Austen at Sea

One. The Revere Bell Strikes One

One

The Revere Bell Strikes One

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

April 5, 1865

Six justices were assembled in chambers to consider the case before them. A seventh judge had recused himself due to a conflict, leaving the dreaded possibility of a tie. Certainly, based on precedent and the contentiousness of the matter, these men were unlikely to agree.

It was long past the evening hour, the oral dissertations having proceeded at great length. Food and refreshment had been replenished several times during the closed-door session: plates of cold veal and green salad, a decanter of Madeira, and chestnut-colored coffee from a large silver pot.

Justice Philip Mackenzie was leading the discussion. He impatiently tapped one finger on the leatherbound book before him as Justice Ezekiel Peabody, making his usual plea for restraint, droned on. Finally, there was a lull. Justice Peabody refilled the goblet before him; Justice Mackenzie stopped tapping.

“Well?” He stared pointedly at the other five faces about the room. “Are we at last ready to vote?”

Chief Justice Adam Fulbright rubbed his speckle-bearded chin; with one notable exception, the judges were all grey-haired and portly after decades spent listening from the bench. “My preliminary vote is in favor.”

Half the room sighed. The chief justice was, for all his leadership, the softest member of the court.

“You can’t be serious.” Justice Roderick Norton turned to the occupant of the wingback chair on his left. “Tell me you , William, will join the dissent. You, who always consider ideas more salient than surface charms. The Mansfield Judgment alone gives our position undeniable weight.”

Justice William Stevenson raised his right index finger in the air. “My daughters—”

Now all the men groaned.

“—gentlemen, gentlemen, steady on. Both young ladies are experts in this matter, which you would do well to remember. They heartily agree with the chief justice, as do I. So, that leaves Nash.”

Justice Thomas Nash was the one notable exception, the youngest member of the court. He lounged in the armchair closest to the fire, long legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles, hands clasped behind his full head of blond hair complete with fashionably long sideburns. “I’m afraid I must concur with the Misses Stevenson—for once.”

“Then we have a majority—Fulbright, Stevenson, Nash, and myself—in agreement that this text”—Justice Mackenzie waved the bound volume before the group—“is the supreme example of its author’s genius.”

Mackenzie stood up, placed the volume on top of five others on a nearby side table, then gingerly—even reverentially—righted the pile with both hands. The other men also stood, removing the robes they had donned since daybreak and hanging them by the door for the morning washerwomen. Norton patted Peabody on the back in commiseration as they exited the dark-paneled room, dimly lit by the smoldering fire.

“Time will prove them wrong, Zeke,” he practically hissed. “It always does.”

As the Revere bell struck one from nearby King’s Chapel, the six justices headed down the hallway and out into the spring-scented night. The servants discreetly entered after them, knowing from experience how late the monthly discussion, given its rancor, could run. One of them glanced curiously at the volume—simply titled Emma —resting on top of the others, before carrying the pile of books away in his white-gloved hands.

At the other end of the courthouse, the library clerk sat dozing at his station. He jerked awake as the servant put the books down with a cough, then checked his watch in a panic. The mail steamship SS China was due to arrive soon from Portsmouth, bringing a dozen different British newspapers for the clerk to place in each judicial chamber by dawn. Before heading to the Custom House to collect the news, however, he had one last task to complete.

Placing the books in an empty mahogany trolley, the library clerk wheeled the cart to the first row of standing shelves. One by one, he carefully slid each volume back in its well-worn spot under an ivory plaque the size of a postage stamp, finely marked AU , and in strict order of composition:

Northanger Abbey

Sense and Sensibility

Pride and Prejudice

Mansfield Park

Emma

Persuasion