Mightier Than the Sword Read online

  38

  EMMA THOUGHT her legs would give way as she walked the short distance to the witness box. When the clerk of the court handed her a Bible, everyone could see her hands were shaking, and then she heard her voice.

  “I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”

  “Would you please state your name for the record,” said Mr. Trelford.

  “Emma Grace Clifton.”

  “And your occupation?”

  “I am chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company.”

  “And how long have you been chairman of that distinguished company?”

  “For the past eleven years.”

  Emma could see Mr. Trelford’s head jerking from right to left, and then she recalled his words, “Listen to my questions carefully, but always address your answers to the jury.”

  “Are you married, Mrs. Clifton?”

  “Yes,” said Emma, turning to the jury, “for nearly twenty-five years.”

  Mr. Trelford would have liked her to add, “My husband Harry, our son Sebastian, and my brother Giles are all present in the court.” She could then turn to face them and the jury would realize they were a happy and united family. But Harry wasn’t there, in fact Emma didn’t even know where he was, so she continued to look at the jury. Mr. Trelford moved quickly on. “Can you please tell the court when you first met Lady Virginia Fenwick?”

  “Yes,” said Emma, returning to her script, “my brother Giles…” This time she did look across at him, and like an old pro, he smiled first at his sister and then at the jury. “My brother Giles,” she repeated, “invited my husband Harry and myself to dinner to meet the woman he’d just become engaged to.”

  “And what was your first impression of Lady Virginia?”

  “Stunning. The kind of beauty you normally associate only with film stars or glamorous models. It quickly became clear to me that Giles was totally infatuated with her.”

  “And did you, in time, become friends?”

  “No, but to be fair we were never likely to become bosom pals.”

  “Why do you say that, Mrs. Clifton?”

  “We didn’t share the same interests. I’ve never been part of the hunting, shooting, and fishing set. Frankly, we come from different backgrounds, and Lady Virginia mixed in a circle I would never normally have come across.”

  “Were you jealous of her?”

  “Only of her good looks,” said Emma with a broad grin. This was rewarded with several smiles from the jury box.

  “But sadly, your brother and Lady Virginia’s marriage ended in divorce.”

  “Which didn’t come as a surprise, at least not to anyone on our side of the family,” said Emma.

  “And why was that, Mrs. Clifton?”

  “I never felt she was the right person for Giles.”

  “So you and Lady Virginia didn’t part as friends?”

  “We’d never been friends in the first place, Mr. Trelford.”

  “Nevertheless, she came back into your life a few years later?”

  “Yes, but that wasn’t by my choice. Virginia started buying a large number of Barrington’s shares, which came as a surprise to me, as she’d never previously shown any interest in the company. I didn’t give it a great deal of thought until the company secretary informed me that she owned seven and a half percent of the stock.”

  “Why was seven and a half percent so important?”

  “Because it entitled her to a place on the board.”

  “And did she take up that responsibility?”

  “No, she appointed Major Alex Fisher to represent her.”

  “Did you welcome this appointment?”

  “No, I did not. From the first day, Major Fisher made it abundantly clear that he was only there to carry out Lady Virginia’s wishes.”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “Certainly. Major Fisher would vote against almost any proposal I recommended to the board, and often came up with his own ideas, which he must have known could only damage the company.”

  “But in the end, Major Fisher resigned.”

  “If he hadn’t, I would have sacked him.”

  Mr. Trelford frowned, not pleased that his client had come off-piste. Sir Edward smiled and made a note on the pad in front of him.

  “I would now like to move on to the AGM held at the Colston Hall in Bristol, on the morning of August twenty-fourth, 1964. You were in the chair at the time, and—”

  “Perhaps Mrs. Clifton can tell us in her own words, Mr. Trelford,” suggested the judge. “And not be continually prompted by you.”

  “As you wish, my lady.”

  “I had just presented the annual report,” said Emma, “which I felt had gone rather well, not least because I had been able to announce the date for the launch of our first luxury liner, the MV Buckingham.”

  “And if I recall,” said Trelford, “the naming ceremony was to be performed by Her Majesty the Queen Mother—”

  “Clever, Mr. Trelford, but don’t try my patience.”

  “I apologize, my lady, I just thought—”

  “I know exactly what you were thinking, Mr. Trelford. Now please let Mrs. Clifton be her own spokesman.”

  “At the end of your speech,” said Trelford, turning back to his client, “you took questions from the floor?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “And among those who asked a question was Lady Virginia Fenwick. As the outcome of this trial rests on that exchange, I will, with your permission, my lady, read out to the court the words spoken by Mrs. Clifton that are the cause of this trial. In reply to a question from Lady Virginia she said, ‘If it was your intention to bring the company down, Lady Virginia,… then you have failed, and failed lamentably, because you were defeated by decent ordinary people who want this company to be a success.’ Now that you hear those words again in the cold light of day, Mrs. Clifton, do you regret them?”

  “Certainly not. They were nothing more than a statement of fact.”

  “Then it was never your intention to defame Lady Virginia?”

  “Far from it. I simply wanted the shareholders to know that Major Fisher, her representative on the board, had been buying and selling the company’s shares without informing me or any other of his colleagues.”

  “Quite so. Thank you, Mrs. Clifton. No more questions, my lady.”

  “Do you wish to cross-examine this witness, Sir Edward?” asked Mrs. Justice Lane, well aware of what his answer would be.

  “I most certainly do, my lady,” said Sir Edward, rising slowly from his place and adjusting his ancient wig. He checked his first question before leaning back and giving the jury his most avuncular smile, in the hope that they would look upon him as a respected family friend from whom everyone seeks advice.

  “Mrs. Clifton,” he said, turning to face the witness box, “let’s not mince words. The truth is that you were against Lady Virginia marrying your brother from the moment you met. In fact, isn’t it the case that you’d made up your mind to dislike her even before you’d met?”

  Trelford was surprised. He hadn’t thought Eddie would plunge the dagger in quite so quickly, although he had warned Emma that her cross-examination was not going to be a pleasant experience.

  “As I said, Sir Edward, we were not natural friends.”

  “But isn’t it the case that you set out from the start to make her an enemy?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “Did you attend the wedding of your brother and Lady Virginia?”

  “I was not invited.”

  “Were you surprised at that, after the way you’d treated her?”

  “Disappointed, rather than surprised.”

  “And your husband,” said Sir Edward, taking his time to look around the courtroom as if he was trying to find him, “was he invited?”

  “Not one member of the family received an invitation.”

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