The Sins of the Father (The Clifton Chronicles 2)

'There is, my lords, no dispute that Harry Clifton was born before Giles Barrington. However, there is, I would submit, no definite or conclusive proof that Harry Clifton is the result of a liaison between Sir Hugo Barrington and Miss Maisie Tancock, later to become Mrs Arthur Clifton.

'Mrs Clifton does not deny that she had sexual intercourse with Hugo Barrington on one occasion in 1919, and one occasion only. However, a few weeks later she married Mr Arthur Clifton, and a child was later born whose name was entered on the birth certificate as Harry Arthur Clifton.

'You therefore have, my lords, on the one hand, Giles Barrington, the legitimate offspring of Sir Hugo Barrington. On the other, you have Harry Clifton, who, perchance, could possibly be the progeny of Sir Hugo, while there can be no doubt that Giles Barrington is. And is that a risk you are willing to take, my lords? If it is, allow me to add just one more factor that might help your lordships decide which lobby they should enter at the conclusion of this debate. Harry Clifton, who is seated in the visitors' gallery this afternoon, has made his own position clear again and again. He has no interest in being burdened  -  I use his own word  -  with the title, but would far rather it was inherited by his close friend, Giles Barrington.'

Several peers looked up into the gallery to see Giles and Emma Barrington seated on either side of Harry Clifton, who was nodding. Lord Harvey did not continue until he had regained the attention of the whole House.

'And so, my lords, when you cast your votes later tonight, I urge you to take into consideration the wishes of Harry Clifton, and the intentions of Sir Joshua Barrington, and give the benefit of the doubt to my grandson Giles Barrington. I am grateful to the House for its indulgence.'

Lord Harvey lowered himself on to the bench, to be greeted with loud cheers and the waving of order papers. Harry felt confident that he had won the day.

When the House had regained its composure, the Lord Chancellor rose from his place, and said, 'I call upon Lord Preston to respond.'

Harry looked down from the gallery and watched as a man he'd never seen before rose slowly from the opposition benches. Lord Preston could not have been an inch above five foot, and his squat, muscular body and furnace-lined face would have left no one in any doubt that he had been a labourer all his working life, while his pugnacious expression suggested that he feared no man.

Reg Preston spent a moment surveying the benches opposite, like a private soldier who puts his head above the parapet to take a closer look at the enemy.

'My lords, I would like to open my remarks by congratulating Lord Harvey on a brilliant and moving speech. However, I would suggest that its very brilliance was its weakness, and bears the seeds of its downfall. The noble lord's contribution was indeed moving, but as it progressed, he sounded more and more like an advocate who's only too aware that he's defending a weak case.' Preston had created a silence in the chamber that Lord Harvey had not managed.

'Let us, my lords, consider some of the facts so conveniently papered over by the noble and gallant Lord Harvey. No one disputes that the young Hugo Barrington had sexual relations with Maisie Tancock some six weeks before she married Arthur Clifton. Or that nine months later, almost to the day, she gave birth to a son whose name was conveniently entered on the birth certificate as Harry Arthur Clifton. Well, that's sorted out that little problem, hasn't it, my lords? Except for the inconvenient fact that if Mrs Clifton conceived that child on the day she married, he was born seven months and twelve days later.

'Now, my lords, I'd be the first to accept that's a possibility, but as a betting man, if I was given the choice between nine months and seven months and twelve days, I know where I'd place my wager, and I don't think the bookies would offer me very long odds.'

A little laughter broke out on the Labour benches.

'And I should add, my lords, that the child weighed in at nine pounds four ounces. That doesn't sound premature to me.'

The laughter was even louder.

'Let us next consider something else that must have slipped Lord Harvey's agile mind. Hugo Barrington, like his father and his grandfather before him, suffered from a hereditary condition known as colour-blindness, as does his son, Giles. And so does Harry Clifton. The odds are shortening, my lords.'

More laughter followed, and muttered discussion broke out on both sides of the House. Lord Harvey looked grimly on, as he waited for the next punch to land.

'Let us shorten those odds still further, my lords. It was the great Dr Milne of St Thomas' Hospital who discovered that if parents shared the same Rhesus negative blood type, then their children will also be Rhesus negative. Sir Hugo Barrington was Rhesus negative. Mrs Clifton is Rhesus negative. And surprise, surprise, Harry Clifton is Rhesus negative, a blood type that only twelve per cent of the British people share. I think the bookies are paying out, my lords, because the only other horse in the race didn't reach the starting gate.'

More laughter followed, and Lord Harvey slumped even lower on the bench, angry that he hadn't pointed out that Arthur Clifton was also Rhesus negative.

'Now allow me to touch on one thing, my lords, on which I am whole-heartedly in agreement with Lord Harvey. No one has the right to question Sir Joshua Barrington's will, when it has such a fine legal pedigree. Therefore, all we have to decide is what the words "first born" and "next of kin" actually mean.

'Most of you in this House will be well aware of my strongly held views on the hereditary principle.' Preston smiled before adding, 'I consider it to be without principle.'

This time the laughter only came from one side of the House, while those on the benches opposite sat in stony silence.

'My lords, should you decide to ignore legal precedent and tamper with historical tradition, simply to suit your own convenience, you will bring the hereditary concept into disrepute, and in time the whole edifice will surely come crashing down on your lordships' heads,' he said, pointing to the benches opposite.

'So let us consider the two young men involved in this sad dispute, not, I might say, my lords, a dispute of their making. Harry Clifton, we are told, would prefer that his friend Giles Barrington inherit the title. How very decent of him. But then Harry Clifton is, without question, a decent man. However, my lords, should we travel down that road, every hereditary peer in the land would, in future, be able to decide which of his offspring he would prefer to succeed him, and that, my lords, is a road with a dead-end sign.'

The House had fallen silent and Lord Preston was able to lower his voice to barely a whisper.

'Did this decent young man, Harry Clifton, have any ulterior motive when he told the world that he wanted his friend Giles Barrington to be acknowledged as the firstborn?'

Every eye was on Lord Preston.

'You see, my lords, the Church of England would not allow Harry Clifton to marry the woman he loved, Giles Barrington's sister Emma Barrington, because they weren't in much doubt that they shared the same father.'

Harry had never loathed a man more in his life.

'I see the bishops' benches are packed today, my lords,' continued Preston, turning to face the churchmen. 'I shall be fascinated to discover the ecclesiastical view on this matter, because they cannot have it both ways.' One or two of the bishops looked uneasy. 'And while I am on the subject of Harry Clifton's pedigree, may I suggest that as a candidate in the lists, he is every bit the equal of Giles Barrington. Brought up in the back streets of Bristol, against all the odds he wins a place at Bristol Grammar School, and five years later an exhibition to Brasenose College, Oxford. And young Harry didn't even wait for war to be declared before he left the university with the intention of joining up, only being prevented from doing so when his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat, leading Lord Harvey and the rest of the Barrington family to believe that he had been buried at sea.