Dorchester
A room at The Antelope Inn, Dorchester, Dorset
Saturday, 25 July 1818
Maria wakes early. She feels that she has slept well but also that she has not slept at all. She reaches for her Bible and flutters the pages.
The Lord will protect me today, as He has always. He has sent me testing times before and I overcame them. It will be the same today.
Sarah Slade, her uncle’s servant, scratches at the door.
‘It’s time, Miss.’
She helps Maria into her stays and ties her frock. They talk in whispers, and Sarah tells Maria what Tuckett and Leigh have refused to – what happened at yesterday’s Assizes. John Gallop, a working man, killed the woman who was bearing his child, says Sarah, and her bastard son, a lad of only eight, got up in court and gave the story while Gallop tried to shout him down. He will hang on Monday.64
She hands Maria her bonnet and shawl. They go down to meet Tuckett, Leigh and the Reverend Cooper, who are standing in conference with Thomas Fooks and the Reverends Bellamy and Cutler. So much black clothing in one tight knot. The heads turn. Smiles. Greetings. Encouragement.
All this for my sake, I cannot fail.
The sky is blue and clear. The day is already hot.
We are only a few steps away from the end. I feel that I am floating. I can scarcely breathe.
Ahead, in front of the Shire Hall, people stand about as if waiting for the doors of a theatre. Gentlemen and ladies. Townsfolk from Taunton. Most of those for the Bowditch side. The men from the farm in their Sunday best. Mrs Priest. Mr Puddy. There is a face she knows, old Doctor Thompson. And another, Mr Tuckett’s friend Mr Penney, who last summer had mistaken Mrs Mulraine for her and cannot stop apologizing for it. ‘Disgraceful woman,’ he said. ‘Such behaviour.’
There are Mr and Mrs Whitby with Mary Ann, standing away from the rest. Mary Ann smiles.
The doors of the Shire Hall are open. The crowd move in, heading for the stairs. They want a good place in the gallery.
Last-minute whisperings with the lawyers and the witnesses. Tuckett enters the courtroom and leaves Maria and Mary Ann in the lobby with the Reverend Cooper. They sit together in silence. Tuckett has told them to ignore their enemies and to keep their minds on prayer, and on their evidence.