第10章 The Witness

It was during this time that Thomas discovered something that changed everything. Miss Pemberton had kept a collection of her father's papers—her father being the sixth earl's younger brother, a man who had never inherited the title but who had maintained contact with the family. Among the papers was a letter, written in the hand of the late earl's father, that mentioned a marriage performed in secret at a church in Yorkshire. "St. Mary's, Knaresborough," Thomas read aloud. "A marriage performed on the fourteenth day of June in the year of our Lord 1813, by the Reverend Josiah Clarke." Leo's breath caught. "That is the date. My mother's letter mentioned that she was in London in the spring of 1813. The child was born in October. If the marriage took place in June..." "It would be valid," Thomas said. "A marriage performed by an ordained clergyman, witnessed by two persons, is valid under English law, even if it is not recorded in the parish register." "The record must exist," Leo said. "The Reverend Clarke kept records. We must find them." Thomas nodded. "We shall. And if Reverend Clarke is still alive, he may yet give us the testimony we need." They left the cottage the following morning and travelled to Knaresborough, where St. Mary's Church stood overlooking the river Nidd. The church was a modest building of stone, its spire visible from miles around, and inside it was cool and quiet, smelling of old wood and beeswax. Thomas asked to see the church records, and the verger, an elderly man named Mr. Henshaw, led him down to the basement. The records were dusty but intact, and Thomas worked through them with the patience of a man who knew that the smallest detail could determine the fate of an entire case. He found the entry on the fourteenth of June, 1813: Arthur Pemberton and Marie Harrington were joined in Holy Matrimony, by the bond of matrimony, in the presence of Edward Danvers and Clara Pemberton. Thomas read the entry twice, then a third time, his heart hammering with the force of discovery. The marriage was recorded. The marriage was valid. The marriage was the key to everything. But there was a problem. The witnesses—Edward Danvers and Clara Pemberton—were both long dead, and their testimony could not be obtained. However, the record itself was evidence, and it proved that the marriage had taken place. It was the document Thomas needed. He made a copy of the entry and showed it to Leo, who read it with tears in his eyes. "My parents," he whispered. "They were married. My mother was not a mistress. She was a wife." Thomas nodded. "And you are not a bastard. You are the legitimate son of the Earl of Pemberton, and you have a legal right to the title and the estate." Leo sat down heavily, the weight of the discovery settling upon him like a physical pressure. He had spent his entire life believing he was an outcast, a child without a home or a family, and now he learned that he had a claim to one of the most prestigious titles in the land. "What do I do now?" he asked. "Now," Thomas said, "we return to London, and we fight." They made copies of the marriage entry and returned to London, where Thomas filed the documents with the court and prepared for the hearing. The case was scheduled for the following month, and in the interim, both sides prepared their arguments. Sir Julian's lawyers filed a series of motions designed to delay and obstruct, but Lord Justice Harrow, the judge assigned to the case, was a stern man who had little patience for procedural gamesmanship, and he overruled most of them. Leo spent the weeks before the hearing studying the law, learning everything he could about inheritance, entail, and legitimacy. He read case law until his eyes ached and took notes in a small notebook that he carried everywhere. Thomas watched him with growing admiration. The young man had a sharp mind, quicker than he had initially appeared, and he was determined to understand every aspect of the case that might affect his future. --- Thomas made a copy of the marriage entry and showed it to Leo, who read it with tears in his eyes. "My parents," he whispered. "They were married. My mother was not a mistress. She was a wife." Leo spent the weeks before the hearing studying the law, learning everything he could about inheritance, entail, and legitimacy. He read case law until his eyes ached and took notes in a small notebook that he carried everywhere. Thomas watched him with growing admiration. The young man had a sharp mind, quicker than he had initially appeared, and he was determined to understand every aspect of the case that might affect his future. "You do not have to do this," Thomas told him one evening. "You could let me handle the legal details." Leo looked up from his book and smiled faintly. "I may be the claimant," he said, "but this is my life. I intend to understand every part of it." The news of the marriage record spread quickly. When Thomas filed the papers in London, the legal community took notice. A barrister of modest reputation had uncovered evidence that could overturn the succession of one of England's oldest earldoms. The story was sensational, and the papers could not resist it. Within days, Leo's face was printed in the illustrated gazettes, and his name was on every tongue from the coffee houses of Fleet Street to the drawing rooms of Mayfair. Leo found the attention unsettling. He had spent his life performing before audiences, but this was different. The crowds that came to the circus had come to be entertained; the people who now stared at him in the street were looking for something else—scandal, or validation, or simply the spectacle of a man who had risen from the sawdust to claim a throne. He was not certain he could give them what they wanted. Thomas reassured him. "The attention will fade," he said. "What matters is not what the public thinks of you today, but what the courts decide. Focus on the case, and let the world talk." Leo took the advice to heart. He threw himself into the preparation, reading every document Thomas gave him, memorising the details of the entail, the marriage, the witnesses, the letters. When the day of the hearing arrived, he was as ready as he had ever been for anything in his life. He stood before the courtroom, his heart steady, his voice calm, and he told the story of his parents—two people who had loved each other against all odds, who had married in secret before a God they believed in, and who had raised a son in the hope that he might one day know the truth.