Arthur & George

Stone’s heart. Try reading between the lines.’
    ‘I decline to. This seems to me the desperate appeal of an honourable young man let down by his generosity to a friend. The Parsees are known for their charity.’
    ‘Ah, so suddenly he’s a Parsee?’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘You cannot have him a professional Englishman one moment and a Parsee the next, just as it suits you. Is it prudent for an honourable young man to pledge such a large sum, and to put himself in the hands of three separate moneylenders? How many solicitors have you known do this? Read between the lines, Doyle. Ask your friend about it.’
    ‘I have no intention of asking him about it. And clearly, he did not go bankrupt.’
    ‘Indeed. I suspect the mother helped out.’
    ‘Or perhaps there were others in Birmingham who showed him the same confidence he had shown the friend for whom he stood surety.’
    Anson found Doyle as stubborn as he was naive. ‘I applaud your … romantic streak, Sir Arthur. It does you credit. But forgive me if I find it unrealistic. As I do your campaign. Your fellow has been released from prison. He is a free man. What is the point of seeking to whip up popular opinion? You want the Home Office to look at the case again? The Home Office has looked at it countless times. You want a committee? What makes you sure it will give you what you want?’
    ‘We shall get a committee. We shall get a free pardon. We shall get compensation. And furthermore we shall establish the identity of the true criminal in whose place George Edalji has suffered.’
    ‘Oh, that too?’ Anson was now becoming seriously irritated. It could so easily have been a pleasant evening: two men of the world, each approaching fifty, one the son of an earl and the other a knight of the realm, both of them, as it happened, Deputy Lieutenants of their respective counties. They had far more in common than was setting them apart … and instead it was turning rancorous.
    ‘Doyle, let me make two points to you, if I may. You clearly imagine that there was some continuous line of persecution stretching back years – the letters, the hoaxes, the mutilations, the additional threats. You further think the police blame all of it on your friend. Whereas you blame all of it on criminals known or unknown, but the same criminals. Where is the logic in either approach? We only charged Edalji with two offences, and the second charge was in any case not proceeded with. I expect he is innocent of numerous matters. A criminal spree such as this rarely has single authorship. He might be the ringleader, he might be a mere follower. He might have seen the effect of an anonymous letter and decided to try it for himself. Might have seen the effect of a hoax and decided to play hoaxer. Heard of a gang cutting animals, and decided to join it.
    ‘My second point is this. In my time I’ve seen people who were probably guilty found innocent, and people who were probably innocent found guilty. Don’t look so surprised. I’ve known examples of wrongful accusation and wrongful conviction. But in such cases the victim is rarely as straightforward as his defenders would like. For instance, let me make a suggestion. You came across George Edalji for the first time in a hotel foyer. You were late for the meeting, I understand. You saw him in a particular posture, from which you deduced his innocence. Let me put this to you. George Edalji was there before you. He was expecting you. He knew you would observe him. He arranged himself accordingly.’
    Doyle did not reply to this, just stuck out his chin and pulled on his cigar. Anson was finding him a damned stubborn fellow, this Scotsman or Irishman or whatever he claimed to be.
    ‘You want him to be completely innocent, don’t you? Not just innocent, but completely innocent? In my experience, Doyle, no one is completely innocent. They may be found not guilty, but that’s different from being innocent. Almost no one’s completely innocent.’
    ‘How about Jesus Christ?’
    Oh, for God’s sake, thought Anson. And I’m not Pontius Pilate either. ‘Well, from a purely legal point of view,’ he said in a mild, after-dinner manner, ‘you could argue that Our Lord helped bring the prosecution upon Himself.’
    Now it was Doyle who felt they were straying from the matter in hand.
    ‘Then let me ask you this. What, in your opinion, really happened?’
    Anson laughed, rather too openly. ‘That I’m afraid, is a question