The Tontine, Volume 2

Thomas B. Costain

Description

In volume II of The Tontine, the multigenerational story of 3 families continues. The number of recipients receiving payouts on the life insurance scheme are dying out and the payouts are becoming more and more substantial. Towards the end, when the recipients become a mere handful, all sorts of betting occurs in the general populace on who will be the last survivor. Who wins the tontine and who loses?

Sujets

• Fiction
• Historical

Informations

• Publié par: Rare Treasure Editions
• Date de parution: 23 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781774644973
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in 1955.
This edition published by Rare Treasures.
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The Tontine


VOLUME II

BOOK III The Colossus (CONTINUED)
CHAPTER NINE
1
The guard who escorted the prisoners to their cells was very consciousof the fact that several of them were prominent citizens. He turned the keywith reluctance and did not instruct them at once to enter.
“Cells ain’t clean,” he said. “Had no time to take a mop and pail in today.”
“Ain’t been a mop and pail in here in a matter o’ ten years,” said adrunken voice from one of the dark cells. “I knows becus I been here most o’the time.”
There was a sickening odor of unwashed flesh and bodily wastage, andthe ladies drew back in horror. Most of the cells were occupied by humanwrecks who got up from their wooden benches and came to the bars tostare at the new arrivals. Some of them were drunk and all of them wereunshaved and ragged.
One of the ladies, a Mrs. Edwin Winslear whose husband was a man ofwealth and could be expected to create a great commotion when he learnedwhat had happened to his wife, whispered in Nell’s ear, “I think I’ll die ifI have to stay in here another minute.”
“This is the worst part of it,” replied Nell. “The terrible conditions of thejails. They say the big prisons in London are unspeakably bad.”
Mrs. Winslear placed a handkerchief to her nose and continued to hold itthere. “Nothing could be worse than this,” she said in an agonized voice.
There were only three cells vacant, so the four men were put in one ofthem and the three ladies in another across the passage. The latter stoodtogether in a shocked group and looked with dismay at the slimy floor andthe condition of the wooden benches on which, presumably, they wouldhave to spend the night.
The cell locks had barely been snapped when Sadie Coaster was led in tooccupy the third vacant cell. Her husband followed after her, his arms filledwith supplies. He had a pillow, a pair of sheets, a pair of blankets, a bellowsand a bottle of smelling salts.
Jonathan, standing at the door of his cell, called attention to the comfortswhich that difficult lady would enjoy. “That’s what experience does foryou,” he said to Nell, who was standing opposite him. “Sadie has been inprison so often that she knows what she needs. I realize I should have beenmore foresighted and provided some of these luxuries for you.”
The female crusader was not pleased with what she found. “ You! ” shesaid to the turnkey. “Do you know who I am?”
“Yes’m,” answered the officer. “Ye’re Sidie Coaster. I stepped out andlistened to some o’ yer talk. E’jeez, ye was pitching it into ’em.”
“According to my usual practice, I left nothing unsaid,” declared theagitator. She looked about her with rapidly rising ire. “I’ve been in manyjails and this is the worst I’ve ever encountered. What do you mean, lettingthings get into such a condition? You, you foul creature, should be in a cellyourself for such neglect of your duties. What kind of a lazy, cheating,drunken man are you?”
“You takes things here as ye finds ’em,” declared the turnkey. “And neveryou mind about what kind of man I am. I suits myself. Our motter here is,No favors to no one. Not even to Sidie Coaster.”
“Mr. Dengate,” said the lady, turning to her husband, who had depositedthe supplies in the cell and had then backed out into the corridor, “can youleave me in such a pigpen as this for a whole night? What will your consciencedo to you if you fail to arouse the mayor and the council and thechurch and the press of this town and let them know the indignities andhardships I am being compelled to suffer? Will you ever be able to raiseyour head again if you don’t have me out of here under the hour?”
“I’ll do my best, my dear,” said Mr. Dengate.
“There ain’t anythin’ he can do,” said the turnkey sourly. “The mayor’sin bed and nothin’ will get him out. And as for you, sir, ye’re not a prisoner,so out ye goes. Visitors not allowed in these ’ere playshul surro’ndin’s.”
Mr. Dengate looked ruefully at his wife and then departed, followed bythe officer, who banged the barred door behind him with a vigor whichsuggested a ruffled temper. Sadie Coaster began immediately to make arrangementsfor such time as she might be compelled to remain in her cell.She took the bellows and vigorously blew all the dirt and vermin off thebench, following this with an energetic cleansing of the bars and walls bythe same means. Having thus rid her couch, temporarily at least, of the licewhich had infested it, she proceeded to spread the sheets and the blankets.She had completed these arrangements and had removed her shoes whenfootsteps in the outside corridor announced the approach of fresh visitors.
It was the Rev. Peveril Cullen, who was admitted, reluctantly, by thedisgruntled turnkey. He entered smiling and proceeded at once to the celldoor where Jonathan Bade was standing.
“The whole town is in an uproar,” said the minister. “The sympathy isall on our side. The streets are filled with people demanding your release.When I came through the front offices here I could see that Boisterous Billywas in with the chief and they were talking at a furious rate and theirfaces were red and angry. It won’t surprise me at all if he withdraws thecharges in the face of the public indignation.”
“I doubt it,” said Jonathan. “He’s a tough citizen and a fighter, your Mr.Isbester.”
“He’ll be fighting the whole town, and perhaps the whole country, if hedoesn’t give in.”
“What about the children?” asked Jonathan in an anxious voice.
“Safe. No effort seems to have been made yet to find them. They hada fine supper and hot baths and now they’re all snoring soundly in comfortablebeds. I hear it took a dozen volunteers a full hour to get those poorlittle bodies clean.” The minister bobbed his head and smiled. “There areplenty of families in town now who want to adopt them. I believe we’ll findgood homes for all.”
2
The Rev. Peveril Cullen was the first visitor next morning. A new officerheld the keys and waited for him to deliver his message, a younger man, andmore friendly.
Cullen was the bearer of good tidings. “It’s clear now that the whole townis with us,” he said. “A special breakfast is being sent in for you in a fewminutes with the compliments of the mayor’s wife. The court this morningwill be filled with sympathizers. The children have been taken into the besthomes in Rixby and the people who have them are defying Isbester to takethem away. The written reports went off by special coach last night. Whenthe story gets into the newspapers, all England will feel the same as thepeople of Rixby do.”
“How is our good friend Isbester acting in the face of all this?” askedJonathan.
“Like a bear who’s been gored by a bull. He’s not giving an inch.” Thepreacher nodded to Mrs. Winslear. “Your husband, ma’am, is to be allowedin to see you before you go into court.”
“I hope,” said the lady, shivering with disgust of her surroundings, “thathe brings fresh clothes for me.”
“There is talk,” went on Cullen, “of the men of the town organizing tobreak this place open and get you out.”
“Put a stop to that if you can,” said Jonathan urgently. “We must win byorderly means. Violence will hurt our case.”
The hearing in court took up most of the morning. The lawyers wrangledand the spectators had to be warned repeatedly to repress their feelings.Boisterous Billy Isbester had to content himself with indulging in scowlsand dark looks. The magistrate seemed to reflect a definitely hostile feelingtoward the prisoners and the upshot was that they were committed to standtrial at the next assizes.
“I will meet the crown attorney and Mr. Alfred Pund, acting for thedefendants, in my chambers at three o’clock this afternoon,” announced themagistrate, pounding his gavel loudly for order in court. “We will settlethe matter of bail then.”
One victory had been won for the defense, however. While the lawyershad fought in court and the witnesses had given their evidence, the turnkeyand a corps of helpers had been at work in the cells with mops and pailsand bottles of chemical. There was a new atmosphere in the cell block whenthe defendants were brought back, an aseptic smell which brought them asense of relief.
Mrs. Winslear settled herself on one of the benches and said, “Now Ican face captivity with new courage.” She smiled at her fellow prisoners.“My husband is suffering much more over this than I am. Did you noticehow pale the poor lamb was in court?”
Sadie Coaster, who had been remanded for a hearing the next day, spokeup from her cell across the corridor. “The one who is really going to suffer,”she declared, &#