initiate inquiries on your own account. Have you considered how difficult you have made it for the agent we appoint.^ He will have to counter the bad impression left by you before he can even begin. And, in fact, now that I look again at this injunction it is a moot point whether we shall be able to make this sort of inquiry at all. Only in the most delicate and tangential way. . . . And then with so many safeguards that . . . Miss Lockhart, I fear that you have damaged your interests to some extent. The other side is bound to argue that—"
Sally stood up.
"I'm trying to understand," she said. "Believe me, Mr. Adcock, I'm trying to understand how it is that an innocent woman can have her own child taken away by a total stranger, and how when she asks questions about it she's threatened with legal action—what sort of law is this that makes it worse for you if you just try to find out why you're being persecuted in the first place.'^ Do you know what this feels like.'*"
He spread out his hands. He intended to look wise and tolerant and understanding; in fact, he looked weak and foolish. Sally looked away and moved to the door.
"If I don't visit his house again, will I be safe from legal action.'"' she said, one hand on the handle.
"It's worded quite widely. ... As far as I can tell, yes, his house, and those neighbors whom you, ah, visited, and any other premises where annoyance was likely to be caused. One could argue that this was too wide. I think it would be reasonable to argue that. If you wish, I can—"
"No. Don't waste the time. Have you arranged a meeting with Mr. Coleman yet.'' The barrister.^"
"Ah. There we have been fortunate. Mr. Coleman is agreeable to a meeting at half past five on the afternoon of the seventeenth."
"The day before ..."
"As you say, the day before the court case. I had to put your point of view quite strongly to Mr. Coleman, Q.C. He is not of the opinion that it will help, but he has generously agreed to meet your wishes."
Welly thafs something, anyway, Sally thought. She was becoming obsessed now. The case had inflamed her mind to the point where she could not concentrate on anything else for more than a couple of minutes at a time. She dwelt endlessly on Mr. Adcock's words, trying to sift something hopeful out of them like a miner panning for gold, trying to be fair, trying not to brood over how slow he was being, trying to see it as sensitivity to the law and judicious shrewdness.
But she couldn't keep it up for long. Privately she raged. How could the law be used so viciously, in such an unprincipled way.f* Didn't the lawyers who drew up petitions and injunctions and prepared cases ever think of the meaning of what they were doing.f* Was the whole majesty and splendor of the English legal system so easily bent to do something so obviously wrong.?
She didn't dare think it was. She was still incredulous, still hopeful that the court would throw the case out, still unable, with part of her mind, to feel it was anything more than a bad dream. It was the perfect state to have your victim in, if you were the predator.
Mr. Parrish, by contrast, had just been having a highly satisfactory meeting with his lawyer.
"They've engaged Coleman," Mr. Gurney told him.
"Is he good.?"
"The best."
"Well, who've we got.? Haven't we got the best.? If not, why not.?"
"We don't need the best. We've got Sanderson. Second
best is good enough with a cast-iron case like this. Coleman wouldn't have a hope if he was Demosthenes and Cicero rolled into one."
Mr. Parrish had heard of those gentlemen, but not recently. He grunted.
"I suppose you know what you're doing," he said.
"Coleman knows it too. He'll do a damn fine job. I look forward to hearing his arguments. But he won't win, and he knows it. And I know he knows it, because I know his clerk."
"Good," said Parrish. "What about the other business.'' The financial side.'^"
"That's contingent upon the decision going the right way, as you know.
Sally stood up.
"I'm trying to understand," she said. "Believe me, Mr. Adcock, I'm trying to understand how it is that an innocent woman can have her own child taken away by a total stranger, and how when she asks questions about it she's threatened with legal action—what sort of law is this that makes it worse for you if you just try to find out why you're being persecuted in the first place.'^ Do you know what this feels like.'*"
He spread out his hands. He intended to look wise and tolerant and understanding; in fact, he looked weak and foolish. Sally looked away and moved to the door.
"If I don't visit his house again, will I be safe from legal action.'"' she said, one hand on the handle.
"It's worded quite widely. ... As far as I can tell, yes, his house, and those neighbors whom you, ah, visited, and any other premises where annoyance was likely to be caused. One could argue that this was too wide. I think it would be reasonable to argue that. If you wish, I can—"
"No. Don't waste the time. Have you arranged a meeting with Mr. Coleman yet.'' The barrister.^"
"Ah. There we have been fortunate. Mr. Coleman is agreeable to a meeting at half past five on the afternoon of the seventeenth."
"The day before ..."
"As you say, the day before the court case. I had to put your point of view quite strongly to Mr. Coleman, Q.C. He is not of the opinion that it will help, but he has generously agreed to meet your wishes."
Welly thafs something, anyway, Sally thought. She was becoming obsessed now. The case had inflamed her mind to the point where she could not concentrate on anything else for more than a couple of minutes at a time. She dwelt endlessly on Mr. Adcock's words, trying to sift something hopeful out of them like a miner panning for gold, trying to be fair, trying not to brood over how slow he was being, trying to see it as sensitivity to the law and judicious shrewdness.
But she couldn't keep it up for long. Privately she raged. How could the law be used so viciously, in such an unprincipled way.f* Didn't the lawyers who drew up petitions and injunctions and prepared cases ever think of the meaning of what they were doing.f* Was the whole majesty and splendor of the English legal system so easily bent to do something so obviously wrong.?
She didn't dare think it was. She was still incredulous, still hopeful that the court would throw the case out, still unable, with part of her mind, to feel it was anything more than a bad dream. It was the perfect state to have your victim in, if you were the predator.
Mr. Parrish, by contrast, had just been having a highly satisfactory meeting with his lawyer.
"They've engaged Coleman," Mr. Gurney told him.
"Is he good.?"
"The best."
"Well, who've we got.? Haven't we got the best.? If not, why not.?"
"We don't need the best. We've got Sanderson. Second
best is good enough with a cast-iron case like this. Coleman wouldn't have a hope if he was Demosthenes and Cicero rolled into one."
Mr. Parrish had heard of those gentlemen, but not recently. He grunted.
"I suppose you know what you're doing," he said.
"Coleman knows it too. He'll do a damn fine job. I look forward to hearing his arguments. But he won't win, and he knows it. And I know he knows it, because I know his clerk."
"Good," said Parrish. "What about the other business.'' The financial side.'^"
"That's contingent upon the decision going the right way, as you know.
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