That day was a Sunday, however, and construction on the
terrace
had halted for the day. Shepard had spent the morning at chapel, and the afternoon in his study at the Police Camp, from which place Harald Nilssen was now very rapidly departing; Devlin, who had recently returned from the Kaniere camp, was in the temporary gaol-house, preaching to the felons on the subject of rote prayer. He had brought his battered Bible with him, as he
always did whenever he left his tent, though the nature of that day’s sermon was such that he had had no cause to open it that
afternoon
; when Shepard stepped into the gaol-house it was lying, closed, upon a chair at Devlin’s side.
Shepard waited for a lull in the conversation, which came about within moments, owing to his imposing presence in the room. Devlin turned an inquiring face up at him, and Shepard said, ‘Good afternoon, Reverend. Hand me your Bible, would you please?’
Devlin frowned. ‘My Bible?’
‘If you wouldn’t mind.’
The chaplain placed his palm over the book. ‘Perhaps you might simply ask me what it is you seek,’ he said. ‘I pride myself that I do know my scriptures rather well.’
‘I do not doubt it; and yet browsing is a pleasure to me,’ Shepard replied.
‘But of course you have a Bible of your own!’
‘Of course,’ Shepard agreed. ‘However, it is the hour of my wife’s devotions, and I do not like to disturb her.’
For a moment Devlin considered extracting the purloined deed himself—but its charred aspect would surely not escape the gaoler’s comment, and in any case, he was surrounded by felons; where would he hide the thing?
‘What is it that you are looking for, exactly?’ he said. ‘A verse—or an allusion—?’
‘You are very chary of your Bible, for a man of God,’ Shepard snapped. ‘Heavens, man! I only wish to look through the pages! You will deny me that?’
And Devlin was obliged to surrender it. Shepard, thanking him, took the book back to his private residence, and closed the door.
Devlin’s sermon on rote prayer was perversely applicable to the ensuing half hour, for it was with a ritual circularity that his attention kept straying to the gaoler’s study, where the man would be seated behind his desk, turning the thin pages of the book in his great white hands. Devlin did not guess that Shepard might have known about the deed that he had concealed between the testaments, for his nature was not a suspicious one, and he did not take pleasure, as
some men did, in believing himself to have been betrayed. He hoped, as the minutes dragged by, that Shepard would restrict his reading to the more ancient parts of the text; he hoped that the book would be returned to him with the charred deed undiscovered and untouched. Devlin knew very well that Shepard’s faith was of a staunchly Levitican variety; it was not unreasonable to hope that he might confine his browsing to the Pentateuch, or to Chronicles and Kings. He was hardly likely to favour the minor prophets … but the Gospels were standard fare, most especially for a Sunday. He was very likely to turn there, whatever his persuasion, and in that case he would almost certainly come across the hidden page.
Finally the afternoon’s discussion came to an end, and Devlin, in a posture of some dread, took his leave of the felons in his
spiritual
charge. The duty sergeant nodded goodbye, stifling a yawn; Devlin let himself out; a hush fell over the gaol-house. He crossed the courtyard, mounted the steps to the porch of the gaoler’s
cottage
, and knocked upon the door.
From within Shepard’s deep voice bid him to enter; Devlin did so, and crossed the calico hallway to the gaoler’s study. The door was open; Devlin saw at once that his Bible lay open on the gaoler’s desk, with the charred slip of paper on top of it, in full view.
On this 11th day of October 1865 a sum of two thousand pounds is to be given to MISS ANNA WETHERELL, formerly of New South Wales, by MR. EMERY STAINES, formerly of New South Wales, as witnessed by MR. CROSBIE WELLS, presiding.
Shepard folded his hands and waited for his guest to speak.
‘Something I found,’ Devlin said. ‘But it’s no use to anyone.’
‘No use to anyone?’ Shepard queried, pleasantly. ‘Why on earth do you say that?’
‘It’s invalid,’ Devlin said. ‘The principal hasn’t signed. Therefore it’s not legal.’
Cowell Devlin, like all men who will not admit fault to
themselves
, was loath to admit fault to any other man. He became very arch and condescending whenever he was accused of doing ill.
‘No indeed,’ said Shepard. ‘It’s not legal.’
‘It’s not
binding
—that’s what I meant,’ Devlin said, with a slight frown. ‘It’s not binding, in the legal sense.’
Shepard did not blink. ‘Which is rather a shame, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Why is that?’
‘If only Emery Staines
had
signed it—why, half of the fortune discovered at Crosbie Wells’s cottage would belong to Anna Wetherell! That would be a turn of events, would it not?’
‘But the fortune in the hermit’s cottage never belonged to Emery Staines.’
‘No?’ Shepard said. ‘Forgive me: you seem to be rather more certain of that fact than I am.’
Cowell Devlin knew very well that the gold in Crosbie Wells’s cottage had originated from four gowns, sewn up by Lydia Wells, purchased by Anna Wetherell; he knew that the gold had been siphoned and then retorted by the goldsmith Ah Quee, only to be stolen by Staines, and concealed in Wells’s cottage at some point thereafter. He could not say any of this to Shepard, however; instead he said, ‘There is no reason to think that the fortune belonged to Mr. Staines.’
‘Beyond the fact that Mr. Staines vanished upon the day of Mr. Wells’s death, and Mr. Wells was not, to popular understanding, a man of means.’ Shepard stabbed the deed with his index finger. ‘This certainly seems pertinent, Reverend, to our case at hand. This document appears to indicate that the fortune originated with Staines—and that Staines meant to give half of it—
exactly
half—to a common prostitute. I would hazard to guess that Crosbie Wells, as his witness, was keeping the fortune for him, when he died.’
This was a reasonable hypothesis. Perhaps Shepard was right upon the latter point, Devlin thought, though of course he was
mistaken
upon the former. Aloud he said, ‘You are right that it seems pertinent; however, as I have told you already, the contract is not valid. Mr. Staines has not signed his name.’
‘I presume that you found this deed in Crosbie Wells’s cottage, the day you went to collect his remains.’
‘That is correct,’ Devlin said.
‘If you have kept such careful custody of it,’ Shepard said, ‘then I dare say it occurred to you how very valuable this deed might be. To certain persons. To Anna Wetherell, for instance. By this paper’s authority, she could become the richest woman this side of the Southern Alps!’
‘She could not,’ Devlin said. ‘The deed is unsigned.’
‘If it were to be signed,’ Shepard said.
‘Emery Staines is dead,’ Devlin said.
‘Is he?’ Shepard said. ‘Dear me. Another certainty that we do not share.’
But Cowell Devlin was not easily intimidated. ‘The promise of great riches is a dangerous thing,’ he said, folding his hands across his navel in the clerical way. ‘It is a temptation like no other, for it is the temptation of great influence and great opportunity, and these are things we all desire. If Miss Wetherell were to be told about this deed, her hopes would be falsely raised. She would start dreaming of great influence and great opportunity; she would no longer be contented with the life she led before. This was a
circumstance
I feared. I therefore resolved to keep the information to myself, at least until Emery Staines was either recovered, or found to be dead. If he
is
found dead, I will destroy the deed. But if he lives, I shall go to him, and show him the paper, and ask him whether he wishes to sign it. The choice would be his own.’
‘And what if Staines is never found?’ the gaoler said. ‘What then?’
‘I made my decision with compassion, Mr. Shepard,’ Devlin said firmly. ‘I feared very much what would happen to poor Miss Wetherell, should that deed of gift be made public, or should it fall into the wrong hands. If Mr. Staines is never found, then no hopes will be dashed, and no blood spilled, and no faith lost. I judge that to be no small mercy. Don’t you?’
Shepard’s pale eyes had become wet: a sign that he was thinking hard. ‘As witnessed by Crosbie Wells,’ he murmured, ‘presiding.’
‘In any case,’ Devlin added, ‘it’s hardly likely that a man would give such a great deal of money to a prostitute. Most likely it is a joke or deceit of some kind.’
Shepard looked suddenly amused. ‘You doubt the woman’s
talents
?’
‘You mistake me,’ Devlin said calmly. ‘I only meant that for a man to give two thousand pounds to a whore is a very unlikely situation. As a gift, I mean—and all at once.’
Abruptly Shepard shut the Bible with a snap, trapping the
purloined
document between the pages. He handed the book back to the chaplain, already reaching with his other hand for his pen, as though the affair was no longer of any interest to him.
‘Thank you for the loan of your Bible,’ he said, and nodded to indicate that Devlin was free to leave. He then bent over his ledger, and began to tally up his columns.
Devlin hovered uncertainly for a moment, the Bible in his hand. The charred document protruded from one edge, dividing the profile of the book into unequal halves.
‘But what do you think?’ he said at last. ‘What do you make of it?’
Shepard did not pause in his writing. ‘What do I make of what?’
‘The contract!’
‘I imagine you are right: it must be a joke or deceit of some kind,’ Shepard said. He placed a finger on his ledger, to hold his place, and then reached over to dip his pen into his inkwell.
‘Oh,’ said Devlin. ‘Yes.’
‘The contract is invalid, as you say,’ Shepard said
conversationally
. He tapped the nib of the pen against the rim of the inkwell.
‘Yes.’
‘The witness is certainly dead, and the principal almost certainly so.’
‘Yes.’
‘But if you want an answer from the horse’s mouth, then
perhaps
you ought to go along to the Wayfarer’s Fortune tonight, with all the other heathens.’
‘To speak with Mr. Staines?’
‘To speak with Anna,’ the gaoler said, with pointed disapproval. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, Reverend, I have rather a lot of work to do.’
After Devlin had closed the door behind him, Shepard laid down his pen, went to his bookcase, and pulled out a file, out of which he extracted a single sheet of paper: the only copy of the contract he had made, three weeks ago, with Harald Nilssen, under which the commission merchant had promised not to speak of his four-hundred pound investment to any other man. Shepard struck a match on the side of the cabinet and touched it to the piece of paper, holding it lightly by one corner and tilting it until the
document
was aflame, and the signatures obscured. When he could hold it no longer he tossed it to the floor, watched it shrink to a grey nothing, and kicked the ashes aside with the toe of his boot.
Sitting back down at his desk, he pulled a fresh sheet of paper from beneath his ledger, took up his pen, and dipped his nib. Then, in a slow, measured hand, he wrote:
A GIFT OF CONSCIENCE—To the Editor of the West Coast Times.
18 February 1866
Sir—
I write in response to Mr. ALISTAIR LAUDERBACK, Provincial Councilman, M.P., who casts damaging aspersions upon the undersigned, and therefore, upon all his associates, including the Westland Public Works Committee, the Municipal Council, the Office of the Commissioner, the Hokitika Board, &c. It is my duty to correct Mr. Lauderback’s errors: of propriety, of decency, and of fact.
Indeed the construction of the future Hokitika Gaol-House was aided in the large part by a donation made by a Westland man. Mr. Harald Nilssen, of Nilssen & Co., donated to the Council a sum of approximately four hundred pounds, to be used, as per his personal instruction, for public good. This sum represented the commission received by him as payment for honest employment. It was, as Mr. Lauderback attests, a portion of the fortune discovered on Mr Crosbie Wells’s estate, to which Mr. Nilssen, commission merchant, was legally entitled, as payment for services satisfactorily rendered. Mr. Lauderback will be pleased to recall that, in legal phrasing, a ‘donation’ is distinct from an ‘investment’ in that a donation does not create a relationship of the
debtor-creditor
variety
; in plain language, a donation does not have to be repaid. In understanding that Mr. Nilssen’s donation was an act of charity of the most virtuous and selfless order, Mr. Lauderback will further acknowledge that no laws have been broken and no regulations breached.
I hold that the profoundest and most enduring testament to progress in civilisation is the creation of public works, and I am satisfied that the Hokitika Gaol-House will bear up under this definition in every respect. Should Mr. Lauderback find this explanation insufficiently transparent for his tastes, I cordially invite him to disclose to the voting public what he has hitherto concealed: that he has enjoyed a formerly intimate relation with Mrs. Lydia Wells, widow to Crosbie. I anticipate Mr. Lauderback’s full disclosure upon this matter, and remain,
Yours &c,
GEORGE M. SHEPARD
When he was done Shepard blotted the page, reached for a clean sheet of paper, and transcribed the letter in full—creating a replica so exact, in fact, that one would have to compare them for quite some time before one perceived the smallest difference. He then folded both pages, sealed them, and wrote two addresses in his laborious hand. Once the wax was dry, he rang the bell for Mrs. George, and asked her to summon the penny postman for the second time that day. This instruction was promptly carried out.