monstrous crimes of men .
.
or the many barbarous ways by which we punish them.
For little more than the theft of a penny, we flog, brand, burn, maim and jail them, or dispatch them to Godforsaken lands.
And hang a boy .
.
a boy of only 12.
And this has so seeped into my guts and bones .
.
become so usual to my life, thatit turns the murder of boys into a mere prologue to the main business of the day.
This business of ours in the civil court.
Where in a pantomime of justice the interweave of our two lives will be redrawn as animal fornication, our chastity re-minted as debauchery.
What does a man do .
.
when all of this weighs too heavy on his soul? This man says he is beaten.
I am.
I am beaten.
Then this man is not William Garrow.
When the temptation of my son's return was offered to me .
.
William Garrow saw it clear and stayed true to his self.
And by so doing, kept me true to mine.
The man who talks here of defeat .
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is not the same.
When I, in my confusion, resolved to flee the clamour of this invented scandal .
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it was William Garrow who kept me here with protestations of love.
Without him, my English cheeks would by now be roasted by the French sun.
By your promises, you filled me with fortitude.
And now, this woman says you must join her in her resolve, or your pessimism will conjure up the future you fear.
I will mimic my teacher and quell my fear.
But where to take its place may I find hope? He stands behind me.
Mr Southouse brings hope, do you not? I believe I do.
There is some change in our enemy.
I have faced Farmer enough to sense it.
His temper is alteredlowered.
No more than that? And I intend to discover what develops in the household of Sir Arthur Hill.
"Upon delivering the letter to Mr Garrow, "he went to herin" "With the urgency my mistress demanded.
" "With the urgency my mistress demanded.
" "I then saw them embrace hotly in the hotel room.
" But I did not, Mr Farmer.
I find myself vexed by this demand to speak against my mistress.
When next it troubles you, recall your sister Annie and the employment arranged for her by your master.
Embellish and she will continue there, refuse and the future is less certain.
Again! Mary? John Southouse.
I am attorney to I know who you are, sir.
I ask only a few moments from you.
My time is not mine to give.
I understand that your master holds sway over you.
But do you not also owe your mistress? If I am seen here with you, it might easily cost my employment, and my sister her new position.
Do you forget that, without the help of Lady Sarah, your sister might have danced from a rope? The temperature has much changed in the household since Sir Arthur, in great anger, upturned entirely my lady's bedchamber, leaving it in havoc and himself exhausted from the effort.
No doubt because Lady Sarah would not do as Sir Arthur insisted and admit her boy a bastard? I don't know, sir.
I think he has resigned himself to that.
Then this wassome other matter? You cannot assign what that matter might be? I cannot! Mr Silvester, if you come to exult in your victory, I am in no mood for it.
The day is too dark.
I share your mood.
Today held no glory for English law.
But I came to discuss your own situation.
And ask that you accept my further apology.
For taking advantage of the imbalance of your humour when previously I faced you in court.
I expected nothing less.
I mistook my strategy by aiming for Garrow the man and not the barrister.
That is the tactic of the Sir Arthurs and Lord Melvilles of this world.
I do not wish to side with them.
Therefore I side with you.
I wish to offer my services as your counsel.
Indeed? It is a conversion as dramatic as Saint Paul.
I suppose I should be grateful for this support.
Let us not exaggerate the transformation.
I do not propose we become friends.
For which I am also grateful.
But I spy a second purpose to your offer - a purpose more in keeping with the Silvester I have known.
To add the Crimcon as a source of income to his balance sheet, a barrister such as yourself must set up stall in that market with a sensational trial.
This is such a trial.
Perhaps.
But do my motives for taking such a case have any bearing on the very good job I might do for you and for Lady Sarah? You wish me to persuade you? Like some smooth-faced apprentice to this trade? I find myself as a client dealing with a barrister for the first time.
I am not so familiar with the role that I can take up my part so swiftly.
Tell me at least how would you set out the case.
By first anticipating how my colleague Mr Garrow might go, and then turning that on its head.
Mr Garrow, as ever, would wish to make things turn upon a point of law.
And your strategy is less troublesome to convention? It is.
More so because Judge Kenyon is presiding.
He is a man of hard moral positions.
You would play to the judge and not work at the evidence? The "criminal" in Criminal Conversation does not make it a criminal case.
It is a civil case.
Your eager cross-examinations will not do here.
It is a bad law! It is a very bad law, but in order to win, we must work within the convention.
Lord Melville, this is excellent news indeed.
I particularly impressed upon the Earl of Sandwich that the promotion should take immediate effect.
As of this moment, you are First Secretary.
And be assured, I will do all in my power to repay your confidence in my qualities.
My Lord, I amuse you? You do not seek an action between Garrow and what you hold in your hand.
In this most imminent trial, a very important consideration is the wealth and status of the plaintiff.
The promotion is considered necessary.
It is, let us say, politic.
So I'm not worthy of it? If it snares Garrow, it's worth it.
They will also use the paternity of the boy Samuel against you.
Use it how? He is not mine.
All they need is Sir Arthur's doubt.
And we respond that Sir Arthur Hill is so overcome with the fancy the child was fathered by me, it led him to make this malicious claim of adultery.
A claim supported by evidence so slender, the court should blush.
Take no comfort from that.
The measure of proof is very low set, and Judge Kenyon was the one who set it there.
In his legal view, if a man and woman contrive to be alone together, they must have done so with illicit purpose.
I begin to see this Criminal Conversation is just a fantastical tale with no concern for the truth.
Then at last you begin to see clearly, Garrow.
I will suppress my surprise that you, Silvester, are to be our council.
And hope that you, Mr Garrow, will learn an ounce of patience.
This notion of a "wife as property" is everywhere outside the courts being questioned.
The law must surely change to reflect that.
If it must, it should not at your expense.
And not in your trial.
I see you do begin to regret your offer, Mr Silvester.
How can you smile, sir? My son will hang because you were occupied with your wanton lady.
I promise you that was not the case.
Madam, whatever my shortcomings in court You think you can forget this day? If I could begin this day again I will not let you forget him! Take care of a man's coat! Mr Southouse Mr Garrow! Is the future so dire, you have taken up trade as butcher's boy? Oh, gentlemen! I do so look forward to your meeting my counsel Mr Thomas Erskine.
Have you not much rehearsed whatever fine words you dare bring here barrister? I have no words equal to this hour But if you would both allow it .
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I would bear the hour with you.
I know that my redeemer liveth .
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and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, shall I see God, and him mine eyes shall behold, and not another.
Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee.
And .
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our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
So teach us now, to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
The basket's truly not heavy, sir.
Nonsense.
And it is a gentleman's pleasure to spare the prettiest girl he will see all day.
We can't have those fine, feminine arms misshapen by muscle now, can we? I am Mr Southouse.
John Southouse.
Not so! Why, I was most recently rescued from the rope by your own barrister, by Mr Garrow! By heaven no! Then you are Annie, sister to Mary? I am, sir.
Ah, how small a city this is! But she lodges south does she not, at Hill House? Indeed.
I now return to my mistress.
I trust your mistress is not one of those idle genteel souls who wear down their maids unreasonably? No sir, there is none more reasonable than Lady Elisabeth Fox.
Thank you.
Good day.
Madam? I am called here on business, summoned by Mr Southouse.
I am John Southouse.
Please.
But forgive me, you are? I am Lady Elisabeth Fox.
Widow of Lord Argyll.
Ah, of course! Please.
Now, as I recall there was something handed to me bya Mr Farmer? Would that ring true, my Lady? I believe it concerns Sir Arthur Hill.
Sir Arthur and I do have a connection.
Mr Farmer is acting for him as attorney.
Ah, you have a connection with Sir Arthur Hill.
That is interesting.
And he pays the wages of Annie Christie? A maid in your household? Ah, did I not say? I also act as Attorney, for William Garrow.
Welcome to the pit.
Court shall rise.
William Garrow pleads not guilty to the charge that on 19th day of September of this year, and on diverse other days and times, with force of arms made an assault on Sarah Hill, wife of the plaintiff, and then and there debauched, deflowered, lay with and carnally knew her, to the Plaintiff's damage of Why is it Sir Arthur might pay your maid's wages, my Lady? I protest at the falsehood engineered to bring me to this place! My methods were dictated by the deception practised on myself and on William Garrow.
But I believe thisconnection you confess with Sir Arthur will be of interest to those now gathered at Westminster Hall.
Well do you propose to abduct me, sir? I do not.
Only invite you to come with me.
And pay you compliment by assuming you wish the truth to reveal itself.
William.
Thomas? You seem to have yourself in a mess.
You seem to have yourself a false client.
We shall see which of regrets the day the most.
Gentlemen.
The plaintiff, Sir Arthur Hill, is reduced to the cruel necessity of publishing in an open court of justice, his own misfortune, and his wife's shame, in order to procure the only remedy the Legislature can give.
The remedy I allude to is separation.
We must measure the verdict here in money.
But make no mistake no amount of money can restore to Sir Arthur Hill what he has lost.
Domestic tranquillity, and the certainty that the son he cherished is indeed his own.
A passion for a woman is progressive.
It does not, like anger, gain ascendancy in a moment.
William Garrow is a man of much-vaunted intelligence and sharp wit.
He could not have gone about his crime without passing the morality of it through his mind.
And yet he trampled on Lady Sarah's refusals, and the protestations of her conscience and repeatedly trampled upon his own.
The Plaintiff calls George Donkin, waiter at the Royal Hotel.
Call George Donkin.
Mr Donkin, do you see the personage you know now to be Lady Sarah Hill in this court? I do, sir.
There she sits.
Will you tell the court, related to Lady Sarah, what took place in the lodging at the Royal Hotel? I witnessed Mr Garrow arrive in haste at the hotel and ascend to the room occupied by Lady Sarah.
And at what hour did Mr Garrow leave? He did not, sir.
Sir, did you set up a bed outside the room you say Mr Garrow entered? To be truthful, I did not.
So you could not know if he left without your seeing, could you? To leave, he would have to pass my station at the foot of the stairs.
He did not.
As I went upstairs to my own bed, I heard noises of some animation coming from the room.
My Lord! My Lord, if the business of the trial were not already in motion, and the witness not so reluctant Mr Southouse, if you were to talk less and say more, we might both find the lineaments of our desires gratified.
I am in need of a compulsory.
The particulars I have here in order for Mr Garrow to Mr Southouse, I cannot jump every time Mr Garrow demands my help to compel a witness to attend and testify.
Tell the court, what are you? I am maid to Lady Sarah Hill.
You will tell me now of the events of the 16th of the month gone, relating to Lady Sarah at the Royal Hotel.
On the 16th, instructed by Sir Arthur, you took fresh clothing to your mistress, did you not? Mary.
Your answers here will neither save nor condemn your mistress.
It is the events that will weigh for or against this man, and not your telling of them.
Yes, sir.
Tell the court what happened at the Royal Hotel on that day.
I went up to my Lady's room Go on.
You took fresh clothing to her in her room.
What did you witness there? As I entered the room You saw William Garrow and Lady Sarah embrace, did you not? No, sir.
I did not.
Give this if you will to Mr Garrow.
My Lady.
Mr Southouse, I had want of your company here.
Lady Sarah, I have been about your business.
I make no apology for that.
But for what I say now, I ask pardon for my necessary directness.
There is a woman who is familiar with your husband.
Her testimony here could save William.
She resists you must persuade her.
I will direct you there.
My Lady the moment to act is upon us.
Court shall rise.
Is it true that Sir Arthur allowed Lady Sarah, his wife, to witness Bailey trials on his behalf? That is so, and William Garrow took advantage of this liberty to engineer moments alone with her.
Before this time, your judgement is that the marriage was strong? As an oak! I have rarely seen such devotion shared between man and wife.
Lord Melville, it is important, is it not, in trials such as this one, to establish the social standing of the plaintiff? He is a gentleman of family and fortune, a Member of Parliament for Bramber and now, First Secretary of the High Admiralty.
Ah, yes, of course! However, this jury, seasoned as they are in the flow of things, will have seen plaintiffs, as it were puffed up for their benefit.
For the avoidance of doubt, would you tell the gentlemen how recent was Sir Arthur's promotion at the Admiralty? It is recent.
The answer to the question is one day ago, is it not? As part of a long-standing arrangement and linked to the wider organisation of the Admiralty.
Oh, quite, my Lord.
I'm sure we are all familiar with the smooth-running efficiency of His Majesty's Government(!) Your opinion of Mr Garrow's character is rather low, is it not? I believe this court will see his morals to be wanting.
I believe other courts have seen his ideas to be dangerous to public order.
Yet quite recently, you offered him the position of King's Counsel.
Which he, with no good grace, refused! No doubt you are pleased to appear here today, to settle that score! My Lord, I object to that! Thank you, Mr Silvester.
My association with him interrupted nothing that was not already broken.
You believe that so? You deny your part in your husband's falseness? Your alliance with Mr Garrow pushed him to it.
Tell me when did this liaison begin? I have need to draw a line in time, to separate out what portion of my marriage I can consider untainted.
I was widowed two years ago.
The summer following, we met as I travelled back from Suffolk.
He charmed me.
I recall he can be charming.
He was attentive to me.
That I also recall more distantly.
Well, no doubt it is a familiar enough tale? And the symmetry of our two roles in it might ease your conscience.
Except that the tale is not true.
I say to you what, as a woman and a wife, I am prevented from saying in my defence in a court of law.
My husband was not driven into your arms by any betrayal on my part.
Well, so you would say.
Because it is the truth.
There was no seduction by William Garrow.
Nor any gift of a bastard son? I see my husband has infected you with an ounce of his madness! How can you keep silent while he brands me a whore and William Garrow the defiler of his property? You would have me testify and in so doing, damage my own future with the husband you have chosen to reject? What is it that renders our houses pure and our families innocent? It is that there is a warning voice, as of an angel placed to guard against evil propensities.
It is this voice which allows a man to enjoy the company of his neighbour's wife without the rise of those desires natural to men.
This defendant has deafened himself to that saving voice.
If the law shelter such a defendant from his crime, individual security is gone and the rights of the public are unprotected.
Whether this be our condition or not, I shall know by your verdict.
You are kept hidden here, where you can do no damage to my husband's case.
Are you so sure he does not deceive you as he has deceived me? I will listen to no more of this.
By your silence, you send two innocents to their ruin.
No more, please.
And you nurse your child while mine was wrenched from my arms! If you feel no shame at that, I fear your heart is already still, and your blood cold.
Mr Erskine paints a picture of a blissful marriage, ruined by William Garrow.
Let us lift the curtain on that marriage.
Sir Arthur's purse and prospects benefitted greatly by the union with Lady Sarah, and greatly advanced his career as a Member of Parliament.
I will pass no comment on his dedication to that role, except to say that he represents one of the unfortunately labelled "rotten boroughs", and that Sir Arthur Hill MP has not set foot in it for two years! I call John Southouse.
Call John Southouse! What are you, sir? I am John Southouse, attorney, called to speak to the character of the defendant.
You are friends with William Garrow? William Garrow is a most difficult man to call "friend".
He is obdurate, and driven to acts of principle that test the usual bonds of fellowship.
He is short on temper and long on haste.
He is guided by such impatient fervour that often, the normal courtesies of sociability are left behind.
But I would rather claim his friendship than have the approval of a multitude, or the favour of kings and queens.
Shame then he does not keep buttoned his trouser! And shame on you, sir! Who know everything of manners and nothing of morals! It pains me greatly that a man who has, in the pursuit of justice, changed the law, and in so doing, changed a nation for the better, should find his livelihood imperilled by an action as flimsy and unfounded as this.
There are many men, fine men who this morning awoke to the sight of their children, and to the love of their wives, who without Garrow and his stubbornness - for he can be a most stubborn man - would lie under lime with the burns of the rope around their necks.
You speak well, sir, and rightly praise the barrister, but what of the man? Without the man I would not stand before you today, so far am I indebted to him.
At a time of great despair, he revived my spirit and soul, and restored some small appetite for my own life.
For that, he has my unbroken gratitude.
He is a fine man.
I call Mrs Cardew of the Women's Improvement League.
Call Mrs No! You do not, sir.
Mr Silvester, you will approach the bench.
As will you, Mr Erskine.
And you, Mr Garrow.
This approach concerns me greatly.
I will hear the defendant's strategy.
We call the witness from the Women's Improvement League to testify No you will not.
Go on.
Umm, umm we intend to call the Bishop of Westminster regarding the damage that CrimCon has had on the institution No! This trial is about, and only about, the award of verdict to the plaintiff or defendant, and damages according.
Whatever the news, it seems not good.
You have my sympathy, sir.
I wonder, Mr Erskine, if you might, with your Lordship's indulgence You have, My Lord, wisely recognised the difficult role played by this eminent counsel as my mouthpiece, yet it is in your power still to hand me that voice.
I think, sir, your desperation is showing.
But my sympathy stands.
You have no objection, Mr Erskine? Think me soft-hearted, but how can I deny Mr Garrow a final flourish? Since it is his employment we consider, I feel I must leave the final word to Mr Silvester.
Shall Mr Garrow speak for himself? My Lord I believe no man is better qualified.
Let the court be advised, Mr Garrow shall make his own closing statement.
My Lord Buller.
Mr Southouse, am I to be your quarry all of this day? I would chase any weasel to its lair for the signature I need.
Weasel? Do you forget who you address, sir? I do not.
William Garrow is chased and cornered like a fox, and then hobbled further by the partialities of Judge Kenyon.
The trial is so cock-eyed, I would not be surprised if Lord Melville himself were on the jury in disguise.
Mr Southouse, I sympathise with your cause.
I admire Mr Garrow, but I am not his protector.
But you would be his gaoler, if you stand aside while this circle of dogs tears him apart.
Or are you prevented, from fear or by ambition, from opposing Melville? There has been no adultery.
There has been, almost from the moment of our first meeting, animosity between myself and Sir Arthur Hill.
There has been great sadness on my part that the full radiance of Lady Sarah Hill should be daily smothered by her husband's possessive and deadening hand.
There has been regret that the road of my fate did not cross hers before this mis-allied couple met and were wed.
But there has been no adultery.
There's been disappointment that a weak husband's self-delusion on the fidelity of his faithful wife could not only grow into desperate obsession, but that it could find support in those who, to meet their own aims, seek to suppress my activities as a barrister and entrap me in this charge of Criminal Conversation.
Because there has been no adultery, gentlemen.
There has been There has There has been the tug of attraction.
There have been ideas exchanged.
But there has been no adultery.
My Lord Buller.
My Lord, forgive me.
I come here after much faint-hearted hesitation.
And after a lesson in virtue from Mr Southouse.
And because if I did not I fear I would not sleep.
My Lord, forgive this further irregularity.
I have here a compulsory obtained on a witness.
The defence calls to this court Lady Elisabeth Fox.
My Lord, I ask for an adjournment.
We adjourn.
Court shall rise.
Gentlemen, I am at fault.
This I do accept.
But Mr Farmer, what strange wisdom did you both see in keeping this from me? Lord Melville, I swear to you Just as he swore himself faithful? Excepting whores, maids and actresses, you swore you were faithful to your wife! Can you not see, sir, how a man is driven to this? Here is what I see - a promotion reversed and a career cut short.
It was as a wounded cuckold I took respite in the arms of another.
But what wound did she inflict? What is it damns her in your eyes? For I have the keenest eye for guilt.
And on her, I see evidence of none.
I think you and I may hold out some hope for salvation.
This woman will not be an easy witness, William.
She has a delusion of love to strengthen her resolve.
She must have the truth pulled from her, like teeth from a horse.
But you must not bully her, or she'll snap shut like a bear trap.
Thank you, you have all added greatly to my confidence(!) Court shall rise.
The court resumes.
Gentlemen I ask only that you consider all of what had gone before, in light of what now follows.
Wait! My Lord, we make objection to this late witness in the strongest terms.
Mr Erskine, you will have your opportunity to examine the witness.
I call Lady Elisabeth Fox.
Call Lady Elisabeth Fox.
You are Lady Elisabeth, widow to Lord Fox of Argyll? I am.
You are well acquainted with Sir Arthur Hill, are you not? Yes.
He is a most honourable man.
Hmm For clarity, a year after the sad death of your husband, you formed a liaison with Sir Arthur, did you not? I did.
But it was no dalliance.
No simple intrigue.
Rather it was an association of maturity and respect.
With a man married? Our liaison followed and was born out of the sadness of heart his wife caused by her infidelity.
How else can a husband feel who discovers his son is not, after all, his own? That would be terrible, if it were true.
Is it the intention that this liaison will continue? It is.
And upon deliverance of a right and true verdict, that intention shall be made concrete.
Really, how so? We are to be married.
Sir Arthur has promised this himself? He sent word of his intention by way of Mr Farmer.
He told you of his love for you and his hopes for your future together via his attorney? Only because Because if he had been seen with you, how would that have looked to this court and this jury? Are you aware that the writ Sir Arthur delivered to his wife, also via Mr Farmer, was a writ for separation by bed and board? Should her infidelity go unpunished? It was an especially vengeful writ.
It would leave Lady Sarah in a state of marital and financial limbo.
But more particularly, it would leave Sir Arthur unable to remarry, that is to say, unable to remarry anyone.
Unable to marry you.
Did he not make that clear? You've tried to fool me into a betrayal! My Lady, you are fooled already.
No! That is a baseless allegation Deceived by practised hands! Attacking the witness! This is not true Manipulated! He does not love you! Gentlemen, we object! My Lord! We have a child! By Sir Arthur Hill, you have brought birth to a child.
On the day you gave birth to the child, did he come to you? He did not.
There there was business in Parliament.
The next day, at all? He After a week, I visited Sir Arthur's home, but could not gain entry.
He turned you away? It was a misunderstanding and was soon corrected! from Mr Farmer, I presume? And when you found yourself with child? I made an effort to seek a remedy through an apothecary.
And what was Sir Arthur's reaction to that? He was angered by the idea, but but at the same time, he declared his love for me.
And still he has not come to see you, or seen the child? Lady Elisabeth, I have a witness who can testify to Sir Arthur's action upon hearing of the birth of the child.
Her testimony is that Sir Arthur, in great anger, upturned entirely the bedchamber, leaving it in havoc and himself exhausted from the effort.
I don't understand.
I would suggest the thing closest to Sir Arthur's heart is neither yourself, nor Lady Sarah, his wife.
It is an heir.
A male heir.
What is your child? A daughter.
The fiction of Sir Arthur's love was only resurrected for the necessary protection of his reputation, and to preserve the idea of his own fidelity.
The truth must be faced, though it is a harsh truth.
He has deceived you as he has deceived his wife.
You were to him no more than a respectable womb.
The means of continuing a bloodline, which did not turn out out as he planned.
We have no questions, My Lord.
Court shall rise.
You have a verdict, gentlemen? We do, My Lord.
The jury find for the plaintiff, Sir Arthur Hill.
And award damages to the amount of one shilling.
Court shall rise.
Splendid, Garrow.
And now perhaps, please God, we can resume our former opposition.
I believe I have something that belongs to you.
Keep it.
You may need it.
Those who pushed me into this will not see this as the end.
It seems you have bought me for a shilling.
A very fine price.
But at what cost to your life? A life that will include your son? We are not beaten.