She was, in the eyes of the court, not a participant, merely a witness. Even that, it seemed, was unnecessary.
“I am relieved,” she remarked to Arch upon learning this, “to discover that my reputation may be preserved without my assistance.”
“You have already assisted sufficiently,” he said.
“In what manner? I believe they incriminated themselves without my help.”
“In creating the urgency and means for Kendall to further his scheme,” he replied.
She considered that. “I should not have thought it so. The dinner gave them opportunity.”
“I have often found such matters to be not one thing alone, but the culmination of several.”
The trial itself was as grave as the outcome was inevitable.
Arthur Thistlewood stood among the principal figures, his earlier fervour replaced by a self-possession that, if not dignified, was at least controlled. Others appeared less composed, their confidence having deserted them entirely once the reality of their situation became unavoidable.
Francesca saw Kendall only once.
He was altered. The restless assurance she had once known for charm had been stripped away, leaving behind a man who appeared older, harsher, and diminished by the collapse of the vision to which he had so fervently attached himself. When his gaze moved across the room and, for a fleeting instant, met hers, she did not look away.
She did not pity him, nor did she hate him… she understood him. That, she found, was something altogether different.
“He will not hang,” Arch told her later.
“No?”
“No.”
The decision had been made with care. Though many of the conspirators faced the full severity of the law, there were distinctions drawn—degrees of involvement, considerations ofevidence, active violence, and, in some cases, the practical advantage of making examples in different ways.
Kendall, it seemed, would not be counted among those examples chosen for immediate execution.
“He is to be transported,” Arch said.
“Where will he be sent?”
“To Botany Bay, most likely.”
She was silent for a moment.
“To begin again,” she said softly.
Arch glanced at her. “In a manner of speaking.”
She inclined her head. “I wonder,” she said, “if he will find the fairness he so admired.”
“Do you?”
“I certainly hope so,” she said, wishing the same for England.
