Next of Kin by John Boyne Read Free Book Online

actually.’
    â€˜Ha!’ said Roderick.
    â€˜The first is that, no matter what this young man has supposedly done—’
    â€˜There’s no supposedly about it,’ said Bentley, growing angry now. ‘He’s been convicted. We live with a jury system and when a fellow’s convicted—’
    â€˜Whatever this young man has done,’ she said, interrupting him, not wishing to get involved in a semantics debate. ‘I think it would be a very great disgrace for the nation for a cousin of the monarch, a third cousin,’ she added before he could say it, ‘for a third cousin of the monarch to be sentenced to death. I mean, what does that say about our society? The boy went to Eton for heaven’s sake. And I imagine the king would be very grateful to a judge who recognized that fact and let the boy off.’
    â€˜I’m saying nothing,’ said Roderick. ‘Are you finished now?’
    â€˜No, I have one other thing to add,’ she said, lowering her voice now. ‘This boy, this Henry Domson, what age is he again?’
    â€˜Twenty-three,’ said Roderick, who could have recited any fact about the boy’s life without a moment’s hesitation after so many months spent learning about him.
    â€˜Twenty-three years old,’ said Jane, shaking her head sadly. ‘Just a child. The same age as Gareth. Now imagine if the situation was reversed, would you want your son to meet such a fate?’
    â€˜That would never happen,’ said Bentley. ‘As I told you earlier, Gareth may be a lot of things but he would never do the kind of things that Domson has done.’
    â€˜You stepped in for him once before,’ said Jane. ‘Don’t you remember?’
    He threw her a look; it was an incident he preferred to forget.
    â€˜You put your ethics aside on that occasion to save him from expulsion, don’t you recall?’
    â€˜Of course I do,’ said Roderick. ‘But that was a schoolboy stunt. It’s not the same thing at all.’
    â€˜It was a violent act.’
    â€˜It was a prank gone wrong.’
    â€˜Well you’re a father, Roderick, just remember that. And this boy is just a boy.’
    â€˜He’s twenty-three years old!’ he cried in protest. ‘He’s hardly a boy.’
    â€˜Well I’ve said all I’m going to say on the subject,’ said Jane, as the Old Bailey appeared before them. ‘I’ll leave it to your conscience. I think you know what the right thing to do is.’
    â€˜I believe I do,’ sniffed Roderick as the car pulled up and the newspapermen, a fresh pride, rushed towards them again. ‘Oh bloody hell. There’s reporters everywhere. Just keep your head down, hold my hand, and don’t speak to anyone until we’re inside the court, do you understand?’
    An hour from now, he thought to himself, this will all be over and life can return to normal. The judge stepped into the melee and fought his way through to the steps beyond and the comparative peace and safety of his beloved courtroom.
    7
    â€˜THAT EULOGY YOU GAVE …’ said Stella Montignac, sitting in an armchair in the corner of her cousin’s room while tossing a tennis ball between her palms. ‘Well I never thought you had such poetry inside you.’
    â€˜That surprises me,’ said Montignac, seated at the desk. ‘I’m not made of steel, you know.’
    â€˜I know that,’ replied Stella quickly. ‘I didn’t mean…’ She trailed off and shook her head, sighing a little. ‘Don’t let’s fight,’ she said finally. ‘Not today.’
    â€˜I’m not,’ said Montignac quietly. He looked across at Stella and was a little surprised to see how much trouble she had put into her appearance for the funeral. She wasn’t normally given to elaborate outfits or a surfeit of make-up but she had put in an extra effort for