Part 32 (1/2)
”The journey downriver, which I have just related, was, as my lord will have plainly seen, a diversion, meant to remove me and the first company of Guards from the Tower.”
”So it would seem.”
”It must therefore have been arranged, with some cunning and forethought, by some who were secretly confederated with Jack, and who would profit by the success of Jack's undertaking.”
”A reasonable enough supposition,” Bolingroke allowed. Then he reminded White, ”We look forward to a confession to that effect from Sergeant Shaftoe.”
”Consider it done my lord-but Robert Shaftoe is just a sergeant. A very senior one, true, but-”
”I do take your point, Mr. White. Perhaps Colonel Barnes ought to be questioned. He would have the authority-”
”Would have, my lord, but-and I have turned this over in my mind a thousand times-Colonel Barnes did never have, my lord, but-and I have turned this over in my mind a thousand times-Colonel Barnes did never exercise exercise any such authority on that day. any such authority on that day. I I requested that he send a company on the expedition to s.h.i.+ve Tor, because, to hear Sir Isaac tell it, we would requested that he send a company on the expedition to s.h.i.+ve Tor, because, to hear Sir Isaac tell it, we would need need a whole company, or more, to subdue the small army of Black-guards we would find there.” a whole company, or more, to subdue the small army of Black-guards we would find there.”
”Mr. White. Certainly you are not accusing yourself yourself of complicity!” of complicity!”
”Even if I did, my lord, 'twould never stand; for the record now shows that the true b.u.t.t at which Jack the Coiner aimed his shaft was not the Jewels but the Mint-to be specific, the Pyx. And how would I I benefit from some compromise of the Pyx?” benefit from some compromise of the Pyx?”
”How could anyone anyone conceivably benefit from it?” Bolingbroke wanted to know. conceivably benefit from it?” Bolingbroke wanted to know.
”It is of no account,” Isaac Newton broke in, ”as the Pyx was never compromised!”
”Sir Isaac Newton! We've not heard from you yet. For the benefit of those here who have never seen the Pyx, would you be so good as to explain its workings?”
”It would be my pleasure, my lord,” said Newton, stepping forward, eluding the hand of the Marquis of Ravenscar who had groped forward, out of some instinct, trying to yank him back from the abyss. ”It is closed by three locks-all three must be removed for the lid to be opened. The top, as you can see, is fas.h.i.+oned with a hatch, devised in such a way that a small object may be deposited into the Pyx without opening the locks. But it is impossible for a hand to reach in and remove any object.” Newton operated the mechanism, letting everyone get a look at a pair of swinging doors rigged just as he had claimed.
”How is the Pyx employed at the Mint?” Bolingbroke inquired, accurately feigning the sort of elevated curiosity that was good form at Royal Society meetings.
Newton responded in kind. ”Of every lot of coins that is minted, some are plucked out, and deposited. I shall demonstrate, behold!” Newton opened his own coin-purse and spilled a guinea and some pennies-freshly minted, of course-onto his hand. He borrowed a sheet of foolscap from a clerk, laid it on the Pyx, arranged the coins in the center of the page, and then rolled and folded the paper around the money to make a neat little packet. ”Here I have done it with paper-at the Mint we use leather. The Sinthia, as we call this little packet, is sewn shut. The worker writes on its outside a notation as to when the sample was taken, and stamps it with a seal, kept for that purpose alone. Then-” Sir Isaac slipped the Sinthia into the Pyx's hatch, and tripped the mechanism. It vanished and dropped within.
”And from time to time, as is well known to that scholar of all matters monetary, my lord Ravenscar, the Pyx is brought hither to the Star Chamber by order of the Privy Council,” Bolingbroke said, ”and opened, and its contents a.s.sayed by a jury of goldsmiths drawn from the most respectable citizens of the City of London.”
”Indeed, my lord. Anciently it was done four times a year. Of late, less frequently.”
”When was the last Trial of the Pyx, Sir Isaac?”
”Last year, my lord.”
”You say, 'twas around the time that the hostilities on the Continent ceased, and the Queen's Own Black Torrent Guard returned to garrison the Tower.”
”Yes, my lord.”
”And so the Pyx, as of April 22nd, contained samples of all lots of coins minted during the months that the Black Torrent Guard controlled the Tower.”
”Er, indeed, my lord,” said Newton, wondering what that had to do with anything.
Bolingbroke was only too happy to lead him out of his confusion. ”Mr. Charles White is of the view that those who were responsible for the a.s.sault on the Tower, phant'sied that they could somehow benefit more more from compromising the Pyx, than from stealing the Crown Jewels! How could such a thing possibly be, Sir Isaac?” from compromising the Pyx, than from stealing the Crown Jewels! How could such a thing possibly be, Sir Isaac?”
”I do not know, my lord, and I hold it to be idle, for the Pyx was never compromised. the Pyx was never compromised.”
”How do you know that, Sir Isaac? Jack the Coiner might have spent as much as an hour with it.”
”As you can see, it is sealed with three padlocks, my lord. I cannot attest to the other two, for one is the property of the Warden of the Mint and the other belongs to the Lord Treasurer; but the third is mine. There is only one key to that lock, and I am never without it.”
”I have heard that there are men who can open a lock, without a key-there is a word for it, they say.”
”Lock-picking, my lord,” someone said helpfully.
”Trust a Whig to know such a thing! Could Jack have 'picked' the locks?”
”Locks such as these, perhaps,” answered Newton, pa.s.sing his hand over two of them. Then he turned his attention to a third, much larger and heavier. He hefted it like Roger Comstock cupping one of his mistress's b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”To pick this one is almost certainly impossible. To pick it and two others in an hour is absolutely impossible.”
”So a clever fellow could get the Pyx open in an hour, if he had your key, by 'picking' the other two locks. But without your key-impossible.”
”Just so, my lord,” said Newton. He was distracted by violent stirrings in his peripheral vision, and glanced over to see Roger Comstock now frantically waving his hands about and drawing his finger convulsively across his throat. But Newton seemed to take these gestures as an inexplicable roadside mum-show.
Bolingbroke noticed, too. ”My lord Ravenscar has imbibed too much coffee again and come down with the spasms,” he guessed. Then he turned his attention back to Newton. ”Pray take your impregnable lock away, Sir Isaac.” He turned around and gestured at a pair of fellows who were standing together in a corner, each nervously fingering an elaborate key. ”The Warden of the Mint has joined us,” Bolingbroke said, ”and even the Lord Treasurer has deigned to send a representative bearing his his key. We would view the contents of the Pyx.” key. We would view the contents of the Pyx.”
It was three-quarters filled with a jumble of leathern packets. Newton's paper-packet had tumbled down into a corner. He bent down to retrieve it; and though Newton was oblivious to this, others in the room noted that the eyes of White and Bolingbroke tracked every movement of Newton's, as if they were expecting to catch him out in some sleight-of-hand.
”Is this what you expected to see when the lid was opened, Sir Isaac?” asked Bolingbroke.
”It appears to be in order, my lord.” Newton reached into the Pyx a second time, plucked out a Sinthia, glanced at it, and dropped it back in. He plucked out another. This time, he hesitated.
”Is everything quite all right, Sir Isaac?” Bolingbroke inquired, the soul of gentlemanly concern.
Sir Isaac raised the Sinthia higher, closer to window-light, and turned it this way and that.
”Sir Isaac?” Bolingbroke repeated. The Chamber was very still. Bolingbroke flicked his eyes at the Warden of the Mint, who stepped forward and stood on tiptoe to peer over Sir Isaac's shoulder. Newton had frozen.
The Warden of the Mint's eyes widened.
Newton dropped the packet into the Pyx as if it had caught fire. He staggered back, towards the Marquis of Ravenscar, like a blinded duellist seeking refuge among his friends.
”My lord,” explained the Warden, ”something's a bit queer about that last packet. The handwriting-it looked forged, somehow.”
Charles White raised a knee and kicked the lid of the Pyx. It closed with a boom like a cannon-shot.
”I say that the Pyx is evidence in a criminal matter,” Bolingbroke proclaimed. ”Put the locks on it again, and bring out my seal. I shall set my seal on this evidence to show any further tampering. Mr. White shall return the Pyx to its customary station and use in the Tower but he shall keep it under heavy guard, twenty-four hours a day. I shall bear these tidings to the other Lords of the Council. We may safely presume that the Council will order a Trial of the Pyx forthwith.”
”Good my lord,” said Peer, stepping forward, ”what evidence suggests that such tampering occurred? The Warden has a.s.serted that one of the packets looked a bit queer, but this hardly const.i.tutes proof. Sir Isaac himself has said nothing at all.”
”Sir Isaac,” said Bolingbroke, ”what is perfectly clear to most of us, is impenetrable to this Whig. He requires evidence. No man is more eligible to testify in such a matter than you. Is it your testimony, before this a.s.sembly, that all of the coins in this Pyx were minted in the Tower, under your direction, and placed therein by your hand? I remind you that every coin in the Pyx is subject to a.s.say during a Trial, and that you are under an indenture to Her Majesty; the consequences of a failed Trial are severe.”
”By ancient tradition,” said Roger Comstock behind his hand, ”false coiners are punished by amputation of the hand that did the deed, and castration.” From anxiety he had moved on briefly to horror; but now from horror to fascination.
Newton tried to answer, but his voice did not work for a moment, and only a bleat came out. Then he swallowed, grimacing at the pain of swallowing, and got out the words: ”I cannot so testify, my lord. But without a more thorough examination-”
”There shall be one anon, at a Trial of the Pyx.”