american tragedy

Chapter 102 (2)
Chapter 34 (2)
"If there was a God," he exclaimed passionately, "he would never let such a rascal go unpunished! Oh, no, he never will! 'I have not seen it,'" he suddenly quoted, "The righteous is forsaken, and his offspring has not seen begging." Meanwhile, an impatience for immediate action dominated him, and he went on: "I must tell my wife at once. Ah, yes, I must go." .No, no, you wait here. I must tell her first, I must tell her alone. I will come back, I will come back. You wait here. I also know that the news will send her but she must know about it. Maybe she can tell us who we are, and we can catch him before he goes away. But, oh, my poor daughter, my poor dear Roberta, My good, kind and loyal daughter!"

He was incoherent, his eyes and face were frantically hurt, and as he turned, his thin body staggered like a robot toward the room.He knew that Mrs. Alden was in the house preparing some special dishes for tomorrow Sunday.But once there, he stopped in the passage, not having the courage to go any further.All the pathetic expression that cowardly human beings feel in the presence of the cruel, inexplicable, indifferent force of "life" is revealed in him.

Mrs. Alden turned her head, and when she saw his tense expression, her own hands dropped limply.The meaning in his eyes immediately dispelled the simple, tired, but peaceful thoughts in his heart.

"Titus, my God, what's going on?"

He raised his hands upwards, opened his mouth half-opened, his eyelids were strangely and strangely closed, and then opened wide again in an instant, and called out the name "Roberta"!

"What's the matter with her? What's the matter with her? Titus, what's the matter with her?"

Not a sound.Only the mouth, eyes and hands are still moving frantically.And then! "Die! She was... drowned!" And then he collapsed on a bench outside the door.Mrs. Alden's eyes froze for a moment, she didn't quite understand at first, then she understood, and she fell to the floor without saying a word.Titus looked at her and nodded, as if to say: "Yes, it will. The pain of thinking of this dreadful thing is temporarily avoided." Then he walked slowly out of the door, Come to the house.Orville Mason was sitting on the ruined stone steps ahead, speculating in the setting sun how the lonely, useless farmer would tell his wife about the disaster.He wished it were otherwise, and though such a case would be in his own interest, he would have preferred that it had not happened.

As soon as he saw Titus Alden he jumped up and ran into the house.There was Mrs. Alden, almost as delicate and silent as her daughter.He hugged her in his strong arms, walked through the dining room, and came to the sitting room.There was a battered chaise longue and she was put on it.He pressed her pulse and hurried to find water.On the one hand, I want to find someone, son, daughter, neighbor, no matter which one.But no one saw it.He hurried back with water and sprinkled some on her face.

"Is there any doctor around here?" he said to Titus, who was kneeling beside his wife.

"Biltz... has... Dr. Crane."

"Have you... anyone around here with a telephone?"

"Mr. Wilcox," he pointed in the direction of the Wilcox house.Roberta had recently used his phone.

"Look at her, and I'll come."

He ran to the door at once, wanting to see Dr. Crane or some other doctor.After a while he returned with Mr. Wilcox and his daughter.Then, wait, wait, wait until a group of neighbors arrive.Later, Dr. Crane also came.He discussed with him: Can I talk to Mrs. Alden today about the mysterious case that he came here specially today.Dr. Crane was impressed by Mr. Mason's majestic, judge-like expression, and thought it might be best to talk.

But Mason and the Aldens immediately felt that this alone certainly did not mean that the nephew of a great man had murdered Roberta.Money! Status! To be honest, facing such a case, Mason also became hesitant.According to him, the social status of such a man and such a girl seems to be too different.Still, it's possible.Why not? Since she was, as Hayter said, very pretty, wouldn't a young man of her stature be more likely than any other man to make occasional and surreptitious courtesies to a girl like Roberta? Wasn't she Did his uncle work in a factory? And wasn't she poor? Besides, as Fred Hayter had pointed out, she had lived with him before she was married.Isn't that the old rich and lecherous young man's way of dealing with poor girls? He himself has struggled with impermanent chance and those who make their fortunes early, and the above idea suits him well, the dirty rich Those rich people who stare at others! But her parents still insist on believing in her innocence and character.

Further questioning of Mrs. Alden revealed only the fact that she had never seen this young man, nor had she even heard of any other young man by name.The only information she and her husband added was that during the month of her last visit Roberta had been ill, had been depressed at home, and had been resting for a considerable period of time.Also, she wrote a lot of letters, which she handed over to the village postman or dropped into the mailbox at the crossroads below.Neither Mr. Alden nor Mrs. Alden knew to whom the letters were addressed.Still, Mason thought, the country postman would probably know.Also, during this period of time, she has been busy making clothes, making at least four pieces.Also, when she lived at home, she received several phone calls during the second half of the time. Titus heard Wilcox say that it was a Mr. Baker who called.Also, she set out with only the luggage she had brought back, her little case and her suitcase.She checked the suitcases at the train station, but Titus didn't know where they were checked in before they were checked in to Lycurgus.

Mason paid great attention to the name Baker, and the following names popped into his mind: "Clifford Golden! Carl Graham! Clyde Griffiths!" The initials of these names were Also, these names have similar syllable changes.He immediately hesitated.It would be strange if this Clyde Griffiths had nothing to do with the crime! He immediately felt tempted to go straight to the country postman and question him.

But Titus Alden was important, not just as a witness to Roberta's body and the contents of the suitcase she left at Kenlochy Station, but also as a persuasion The country postman spoke boldly.He asked him to get dressed now and go with him, promising him that he would come back tomorrow.

He told Mrs. Alden not to tell anyone else about it, went to the post office and questioned the country postman, found the man, and after talking to him, stood in front of the district attorney like an electric zombie Titus said: Roberta not only handed him a few letters during her recent stay here, but at least a dozen, maybe fifteen, and all of them addressed to Lycurgus The man, whose name was—let him think about it—Clyde Griffiths, was the name, delivered by the post office there.The District Attorney immediately went with him to the office of the local notary to sign the affidavit.Then he called his office and learned that Roberta's body had been brought to Bridgeburg, and he drove there as fast as he could.Once there, he joined Titus, Burton Burleigh, Haight, and Earl Newcomb to the body.As Titus, nearly maddened, stared at the body of his child, the District Attorney decided in his mind: first, she was indeed Roberta Alden; As the registration on the grass lake shows, she is the kind of slutty woman who easily has sex with others.He decided he didn't think so.It was a case of treacherous, vicious seduction, murder.Ah, the rascal! And still at large.The political implications of the affair were almost overwhelmed by anger and antipathy towards the rich.

The body was seen at ten o'clock in the evening, in the great hall of the Lutz Funeral Home.Kneeling beside his daughter, Titus Alden seized her cold little hands with emotion, pressed them to his lips, and stared furiously at the tender face framed by her long brown hair.On such occasions, it can be said that it is impossible to make non-emotional conclusions, even legal ones.Everyone present was in tears.

Titus Alden added tragic air to the scene.Just as the people from the Lutz funeral home and their three friends from the auto dealership next door, Fret Beek, a representative of the Bridgeburg Republic, and Sam, the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Democrat, were there. Daxon, looking over or through the crowd outside the side door of the Lutz Funeral Home to the garage, Titus stood up suddenly and rushed frantically at Mason, shouting Shouting: "I beg you, bring out the rascal who did this, Mr. District Attorney. How much this pure and good girl suffered. She was murdered, that's all. Except the murderer No one would take her to a lake and beat her. Anyone can see that she was hurt." He gestured towards his dead child, "I have no money to sue Such a rascal, but I can work, and I can sell my fields."

His voice was also hoarse.He almost fell when he turned to walk towards Roberta again.Orville Mason was moved by the father's desperation for revenge, and he stepped forward and said loudly: "Come on, Mr. Alden, if it can be proved in the future that your little girl was murdered, it will be the same as the present one." If all the evidence agrees, then, Mr. Alden, as prosecutor of this county, I can assure you faithfully and responsibly that I myself will spare no time, money or strength to bring this rascal to justice. , to the Court! If the Cadalaki County Court disagrees with me, you can safely hand him over to a jury organized by our local court, and you don't need to send your own The fields are sold."

To the astonishment of his audience, Mr. Mason delivered with emotion and sincerity his most powerful and eloquent oratory.

The contractor for the county coroner's office—Etter, one of the owners of the Lutz Undertaker—also exclaimed excitedly, "Very well, Orville, we need a District Attorney like you most." Fred Beek also called out: "Do it hard, Mr. Mason. Until then, we all support you." And Fred Height and his assistant were also impressed by Mason's dramatic performance. Moved by his moving heroic look, he squeezed over, and Haight took his friend's hand, and Earle called out: "We stand by you too, Mr. Mason. We work together. And, remember The suitcase she left at Kenlochy Station is now in your office. I gave it to Burton just two hours ago."

"That's right. I almost forgot about it," Mason exclaimed.The tone at this time was very calm and objective, and the eloquence and passion just now had already harmonized with an unprecedented sound of praise in his heart.To this day, he has never received such praise.

(End of this chapter)