me, if ever I do need it."
Webster answered the sarcasm with a cheerful smile. What did he care? His point was already made.
"The objection is overruled, Mr. Cooper," said the judge. "Who is the father of your child, Miss Sump?"
She burst into tears - still on cue, despite the interruption. "Alvin," she said, sobbing. Then she looked up and gazed soulfully across the court into Alvin's eyes. "Oh, Al, it ain't too late! Come back and make a wife of me! I love you so!"
Chapter 15 - Love
Verily Cooper, doing his best to hide his astonishment, turned languidly to, look at Alvin. Then he raised an eyebrow.
Alvin looked vaguely sad. "It's true she's pregnant," he whispered. "But it ain't true I'm the father."
"Why didn't you tell me if you knew?" Verily whispered.
"I didn't know till she said it. Then I looked and yes, there's a baby growing in her womb. About the size of a nib. No more than three weeks along."
Verily nodded. Alvin had been in jail for the past month, and traveling far from Vigor Church for several months before that. The question was whether he could get the girl to admit under cross-examination that she was barely a month along in her pregnancy.
In the meantime, Daniel Webster had gone on, eliciting from Amy a lurid account of Alvin's seduction of her. No doubt about it, the girl told a convincing story, complete with all kinds of details that made it sound true. It seemed to Verily that the girl wasn't lying, or if she was, she believed her own lies. For a few moments he had doubts about Alvin. Could he have done this? The girl was pretty and desirable, and from the way she talked, she was certainly willing. Just because Alvin was a Maker didn't mean he wasn't a man all the same.
He quickly shook off such thoughts. Alvin Smith was a man with self-control, that was the truth. And he had honor. If he really did such things with this child, he'd certainly marry her and not leave her to face the consequences alone.
It was a measure of how dangerous the girl's testimony was, if she could get Alvin's own attorney to doubt him.
"And then he left you," said Daniel Webster.
Verily thought of objecting, but figured there was no point.
"It was my own fault, I know," said Amy, breaking down again into pathetic tears. "I shouldn't have told my best friend Ramona about Alvin and me, because she mouthed it around to everybody and they didn't understand about our true love and so of course my Alvin had to leave because he has great works to do in the world, he can't be tied down to Vigor Church just now. I didn't want to come here and testify! I want him to be free to do whatever he needs to do! And if my baby grows up without a pa, at least I can tell my child that she comes of noble blood, with Makery as her heritage!"
Oh, that was a nice touch, making her the suffering saint who is content that "her" Alvin is a lying seducing deceiving abandoning bastard-making cradle-robber, because she loves him so.
It was time for cross-examination. This had to proceed delicately indeed. Verily couldn't give a single hint that he believed her; at the same time, he didn't dare to be seen to attack her, because the jury's sympathy was all with the girl right now. The seeds of doubt had to be planted gently.
"I'm sorry you had to come all the way down here. It must be a hard journey for a young lady in your delicate condition."
"Oh, I'm doing all right. I just puke once in the morning and then I'm fine for the rest of the day."
The jury laughed. A friendly, sympathetic, believing laugh. Heaven help me, thought Verily.
"How long have you known you were going to have a baby?"
"A long time," she said.
Verily raised an eyebrow. "Now, that's a pretty vague answer. But before you hear my next question, I just want you to remember that we can bring your mother and father down here if need be, to establish the exact time this pregnancy began."
"Well I didn't tell them till just a few days ago," said Amy. "But I've been pregnant for - "
Verily raised his hand to silence her, and shook his head. "Be careful, Miss Sump. If you think for just a minute, you'll realize that your mother