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.”
“And why do you think that was?”
“You’ll have to ask your client, Sir Edward.”
“And I intend to do so, Mrs. Clifton. May I now turn to the death of your mother. I understand there was a dispute over her will.”
“Which was settled in the High Court, Sir Edward.”
“Yes, indeed it was. But correct me if I’m wrong, as I am sure you will, Mrs. Clifton, you and your sister Grace inherited almost the entire estate, while your brother, Lady Virginia’s husband, ended up with nothing.”
“That was not my choice, Sir Edward. In fact, I tried to talk my mother out of it.”
“We only have your word for that, Mrs. Clifton.”
Mr. Trelford was quickly on his feet. “My lady, I must protest.”
“Yes, yes, Mr. Trelford, I agree. Sir Edward, that was uncalled for.”
“I apologize, my lady. May I ask you, Mrs. Clifton, if Sir Giles was shocked by your mother’s decision?”
“Sir Edward,” said the judge, even before Mr. Trelford could get to his feet.
“I do apologize, my lady. I’m just an old seeker after the truth.”
“It was a terrible shock for all of us,” said Emma. “My mother adored Giles.”
“But, like you, she clearly didn’t adore Lady Virginia, otherwise she would presumably have made provision for him in her will.” Sir Edward quickly added, “But let us move on. Your brother and Lady Virginia’s marriage was sadly to end in divorce, on the grounds of his adultery.”
“As you well know, Sir Edward,” said Emma, trying to restrain herself, “those were the days when a man had to spend a night in a Brighton hotel with a hired woman before the courts would grant him a divorce. Giles did so at Virginia’s request.”
“I am so sorry, Mrs. Clifton, but on the divorce petition, it merely says adultery. But at least we now all know how you react when you feel strongly about something.”
One look at the jury and it was clear that Sir Edward had made his point.
“One final question concerning the divorce, Mrs. Clifton. Was it a cause of celebration for you and your family?”
“My lady,” said Trelford, leaping to his feet.
“Sir Edward, you are once again overstepping your brief.”
“I’ll try hard not to transgress in future, my lady.”
But when Trelford looked at the jury, he knew that Sir Edward would have felt the reprimand had served its purpose.
“Mrs. Clifton, let us move on to more important matters, namely what you said and what you meant when my client put a perfectly legitimate question to you at the annual general meeting of the Barrington Shipping Company. In the interests of accuracy, I will repeat Lady Virginia’s question: ‘Is it true that one of your directors sold his vast shareholding over the weekend, in an attempt to bring the company down?’ If I may say so, Mrs. Clifton, you deftly and quite brilliantly avoided answering that question. Perhaps you’d care to do so now?”
Emma glanced over at Trelford. He had advised her not to answer the question so she remained silent.
“Perhaps I can suggest that the reason you didn’t want to answer that particular question was because Lady Virginia went on to ask, ‘If one of your directors was involved in such an exercise, shouldn’t he resign from the board?’ Your reply was, ‘If you are referring to Major Fisher…’ although she wasn’t, as you knew only too well. She was talking about your close friend and colleague, Mr. Cedric Hardcastle, was she not?”
“One of the finest gentlemen I’ve ever known,” said Emma.
“Was he indeed?” said Sir Edward. “Well then, let us examine that statement more closely, shall we, because it seems to me that what you were suggesting is that when your close friend—one of the ‘finest men’ you’ve ever known—sold his shares overnight, he did so in order to help the company, but when Lady Virginia sold her shares she was doing it to harm the company. Perhaps the jury might feel that you can’t have it both ways, Mrs. Clifton, unless of course you can find a weakness in my argument, and explain to the court the subtle distinction between what Mr. Hardcastle did on behalf of the company and what Major Fisher did on behalf of my client?”
Emma knew she couldn’t justify what Cedric had done in good faith, and that the reason he’d sold his shares would be extremely difficult to explain to the jury. Trelford had advised her, when in doubt, simply don’t reply, especially if the answer would damn her.
Sir Edward waited for some time before he said, “Well, as you seem unwilling to answer that question, perhaps we should move on to what you said next? ‘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.’ Can you deny, Mrs. Clifton, that what you were suggesting to a packed audience in the Colston Hall in Bristol that morning was that Lady Virginia is not a decent ordinary person?” He emphasized the last three words.
“She’s certainly not ordinary.”
“I agree with you, Mrs. Clifton, she’s extraordinary. But I put it to the jury that the suggestion that my client is not decent, and that her purpose was to bring your company down, is libelous, Mrs. Clifton. Or is that, in your view, also nothing more than the truth?”
“I meant what I said,” Emma replied.
“And so convinced were you of your righteousness that you insisted your words be recorded in the minutes of the AGM.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did the company secretary advise against this course of action at the time?”
Emma hesitated.
“I can always call Mr. Webster to give evidence,” said Sir Edward.
“I believe he may have done so.”