Almost Heaven
Page 135

For an inexplicable reason, Elizabeth felt icy fear starting to quake through her, as if her heart understood that something awful was happening-that she had not been believed, and he was now going to make absolutely certain that she would never be. "Why-why what?" she stammered.
"Why have you come here to tell us such an amazing tale in hopes of saving the life of this man from whom you admit you fled weeks ago?"
Elizabeth looked beseechingly to Peterson Delham, who shrugged as if in resigned disgust. In her petrified state she remembered his words in the anteroom, and now she understood them: "What I've been doing to her is nothing to what the prosecution will do to her story. . . . This is no longer a quest for truth and justice. . . this is an amphitheater, and the prosecution is bent on giving a stellar performance. . . . 
"Lady Thornton!" the prosecutor rapped out, and he began firing questions at her so rapidly that she could scarcely keep track of them. "Tell us the truth, Lady Thornton. Did that man"-his finger pointed accusingly to where Ian was sitting. out of Elizabeth's vision-"find you and bribe you to come back here and tell us this absurd tale? Or did he find you and threaten your life if you didn't come here today? Isn't it true that you have no idea where your brother is? Isn't it true that by your own admission a few moments ago you fled in terror for your life from this cruel man? Isn't it true that you are afraid of further cruelty from him-"
"No!" Elizabeth cried. Her gaze raced over the male faces around and above her, and she could see not one that looked anything but either dubious or contemptuous of the truths she had told.
"No further questions!" "Wait!" In that infinitesimal moment of time Elizabeth realized that if she couldn't convince them she was telling the truth, she might be able to convince them she was too stupid to make up such a lie. "Yes, my lord," her voice rang out. "I cannot deny it-about his cruelty, I mean."
Sutherland swung around. his eyes lighting up, and renewed excitement throbbed in the great chamber. "You admit this is a cruel man?"
"Yes, I do," Elizabeth emphatically declared. "My dear, poor woman, could you tell us-all of us some examples of his cruelty?"
"Yes, and when I do, I know you will all understand how truly cruel my husband can be and why I ran off with Robert-my brother, that is." Madly, she tried to think of half-truths that would not constitute perjury, and she remembered Ian's words the night he came looking for her at Havenhurst.
"Yes, go on." Everyone in the galleries leaned forward in unison, and Elizabeth had the feeling the whole building was tipping toward her. "When was the last time your husband was cruel?"
"Well, just before I left he threatened to cut off my allowance-I had overspent it, and I hated to admit it."
"You were afraid he would beat you for it?"
"No, I was afraid he wouldn't give me more until next quarter!"
Someone in the gallery laughed, then the sound was instantly choked. Sutherland started to frown darkly, but Elizabeth plunged ahead. "My husband and I were discussing that very thing-my allowance, I mean-two nights before I ran away with Bobby."
"And did he become abusive during that discussion? Is that the night your maid testified that you were weeping?"
"Yes, I believe it was!" "Why were you weeping, Lady Thornton?" The galleries tipped further toward her.
"I was in a terrible taking," Elizabeth said, stating a fact. "I wanted to go away with Bobby. In order to do it, I had to sell my lovely emeralds, which Lord Thornton gave me." Seized with inspiration, she leaned confiding inches toward the Lord Chancellor upon the woolsack. "I knew he would buy me more, you know." Startled laughter rang out from the galleries, and it was the encouragement Elizabeth desperately needed.
Lord Sutherland, however, wasn't laughing. He sensed that she was trying to dupe him, but with all the arrogance typical of most of his sex, he could not believe she was smart enough to actually attempt, let alone accomplish it. "I'm supposed to believe you sold your emeralds out of some freakish start-out of a frivolous desire to go off with a man you claim was your brother?"
"Goodness, I don't know what you are supposed to believe. I only know I did it."
"Madam!" he snapped. "You were on the verge of tears. according to the jeweler to whom you sold them, If you were in a frivolous mood, why were you on the verge of tears?"
Elizabeth gave him a vacuous look. "I liked my emeralds."
Guffaws erupted from the floor to the rafters. Elizabeth waited until they were finished before she leaned forward and said in a proud, confiding tone, "My husband often says that emeralds match my eyes. Isn't that sweet?"
Sutherland was beginning to grind his teeth, Elizabeth noted. Afraid to look at Ian, she cast a quick glance at Peterson Delham and saw him watching her alertly with something that might well have been admiration.
"So!" Sutherland boomed in a voice that was nearly a rant. "We are now supposed to believe that you weren't really afraid of your husband?"
"Of course I was. Didn't I just explain how very cruel he can be?" she asked with another vacuous look. "Naturally, when Bobby showed me his back I couldn't help thinking that a man who would threaten to cut off his wife's allowance would be capable of anything-"
Loud guffaws lasted much longer this time, and even after they died down, Elizabeth noticed derisive grins where before there had been condemnation and disbelief. "And," Sutherland boomed, when he could be heard again, "we are also supposed to believe that you ran off with a man you claim is your brother and have been cozily in England somewhere-"
Elizabeth nodded emphatically and helpfully provided, "In Helmshead-it is the sweetest village by the sea. I was having a very pleas-very peaceful time until I read the paper and realized my husband was on trial. Bobby didn't think I should come back at all, because he was still provoked about being put on one of my husband's ships. But I thought I ought."
"And what," Sutherland gritted, "do you claim is the reason you decided you ought?"
"I didn't think Lord Thornton would like being hanged-" More mirth exploded through the House, and Elizabeth had to wait for a full minute before she could continue. "And so I gave Bobby my money, and he went on to have his own agreeable life, as I said earlier."
"Lady Thornton," Sutherland said' in an awful, silky voice that made Elizabeth shake inside, "does the word ?perjury' have any meaning to you?"