He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope (books you need to read .txt) 📕

declare that his horse was so tired with the road that he could not go

on to Baker Street. They must get another cab. Take his number! Of

course they could take his number. There was his number. His fare was

four and six, that is, if the ladies wouldn’t pay him anything extra for

the terrible load; and he meant to have it. It would be sixpence more

if they kept him there many minutes longer. The number was taken, and

another cab was got, and the luggage was transferred, and the money was

paid, while the unhappy mother was still screaming in hysterics against

the railings. What had been done was soon clear enough to all those

around her. Nora had told the policeman, and had told one of the women,

thinking to obtain their sympathy and assistance. ‘It’s the kid’s dada

as has taken it,’ said one man, ‘and there ain’t nothing to be done.’

There was nothing to be done, nothing, at any rate, then and there.

Nora had been very eager that the cabman should be arrested; but the

policeman assured her that such an arrest was out of the question, and

would have been useless had it been possible. The man would be

forthcoming if his presence should be again desired, but he had

probably, so said the policeman, really been desired to drive to Mowbray

Street. ‘They knows where to find me if they wants me, only I must be

paid my time,’ said the cabman confidently. And the policeman was of

opinion that as the boy had been kidnapped on behalf of the father, no

legal steps could be taken either for the recovery of the child or for

the punishment of the perpetrators of the act. He got up, however, on

the box of the cab, and accompanied the party to the hotel in Baker

Street. They reached it almost exactly at the same time with Sir

Marmaduke and Lady Rowley, and the reader must imagine the confusion,

the anguish, and the disappointment of that meeting. Mrs Trevelyan was

hardly in possession of her senses when she reached her mother, and

could not be induced to be tranquil even when she was assured by her

father that her son would suffer no immediate evil by being transferred

to his father’s hands. She in her frenzy declared that she would never

see her little one again, and seemed to think that the father might not

improbably destroy the child. ‘He is mad, papa, and does not know what

he does. Do you mean to say that a madman may do as he pleases? that he

may rob my child from me in the streets? that he may take him out of my

very arms in that way?’ And she was almost angry with her father because

no attempt was made that night to recover the boy.

Sir Marmaduke, who was not himself a good lawyer, had been closeted

with the policeman for a quarter of an hour, and had learned the

policeman’s views. Of course, the father of the child was the person

who had done the deed. Whether the cabman had been in the plot or not,

was not matter of much consequence. There could be no doubt that some

one had told the man to go to Parker’s Hotel, as the cab was starting;

and it would probably be impossible to punish him in the teeth of such

instructions. Sir Marmaduke, however, could doubtless have the cabman

summoned. And as for the absolute abduction of the child, the policeman

was of opinion that a father could not be punished for obtaining

possession of his son by such a stratagem, unless the custody of the

child had been made over to the mother by some court of law. The

policeman, indeed, seemed to think that nothing could be done, and Sir

Marmaduke was inclined to agree with him. When this was explained to

Mrs Trevelyan by her mother, she again became hysterical in her agony,

and could hardly be restrained from going forth herself to look for her

lost treasure.

It need hardly be further explained that Trevelyan had planned the

stratagem in concert with Mr Bozzle. Bozzle, though strongly cautioned

by his wife to keep himself out of danger in the matter, was sorely

tempted by his employer’s offer of a hundred pounds. He positively

refused to be a party to any attempt at violence at St. Diddulph’s; but

when he learned, as he did learn, that Mrs Trevelyan, with her sister

and baby, were to be transferred from St. Diddulph’s in a cab to Baker

Street, and that the journey was luckily to be made during the shades

of evening, his active mind went to work, and he arranged the plan.

There were many difficulties, and even some pecuniary difficulty. He

bargained that he should have his hundred pounds clear of all deduction

for expenses, and then the attendant expenses were not insignificant. It

was necessary that there should be four men in the service, all good

and true; and men require to be well paid for such goodness and truth.

There was the man, himself an ex-policeman, who gave the instructions

to the first cabman, as he was starting. The cabman would not undertake

the job at all unless he were so instructed on the spot, asserting that

in this way he would be able to prove that the orders he obeyed came

from the lady’s husband. And there was the crafty pseudo-waiter, with

the napkin and no hat, who had carried the boy to the cab in which his

father was sitting. And there were the two cabmen. Bozzle planned it

all, and with some difficulty arranged the preliminaries. How

successful was the scheme, we have seen; and Bozzle, for a month, was

able to assume a superiority over his wife, which that honest woman

found to be very disagreeable.

‘There ain’t no fraudulent abduction in it at all,’ Bozzle exclaimed,

‘because a wife ain’t got no rights again her husband, not in such a

matter as that.’ Mrs Bozzle replied that if her husband were to take

her child away from her without her leave, she’d let him know something

about it. But as the husband had in his possession the note for a

hundred pounds, realized, Mrs Bozzle had not much to say in support of

her view of the case.

On the morning after the occurrence, while Sir Marmaduke was waiting

with his solicitor upon a magistrate to find whether anything could be

done, the following letter was brought to Mrs Trevelyan at Gregg’s

Hotel:

‘Our child is safe with me, and will remain so. If you care to obtain

legal advice you will find that I as his father have a right to keep

him under my protection. I shall do so; but will allow you to see him

as soon as I shall have received a full guarantee that you have no idea

of withdrawing him from my charge.

‘A home for yourself with me is still open to you on condition that you

will give me the promise that I have demanded from you; and as long as

I shall not hear that you again see or communicate with the person to

whose acquaintance I object. While, you remain away from me I will

cause you to be paid 50 a month, as I do not wish that you should be a

burden on others. But this payment will depend also on your not seeing

or holding any communication with the person to whom I have alluded.

Your affectionate and offended husband,

Louis TREVELYAN.

A letter addressed to The Acrobats’ Club will reach me.’

Sir Rowley came home dispirited and unhappy, and could not give much

comfort to his daughter. The magistrate had told him that though the

cabman might probably be punished for taking the ladies otherwise than

as directed, if the direction to Baker Street could be proved, nothing

could be done to punish the father. The magistrate explained that under

a certain Act of Parliament the mother might apply to the Court of

Chancery for the custody of any children under seven years of age, and

that the court would probably grant such custody unless it were shewn

that the wife had left her husband without sufficient cause. The

magistrate could not undertake to say whether or no sufficient cause

had here been given or whether the husband was in fault or the wife. It

was, however, clear that nothing could be done without application to

the Court of Chancery. It appeared, so said the magistrate, that the

husband had offered a home to his wife, and that in offering it he had

attempted to impose no conditions which could be shewn to be cruel

before a judge. The magistrate thought that Mr Trevelyan had done

nothing illegal in taking the child from the cab. Sir Marmaduke, on

hearing this, was of opinion that nothing could be gained by legal

interference. His private desire was to get hold of Trevelyan and pull

him limb from limb. Lady Rowley thought that her daughter had better go

back to her husband, let the future consequences be what they might.

And the poor desolate mother herself had almost brought herself to

offer to do so, having in her brain some idea that she would after a

while be able to escape with her boy. As for love for her husband,

certainly there was none now left in her bosom. Nor could she teach

herself to think it possible that she should ever live with him again

on friendly terms. But she would submit to anything with the object of

getting back her boy. Three or four letters were written to Mr

Trevelyan in as many days from his wife, from Lady Rowley, and from

Nora; in which various overtures were made. Trevelyan wrote once again

to his wife. She knew, he said, already the terms on which she might

come back. These terms were still open to her. As for the boy, he

certainly should not leave his father. A meeting might be planned on

condition that he, Trevelyan, were provided with a written assurance

from his wife that she would not endeavour to remove the boy, and that

he himself should be present at the meeting.

Thus the first week was passed after Sir Marmaduke’s return, and a most

wretched time it was for all the party at Gregg’s Hotel.