‘To defraud the insurance offices. I told him at the time that he erred by over-insuring, but it seems that he went further even than he admitted, for he put a venture of cargo of his own into the vessel and insured the goods and the freight in the Neptune. Four offices!’ he exclaimed, and he broke off, looking down with a very grave face.
‘Where is he?’ I cried.
‘In Newgate,’ he answered.
‘Oh, don’t tell me that!’ I shrieked, clasping my hands and rocking myself.
My aunt stared with a white face at her husband.
‘Now, Marian,’ said my uncle, ‘if you possess one particle of the spirit of your father, let it animate and support you now—now, and until this tragic affair is at an end. Screams and lamentations are not going to help Captain Butler. He says that he is the victim of a diabolical conspiracy. I believe it, and it will be our duty to prove it. What is there about Newgate more than there is about Millbank or the Hulks or Horsemonger Lane to horrify you?’
‘Why is he in Newgate?’ asked my aunt.
‘He was charged, yesterday, at Bow Street, and committed to take his trial at the Central Criminal Court. That’s why. There is nothing in it. Many innocent men have been locked up in Newgate.’
‘Who charges him with this crime?’ said I.
‘His mate, a man of the name of Rotch, and a carpenter, a drunken rascal, of the name of Nodder.’