Chiuⁿ 12.
12.1 Cheng-thàm: kiám-chhat koaⁿ pk piān-hō͘ lu̍t-su
“Léng-chēng, léng-chēng,” keh chái-á chhéⁿ-lâi, i tùi ka-tī kóng, “lí khai-sí teh khiā-pêng ah neh. Chò tiau-cha bē-sái án-ne lah.”
Chū án-ne, siú-hō͘ tō-tek kì-lu̍t, i pān-chò kiám-chhat koaⁿ.
Siat-sú hit-ê Butler kò͘-sū (tiōng-hun) sī lia̍p-chō ê, sī iû Stillington pang-bâng seⁿ ê pe̍h-chha̍t ōe. Siat-sú Téng Gī-īⁿ kap Ē Gī-īⁿ lóng ūi-tio̍h bī-lâi chèng-kio̍k ún-tēng, kam-goān hông hó͘-lāng.
Án-ne kám ē hō͘-lâng koh-khah chiap-kīn “bô͘-sat nn̄g-ê gín-á” ê chin-siòng? Án-ne mā bē neh, kám ē?
Siat-sú hit-ê kò͘-sū sī ké ê, chòe eng-kai tî-tiāu ê lâng tō sī Stillington. Eleanor Hj chá tō sí tī siu-tō-īⁿ ah, só͘-í yi bô hoat-tō͘ sûi-ì thiàu chhut-lâi thiah-phòa Ông-khoân Hoat-àn. M̄-koh, Stillington ū hit-ê hoat-tō͘. Tān, Stillington hián-jiân oa̍h kah hó liux, oân-choân bô siáⁿ khùn-lân. I sīm-chì pí hit-ê i sak-chiūⁿ ông-ūi ê lâng oa̍h koh-khah kú.
Hit-sî ka-bián lé ê chún-pī khang-khòe pòaⁿ-lō͘ hoah thêng, thêng-sū hut-jiân khí piàn, he nā m̄-sī súi-khùi ê bú-tâi tiàu-tō͘, tō sī he ná lûi-kong tân ê, Stillington ê thán-pe̍h thoân-ji̍p bô chún-pī ê hīⁿ-khang sî ê pit-jiân hoán-èng. Batler hun-iok chhiam-jī, kong-chèng ê sî, Richard chiah kúi-hòe? 11? 12? Kài bô khó-lêng i ē chai chit-ê tāi-chì.
Siat-sú hit-ê Butler kò͘-sū sī pian lâi phô͘ Richard, án-ne Richard tiāⁿ-tio̍h ē pò-tap Stillington. Tān, bô iáⁿ-jiah hián-sī Stillington ū tit-tio̍h âng-saⁿ chú-kàu ê bō-á, a̍h seng-téng, a̍h koaⁿ-ūi.
Tān, chèng-bêng Butler kò͘-sū sī sū-si̍t, chòe ū-la̍t ê chèng-kì, chāi tī Henry VII pek-chhiat ài-boeh kā he húi-bia̍t. Ká-sú he sī ké ê, Henry boeh boah-o͘ Richard, ûi-it ài chò ê tō sī kā he kong-khai, pek Stillington sêng-jīn he sī i kóng pe̍h-chha̍t. Tian-tò-péng, Henry soah kā he am-khàm khí-lâi.
Siūⁿ kàu chia, Grant chhehx hoat-hiān, ka-tī iū-koh tńg-lâi Piān-hong chit-pêng. I koat-tēng hòng-khì ah. I phah-sǹg boeh khì tha̍k Lavinia Fitch, a̍h Rupert Rouge, a̍h toh-á téng hiah-ê kùi tān pī i léng-tām tùi-thāi ê liû-hêng chok-ka ê chheh, thiat-té pàng bē-kì Richard Plantagenet, it-ti̍t kàu siàu-liân Carradine chhut-hiān, chiah koh khai-sí sím-sìn.
I kā Cicely Nevill kiáⁿ-sun ê cho̍k-phó͘ chhó-kó chng-ji̍p phe-lông, siá hó Carradine ê siu-phe tē-chí, kau-hō͘ Sè-lia̍p Chí the̍h-khì kià. Koh-lâi, i kā hit-tiuⁿ khò tī chheh-tui ê ōe-siōng khǹg tò-khap, bián-tit koh hō͘ hit-ê bīn khan..khì, hit-ê Williams Sûn-chó chi̍t-ē khòaⁿ tō kóng sio̍k-tī chē hoat-koaⁿ se̍k ê lâng-bīn. Jiân-āu, i chhun-chhiú the̍h Silas Weekly siá ê “Kōaⁿ-chúi kap Lê-kau.” Án-ne liáu-āu, i ùi Silas ê kan-khó͘ lâng ê hùn-tàu, choán-kàu Lavinia ê tê-au pat-kòa, koh ùi hia choán-kàu Rupert ê hì-tâi-āu ê pìⁿ kâu-lāng, lú tha̍k lú iàn-khì, it-ti̍t kàu Brent Carradine koh-chài chhut-hiān tī i ê seng-oa̍h tiong.
Carradine put-an khòaⁿ i, kóng: “Lí ê khì-sek bô téng-kái góa khòaⁿ tio̍h ê hiah hó, Grant Ss. Lí án-chóaⁿ hioh?”
“Kìⁿ-nā koan-hē tio̍h Richard, góa tō bē tú-hó,” Grant kóng. “Put-kò, góa chia ū chi̍t-ê sin ê Tonypandy boeh hō͘ lí.”
Kóng soah, i kau hō͘ i Laura hit-tiuⁿ iú-koan bô im-chúi ê im-sí cha-bó͘ ê phe.
Carradine tha̍k he, hoaⁿ-thâu hí-bīn, bē-su ji̍t-thâu kng chiò chhut-lâi, tì-kàu kui-ê lâng kng iām-iām.
“Thiⁿ ah, ū-kàu cheng-chhái. Che sī chòe-ko, chiàⁿ-pān, ùi thâu kàu bóe ê Tonypandy, kám m̄-sī? Chán lah, chán lah. Lí goân-pún m̄-chai che hioh? Lí m̄-sī Scotland lâng?”
“Góa sī Scotland lâng tē-2 tāi,” Grant kóng bêng.”Bô lah; góa chai hiah-ê Sè-iok Phài..ê (Covenanters) bô chi̍t-ê sī sí tī ‘sìn-gióng;’ tān góa m̄-chai kî-tiong ū chi̍t-ê – a̍h sī ū nn̄g-ê – kin-pún to bô sí.”
“Yin m̄-sī sí tī sìn-gióng?” Carradine gông-ngia̍h tòe leh kóng. “Lí sī kóng, kui-ê tāi-chì lóng sī Tonypandy?”
Grant chhiò chhut-lâi. “Góa siūⁿ sī án-ne,” i tio̍h-kiaⁿ kóng. “Í-chêng góa m̄-bat siūⁿ-kòe che. Góa chá tō chai-iáⁿ hiah-ê ‘sûn-tō-chiá’ tō kap hit-ê tī Essex thâi-sí lāu tiàm thâu-ke chiah bô-miā ê ok-tô͘ kāng-khoán, kin-pún to m̄-sī siáⁿ sûn-tō-chiá, choăn góa bô koh khì siūⁿ. Tī Scotland, tî-liáu hêng-sū hoān, bô lâng ē hông phòaⁿ sí-hêng.”
“Tān góa siūⁿ-kóng in sī chin sîn-sèng ê lâng – góa ì-sù sī kóng Sè-iok Phài..ê.”
“Lí tiāⁿ-tio̍h khòaⁿ bē-chió 19 sè-kí chong-kàu pì-bi̍t chi̍p-hōe ê ōe-chok. Tī hong-iá, khiân-sêng sió thoân-thé chē leh thiaⁿ bo̍k-su kóng-tō; ji̍p-sîn ê siàu-liân bīn-chhiuⁿ, pe̍h thâu-mo͘ phiau tī Sîn ê hong ni̍h. Sè-iok Phài oân-choân téng-î Ireland Kiōng-hô Kun (I.R.A.). In sī ke̍k chió-sò͘, m̄-khéng thò-hia̍p ê kek-chìn phài, iā sī Kitok kàu kok-ka tiong-kan siōng giàn-hoeh ê chi̍t-tīn lâng. Lí nā tī lé-pài-ji̍t khì kàu-tn̂g, bô khì chham-ka in ê pì-bi̍t chi̍p-hōe, lí khó-lêng tī pài-it chhéⁿ-lâi, hoat-hiān chhek-chhng hông sio-tiāu, a̍h-sī bé ê kha-kin hông tok-tn̄g. Lí nā koh-khah kong-khai piáu-sī hoán-tùi, lí tō ē hông chhèng-sat. Hiah-ê tī Fife Kūn ê chi̍t-tiâu lō͘, kng-thiⁿ pe̍h-ji̍t, tī cha-bó͘-kiáⁿ bīn-chêng thâi-sí Sharp Tōa Chú-kàu ê lâng, sī chit-ê ūn-tōng ê eng-hiông. Kin-kì chông-pài-chiá ê kóng-hoat, chiah-ê eng-hiông sī ‘ūi Sîn ê sū-gia̍p, chhiong-móa ióng-khì kap jia̍t-sêng ê lâng.’ In tī Se-pō͘ Tē-khu bē-chió nî, an-choân koh hiau-pai seng-oa̍h tī Sè-iok Phài ióng-hō͘-chiá tiong-kan. Tī Edinburgh ke-lō͘ chhèng-sat Honeyman Chú-kàu ê sī chi̍t-ê ‘hok-im thoân-kàu-sū.’ In koh tī Carsphairn kā chi̍t-ê lāu kàu-khu bo̍k-su chhèng-sat tī i ka-tī ê mn̂g-kha-kháu.”
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章 12.
12.1 偵探: 檢察官 pk 辯護律師
“冷靜, 冷靜,” 隔早仔 醒來, 伊對 ka-tī 講, “你開始 teh 徛爿 ah neh. 做調查 袂使 án-ne lah.”
自 án-ne, 守護 道德紀律, 伊扮做 檢察官.
設使 彼个 Butler 故事 (重婚) 是捏造 ê, 是由 Stillington 幫忙 生 ê 白賊話. 設使 頂議院 kap 下議院 lóng為著 未來 政局穩定, 甘願 hông 唬弄.
Án-ne 敢會 hō͘ 人 閣較 接近 “謀殺 兩个囡仔” ê 真相?
Án-ne mā 袂 neh, 敢會?
設使 彼个故事 是假 ê, 最應該 除掉 ê 人 tō 是 Stillington. Eleanor Hj 早 tō 死 tī 修道院 ah, 所以 她無法度 隨意 跳出來 拆破 王權法案. 毋過, Stillington 有 彼个法度. 但, Stillington 顯然 活 kah 好 liux, 完全 無啥困難. 伊甚至 比彼个 伊捒上 王位 ê 人 活閣較久.
彼時 加冕禮 ê 準備工課 半路喝停, 程序 忽然起變, he 若毋是 媠氣 ê 舞台調度, tō 是 he ná 雷公霆 ê, Stillington ê 坦白 傳入 無準備 ê 耳空 時 ê 必然反應. Butler 婚約 簽字, 公證 ê 時, Richard 才幾歲? 11? 12? Kài 無可能 伊會知 這个代誌.
設使 彼个 Butler 故事是 編來扶 Richard, án-ne Richard 定著 會報答 Stillington. 但, 無影跡 顯示 Stillington 有得著 紅衫主教 ê 帽仔, a̍h 升等, a̍h 官位.
但, 證明 Butler 故事 是事實, 最有力 ê 證據, 在 tī Henry VII 迫切 愛欲 kā he 毀滅. 假使 he 是假 ê, Henry 欲抹烏 Richard, 唯一愛做 ê tō 是 kā he 公開, 迫 Stillington 承認 he 是 伊講白賊. 顛倒反, Henry 煞 kā he 掩崁起來.
想到 chia, Grant chhehx 發現, ka-tī 又閣 轉來 辯方這爿. 伊決定 放棄 ah. 伊拍算 欲去讀 Lavinia Fitch, a̍h Rupert Rouge, a̍h 桌仔頂 hiah-ê 貴 但被伊 冷淡對待 ê 流行作家 ê 冊, 徹底 放袂記 Richard Plantagenet, 一直到 少年 Carradine 出現, 才 koh 開始審訊.
伊 kā Cicely Nevill 囝孫 ê 族譜草稿 裝入批囊, 寫好 Carradine ê 收批地址, 交 hō͘ Sè-lia̍p Chí 提去寄. 閣來, 伊 kā 彼張 靠 tī 冊堆 ê 畫像 囥 tò-khap, 免得 koh hō͘ 彼个面 牽..去, 彼个 Williams 巡佐 一下看 tō 講 屬 tī 坐法官席 ê 人面. 然後, 伊伸手提 Silas Weekly 寫 ê “汗水 kap 犁溝.” Án-ne 了後, 伊 ùi Silas ê 艱苦人 ê 奮鬥, 轉到 Lavinia ê 茶甌八卦, koh ùi hia 轉到 Rupert ê 戲台後 ê 變猴弄, lú 讀 lú 厭氣, 一直到 Brent Carradine 閣再出現 tī 伊 ê 生活中.
Carradine 不安看伊, 講: “你 ê 氣色 無 頂改 我看著 ê hiah 好, Grant Ss. 你按怎 hioh?”
“見若 關係著 Richard, 我 tō 袂拄好,” Grant 講. “不過, 我 chia 有一个 新 ê Tonypandy 欲 hō͘ 你.”
講煞, 伊交 hō͘ 伊 Laura 彼張 有關 無淹水 ê 淹死查某 ê 批.
Carradine 讀 he, 歡頭喜面, 袂輸 日頭光 照出來, 致到 規个人 光焰焰.
“天 ah, 有夠精彩. 這是 最高, 正範, ùi 頭到尾 ê Tonypandy, 敢毋是? 讚 lah, 讚 lah. 你 原本毋知 che hioh? 你毋是 Scotland 人?”
“我是 Scotland 人 第2 代,” Grant 講明.”無 lah; 我知 hiah-ê 誓約派..ê (Covenanters) 無一个是 死 tī ‘信仰;’ 但 我毋知 其中 有一个 - 抑是有兩个 - 根本 to 無死.”
“姻毋是 死 tī 信仰?” Carradine gông-ngia̍h 綴 leh 講. “你是講, 規个代誌 lóng 是 Tonypandy?”
Grant 笑出來. “我想 是 án-ne,” 伊著驚講. “以前 我 m̄-bat 想過 che. 我 早 tō 知影 hiah-ê ‘殉道者’ tō kap 彼个 tī Essex 刣死 老店頭家 才無命 ê 惡徒仝款, 根本 to 毋是 啥 殉道者, choăn 我無 koh 去想. Tī Scotland, 除了刑事犯, 無人 會 hông 判死刑.”
“但 我想講 in 是 真神聖 ê 人 - 我意思 是講 誓約派..ê.”
“你定著 看袂少 19 世紀 宗教 祕密集會 ê 畫作. Tī 荒野, 虔誠 小團體 坐 leh 聽 牧師講道; 入神 ê 少年面腔, 白頭毛 飄 tī 神 ê 風 ni̍h. 誓約派 完全等於 Ireland 共和軍 (I.R.A.). In 是極少數, 毋肯妥協 ê 激進派, 也是 Kitok 教 國家 中間 上癮血 ê 一陣人. 你若 tī 禮拜日 去教堂, 無去參加 in ê 祕密集會, 你可能 tī 拜一 醒來, 發現 粟倉 hông 燒掉, 抑是 馬 ê 跤筋 hông 剁斷. 你若 閣較 公開 表示反對, 你 tō 會 hông 銃殺. Hiah-ê tī Fife 郡 ê 一條路, 光天白日, tī 查某囝面前 刣死 Sharp 大主教 ê 人, 是 這个運動 ê 英雄. 根據 崇拜者 ê 講法, chiah-ê 英雄是 ‘為神 ê 事業, 充滿勇氣 kap 熱誠 ê 人.’ In tī 西部地區 袂少 年, 安全 koh 囂俳 生活 tī 誓約派 擁護者中間. Tī Edinburgh 街路 銃殺 Honeyman 主教 ê 是 一个 ‘福音傳教士.’ In koh tī Carsphairn kā 一个 老教區 牧師 銃殺 tī 伊 ka-tī ê 門跤口.”
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12.
12.1
‘Cool off, cool off,’ he said to himself when he woke next morning, ‘you’re beginning to be partisan. That’s no way to conduct an investigation.’
So, by way of moral discipline, he became prosecutor.
Supposing that the Butler story was a frame-up. A story concocted with Stillington’s help. Supposing that both Lords and Commons were willing to be hoodwinked in the hope of stable Government to come.
Did that bring one any nearer the murder of the two boys?
It didn’t, did it?
If the story was false, the person to be got rid of was Stillington. Lady Eleanor had died in her convent long ago, so was not there to blow Titulus Regius to pieces any time she had a mind. But Stillington could. And Stillington evidently showed no difficulty in going on living. He survived the man he had put on the throne.
The sudden jar in the proceedings, the abrupt break in the pattern of the coronation preparation, was either wonderful stage-managing or just what one would expect if the thunderclap of Stillington’s confession descended on unprepared ears. Richard was—what? Eleven? Twelve?—when the Butler contract was signed and witnessed; it was unlikely that he knew anything of it.
If the Butler story was an invention to oblige Richard,[Pg 152] then Richard must have rewarded Stillington. But there was no sign of Stillington’s being obliged with a cardinal’s hat, or preferment, or office.
But the surest evidence that the Butler story was true lay in Henry VII’s urgent need to destroy it. If it were false, then all he had to do to discredit Richard was to bring it into the open and make Stillington eat his words. Instead he hushed it up.
At this point Grant realised with disgust that he was back on the Defence side again. He decided to give it up. He would take to Lavinia Fitch, or Rupert Rouge, or some other of the fashionable authors lying in such expensive neglect on his table, and forget Richard Plantagenet until such time as young Carradine appeared to renew the inquisition.
He put the family-tree sketch of Cicely Nevill’s grandchildren into an envelope and addressed it to Carradine, and gave it to The Midget to post. Then he turned down the portrait that was leaning against the books, so that he should not be seduced by that face which Sergeant Williams had placed, without hesitation, on the bench, and reached for Silas Weekly’s The Sweat and the Furrow. Thereafter he went from Silas’s seamy wrestlings to Lavinia’s tea-cups, and from Lavinia’s tea-cups to Rupert’s cavortings in the coulisses, with a growing dissatisfaction, until Brent Carradine once more turned up in his life.
Carradine regarded him anxiously and said: ‘You don’t look so bright as last time I saw you, Mr Grant. You not doing so well?’
‘Not where Richard is concerned, I’m not,’ Grant said. ‘But I’ve got a new piece of Tonypandy for you.’
[Pg 153]And he handed him Laura’s letter about the drowned women who were never drowned.
Carradine read it with a delight that grew on him like slow sunlight coming out, until eventually he glowed.
‘My, but that’s wonderful. That’s very superior, first growth, dyed-in-the-wool Tonypandy, isn’t it. Lovely, lovely. You didn’t know about this before? And you a Scotsman?’
‘I’m only a Scot once removed,’ Grant pointed out. ‘No; I knew that none of these Covenanters died “for their Faith”, of course; but I didn’t know that one of them—or rather, two of them—hadn’t died at all.’
‘They didn’t die for their Faith?’ Carradine repeated, bewildered. ‘D’you mean that the whole thing’s Tonypandy?’
Grant laughed. ‘I suppose it is,’ he said, surprised. ‘I never thought about it before. I’ve known so long that the “martyrs” were no more martyrs than that thug who is going to his death for killing that old shop-keeper in Essex, that I’ve ceased to think about it. No one in Scotland went to his death for anything but civil crime.’
‘But I thought they were very holy people—the Covenanters, I mean.’
‘You’ve been looking at nineteenth-century pictures of conventicles. The reverent little gathering in the heather listening to the preacher; young rapt faces, and white hair blowing in the winds of God. The Covenanters were the exact equivalent of the I.R.A. in Ireland. A small irreconcilable minority, and as bloodthirsty a crowd as ever disgraced a Christian nation. If you went to church on Sunday instead of to a conventicle, you were liable to wake on Monday and find your barn burned[Pg 154] or your horses hamstrung. If you were more open in your disapproval you were shot. The men who shot Archbishop Sharp in his daughter’s presence, in broad daylight on a road in Fife, were the heroes of the movement. “Men of courage and zeal for the cause of God”, according to their admiring followers. They lived safe and swaggering among their Covenanting fans in the West for years. It was a “preacher of the gospel” who shot Bishop Honeyman in an Edinburgh street. And they shot the old parish priest of Carsphairn on his own doorstep.’
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