"I wish to call a surprise witness to the witness box and to be permitted to ask her only one question. Afterward my lord prosecutor may question her at any length, and to any degree he desires."
The Lord Chancellor turned to consult with a man Elizabeth surmised must be the bead prosecutor the Attorney-General. "Have you any objection, Lord Sutherland?"
Lord Sutherland arose, a tall man with a hawk nose and thin lips, garbed in the requisite scarlet robes and powdered wig. "Certainly not, my lord," he said in a tone that was almost snide. "We've waited for Mr. Delham twice already today. What is one more delay in the execution of English justice?"
"Bring your witness forward, Mr. Delham. And after this I'll countenance no more delays in these proceedings. Is that understood?"
Elizabeth actually jumped when the young solicitor stepped into the alcove and touched her arm. Her eyes riveted on Ian, she started forward on wooden legs, her heart thundering against her ribs, and that was before Peterson Delham said in a voice that carried to the highest tiers of seats, "My lords, we call to the witness box the Marchioness of Kensington!"
Waves of shock and tension seemed to scream through the huge chamber. Everyone leaned forward in their seats, but Elizabeth didn't notice that. Her eyes were on Ian; she saw his entire body stiffen, saw his gaze snap to her face. . . and then his face hardened into a mask of freezing rage, his amber eyes turning an icy, metallic gold.
Shaking beneath the blast of his gaze, Elizabeth walked into the witness box and repeated the oath that was being read to her. Then Peterson Delham was strolling forward. "Will you state your name, please. for the benefit and hearing of all within these chambers?"
Elizabeth swallowed and. tearing her gaze from Ian's. said as loudly as she could, "Elizabeth Marie Cameron."
Pandemonium erupted all around her. and white-wigged heads tipped toward one another while the Lord Chancellor called sharply for silence.
"Will the court permit me to verify this by asking the accused if this is indeed his wife?" Delham asked when order was restored.
The Lord Chancellor's narrowed gaze swung from Elizabeth's face to Ian. "Indeed."
"Lord Thornton," Delham asked calmly, watching Ian's reaction, "is this woman before us the wife whose disappearance-whose murder-you have been accused of causing?"
Ian's jaw clenched, and he nodded curtly. "For the information of those present, Lord Thornton has identified this witness as his wife. I have no further questions,"
Elizabeth clutched the wooden edge of the witness box. her widened eyes on Peterson Delham, unable to believe he wasn't going to question her about Robert.
"I have several questions, my lords," said the Attorney General, Lord Sutherland.
With trepidation Elizabeth watched Lord Sutherland stroll forward. but when he spoke she was staggered by the kindness in his voice. Even in her state of fright and desperation Elizabeth could actually feel the contempt, the male fury, being blasted at her from all around the chamber -everywhere but from him.
"Lady Thornton," Lord Sutherland began. looking con. fused and almost relieved that she was here to clear up
matters. "Please. there is no need to look frightened. I have
only a few questions. Would you kindly tell us what brings you here at this late date, in what is obviously a state of great anxiety, to reveal your presence?"
"I-I came because I discovered that my husband is accused of murdering my brother and me," Elizabeth said, trying to speak loudly enough to be heard across the echoing chamber.
"Where have you been until now?" "I've been in Helmshead with my brother, Rob-" "Did she say brother?" demanded one of the Crown's solicitors. Lord Sutherland suffered the same shock that rocketed through the chambers causing another outbreak of conversation, which in turn caused the Lord Chancellor to call for order. The prosecutor's shock, however, did not last very long. Recovering almost at once, he said, "You have come here to tell us that not only are you alive and unharmed," he summarized thoughtfully, "but that you have been with the brother who has been missing for two years-the brother of whom no one has been able to find a trace-not your investigator, Mr. Wordsworth, nor the Crown's investigators, nor even those hired by your husband?"
Elizabeth's startled gaze flew to Ian and ricocheted in alarm from the glacial hatred on his face. "Yes, that's correct."
"And where is this brother?" For emphasis he made a sweeping gesture and looked around as if searching for Robert. "Have you brought him so that we can see him as we're seeing you-alive and unharmed?"
"No," Elizabeth said. "I haven't, but-" "Please just answer my questions," Lord Sutherland admonished. For a long moment he looked nonplussed, then he said, "Lady Thornton, I believe we would all like to hear why you left the safety and comfort of your home six weeks ago, fled in secrecy from your husband, and have now returned at this last desperate hour to plead that we have all somehow made a mistake in thinking your life or your brother's life could be in danger. Begin at the beginning, if you please."
Elizabeth was so relieved that she was being given a chance to tell her story that she related it verbatim, just as she'd rehearsed it in the coach over and over again carefully leaving out parts that would make Robert seem like a liar or a madman bent on having Ian hang for murders he didn't commit. With careful, rehearsed words she swiftly painted Robert as she truly saw him-a young man who had been driven by pain and deprivation to wrongly seek vengeance against her husband; a young man whom her husband had saved from the gallows or lifelong imprisonment by charitably having him put on a ship and taken abroad; a young man who had then suffered, through his own unintentional actions, great trials and even vicious beatings for which he had wrongly blamed Ian Thornton.
Because she was desperate and frightened and had practiced the speech so many times, Elizabeth delivered her testimony with the flat unemotionalism of a rehearsed speech, and in a surprisingly short time she was done. The only time she faltered was when she had to confess that she had actually believed her husband guilty of her brother's beatings. During that awful moment her gaze slid penitently to Ian, and the altered expression on his face was more terrifying because it was bored-as if she were a very poor actress playing a role in an exceedingly boring play he was being forced to watch.
Lord Sutherland broke the deafening silence that followed her testimony with a short, pitying laugh, and suddenly his eyes were piercing hers and his raised voice was hammering at her, "My dear woman, I have one question for you, and it is much like my earlier one. I want to know why."