‘Mrs Bainwright, you have heard the accusations against you. What have you to say?’

After making up her mind to speak up for herself, Betsy found that she couldn’t speak, for it was as if her throat had dried and closed up. The judge leaned forward and spoke to her.

‘Mrs Bainwright, these are very serious allegations: false defamation of a character, which led to the ruination of the defendant’s life, and possible charges of attempted extortion. If you do not say anything in your own defence, then I will have to take your silence as an admission of guilt, and sentence you accordingly.’

‘I – I didn’t do it, sir.’

‘“M’lord”, not “sir”. And if you didn’t do it, you need to speak up and tell us what happened. That is what justice is all about – each party having their say, and the jury having the chance to weigh up which is the truth.’ Turning to her solicitor, the judge, whom Betsy now thought of as kindly, told him, ‘I would expect you to help your client out. Oh, I know there is no fat fee in this for you, and you take on this work out of the goodness of your heart, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it to the best of your ability. Now, without leading her, help her to voice her version of events.’

The solicitor cleared his throat. ‘Mrs Bainwright, let us start at the beginning. What led you to be in Mr Roford’s bedroom in the first place?’

Betsy started to tell him how she came to be there, when Roford’s lawyer stood up. ‘M’lord, may I just say that this wasn’t the first incident my client suffered, at the hands of this woman.’

As Betsy listened to the lies Roford had conjured up about his first assault of her, her blood boiled, but a sense of hopelessness overcame her temper. Everything he said damned her.

‘That occasion led to a temporary split in my client’s relationship with Mrs Roford, who was at the time his fiancée. When that was resolved, Mrs Bainwright was banned from ever attending to him, if he rang his bell whilst in his bedroom. Clearly she saw a chance of breaking that rule on the evening in question.’

‘It weren’t like that! I didn’t, I – I mean, I had to break the rule – another maid hadn’t turned up and I was the only person available.’

‘My client’s butler was not on hand then?’

‘Did I give you leave to cross-examine Mrs Bainwright, Mr Plaid-Armstrong?’

‘No, m’lord. Sorry, m’lord.’

‘Well then, please sit down and allow your learned friend, Mr Fitzgerald, to continue.’

Betsy wanted to shout out against the unfairness of it all. Roford’s lawyer might have sat down and shut up, but he couldn’t undo what he’d just said.

‘Why didn’t you send for the butler, Mrs Bainwright?’

So far, all she’d said was the truth, and Betsy was so grateful to the solicitor for asking this, as she could truthfully say that she did seek out Barnard.