Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave - Stephanie Barron [74]
“Dr. Grant, to what university do you belong?”
“I am a tutor at Cambridge, my good sir, and attached to Christ College.”
“And what is your field of scholarly interest?”
“I have made botany my life's work, with a particular interest in the tropic plants of South America and Africa.”
A stir of amazement greeted this, and a general puzzlement as to the man's purpose in these proceedings.
Mr. Bott produced a folded piece of linen with all the majesty of a conjurer. “Can you name for us the seeds which I now place before you, Dr Grant?”
The cheerful gentleman leaned forward eagerly. “They are the nuts of die Barbadoes tree, which is found in the West Indies, in some parts of South America, and in parts of Africa as well.”
“And have you seen these nuts before?”
“I assume them to be the same ones presented to me for analysis by Sir William Reynolds.”
Another wave of sound as the crowd began to heed the direction of Mr. Bott's questions.
“And after studying them, what did you conclude?” the coroner enquired, his quill at a rakish angle.
“That they were indeed Barbadoes nuts.”
“And what is the effect of Barbadoes nuts on the human body, Dr. Grant?”
The scholar cherub smiled all around. “They are a severe toxin, my good sir; and when taken even in small quantities, will produce death in very little time.”
The buzz of conjecture behind my chair was so fierce as to make my cheeks burn with consciousness. I heard Isobel sigh beside me, and felt all the depth of her despair. Fitzroy Payne reached a hand to her elbow, but she leaned away from him, and sought support on my shoulder.
Mr. Bott's eyes were on the Countess as he posed his next question. “Is the Barbadoes nut to be found on the island of Barbadoes, Dr. Grant?”
The professor laughed aloud, as though the coroner had posed a very good joke. “From the name which they bear; my dear fellow, could one doubt it?”
After this, he was obliged to sit down, and Sir William was recalled.
“Could you explain to the jury how you came by these Barbadoes nuts?”
Sir William turned to the twelve men, whose faces grew graver by the hour, and inclined his white head. “I found them among the personal belongings of a member of the Scargrave household.”
“And how came you to search the belongings of any in that house?”
“I was requested to do so in the third and final note penned by the maid Marguerite, which bore her signature and was nailed to the door of this tavern,” Sir William replied soberly. “The note having appeared on the same day as her body was discovered, I thought it wise to explore all possible paths.”
Eliahu Bott's small eyes gleamed with anticipation. “And where exactly were the nuts disposed, Sir William?”
“I found them wrapped in a square of velvet in the pistol case belonging to Fitzroy, Lord Scargrave.”
Mr. Bott was obliged to exert himself with the gavel, an effort to restore order that for several moments must be declared to have been in vain. Isobel leaned heavily against me, all but overcome. I looked for Tom Hearst, and saw him again on his feet, his mouth open in a cry of protest that went unheard in the general melee. At last the coroner rose from his chair and threw all the strength of his small frame into a demand for silence, his eyes on Fitzroy Payne. The eighth Earl of Scargrave retained a remarkable composure throughout, though from knowing him a little, I could guess at the painful tumult of his thoughts.
Mr. Bott turned avidly to Sir William. “And what did you then, sir?”
“I ordered the body of the late Earl exhumed from its tomb.”
This was no news to the jury or the assembled townsfolk; they had seen the grim business in Scargrave Close churchyard but a few days before, and doubtless tossed it among themselves over countless tankards of ale. The coroner dismissed Sir William and recalled Dr. Pettigrew.
“Now, sir,” Mr. Bott said, running a pink