american tragedy

Chapter 117

Chapter 313
The next morning, at the mansion on Wickie Avenue, Samuel Griffiths was listening to Smeary's report on his meeting and conversation with Clyde and Mason, and Gilbert was beside him.Smillie reported in detail everything he had witnessed.Gilbert Griffiths was extremely shocked by these circumstances, and immediately flew into a rage, and shouted before he finished listening:

"Humph! You little beast! Remember what I told you, Papa? I never agreed to bring him here before!"

Samuel Griffiths didn't say a word when he mentioned the stupid thing he had failed with his good intentions, and then gave Gilbert a meaningful look, which meant: what should we discuss now, it was my good intentions Is it a stupid thing to do, or the current emergency? And Gilbert is thinking at this time: This murderer! And that damn Sandra Finchley, who is self-righteous and wants to help him make a trick Deal with me, but ruin yourself.It's so stupid, it's really self-inflicted, and I think I'm unlucky.However, his father, they are all troubled enough, this stain is impossible to wash away, it is likely that he, his fiancée, parents, Bella, Myra have all been stained, and their reputation in Lycurgus Or maybe it's all gone.How sad! Sentenced to death, this kind of thing happened in their family!

Samuel Griffiths was thinking about the situation after Clyde came to Lycurgos.

First let him work in the basement and no one cares about him.For eight months, he was allowed to figure out a solution by himself.Maybe this is one of the factors that cause crime.Afterwards, he was sent to manage those female workers, making mistakes even more.He saw it at last, though he wanted no forgiveness for Clyde's behavior at all.Clyde can be so dark and vile-indulging in lust, cruelly seducing the girl, then trying to get rid of her, and now he is in prison for the lovely and charming Sandra.And according to Smerry, he couldn't explain these shocking circumstances, except that he didn't mean to harm her, didn't even think about it at all, and said that the hat was blown off by the wind! How ridiculous! To those two The top hat, the lost clothes, not going to save the girl, his explanations are unconvincing.He also couldn't tell what the scars on his face were.All this means that he killed someone.

"My God, wouldn't he say something nicer? The idiot!" exclaimed Gilbert.Smillie's answer was that that was all he could get him to say, and Mr. Mason insisted that he had killed someone.

"It's terrible!" Samuel broke in. "I don't understand. I still don't understand. How is it possible that people from our family would do such a thing!" He stood up and walked up and down. Pacing up and down, very painful and frightened.His family, Gilbert and his future, Bella and her dreams! And Sandra and Finchray!

He clenched his fists, frowned, and pursed his lips, looking at Smerry.And the infallible wit seemed helpless at the moment: whenever Griffiths looked at him, he shook his head despondently.

Samuel inquired in detail, trying to find new information beyond the materials provided by Smillie.It took about an hour and a half to go back and forth like this, and finally old Griffiths said: "It seems that things are indeed very bad, but according to what you said, I don't think I can jump to conclusions without further understanding. There may be something else." I don't understand, according to you, he still refuses to talk about many situations, and there are some trivial and trivial reasons-if he doesn't even save him, then he is really cruel. Has Brockhart returned from Boston?"

"Here he is," Gilbert said. "He called Mr. Smeary."

"Well then, tell him to meet me here at two o'clock in the afternoon. Now I'm too tired to talk any more. Smerry, tell him what you told me, and come with him at two o'clock. Here. Maybe he has something constructive to say, although I have no idea. One thing must be said, I hope he did not kill, I will take the proper way to find out, if not, I will I will defend him as best I can. But never more than that. Whoever commits this crime, I don't want to rescue anyone, never! Not even if he is my nephew! I am not such a person! No matter what No trouble, no embarrassment, I will try my best to help him, but he must be innocent, even if there is only a little reason to believe it. However, if he really committed a murder, I will not help him, it is his own fault. I will definitely Not paying a dime for a man who commits such a crime... not even if he is my nephew!"

After speaking, he turned and walked towards the back stairs, his steps were slow and heavy.Smiri stared at his back with wide-eyed eyes, and couldn't help being awed.How resolute and courageous! His attitude was too impartial in such an emergency.Gilbert felt the same way, as he sat there, keeping his eyes on his father.He is really a good man. Even if he is hurt and painful, he will not be as narrow-minded and revengeful as himself.

Now turn to Mr. Darla Brockhart.He was a tall counselor, well-dressed and well fed, with one eye half-hidden by a drooping lid.With a bulging belly, it gives the impression that even if he is physically unwell, he is mentally like a balloon floating in the air, and as long as there are some legal provisions that blow gently, it will wander with the wind.It was obvious, if nothing else, that he thought Clyde was guilty of murder.Leaving this aside, after listening to Smillie recount all the dubious and well-documented circumstances, he still finds it difficult to present a satisfactory defense, unless there is something as yet undiscovered that would be of great importance to Clay. Favorable facts.The two hats, the suitcase, his escape, and the letters.He wanted very much to read the letters for himself.Judging from the current situation, public opinion must condemn Clyde together and express sympathy for the dead girl, which is further strengthened by her poverty and her class.In such a remote forested area as the seat of the county government, Bribourg, it would be almost impossible to win a favorable judgment, for although Clyde was poor, he was the nephew of a rich man in Lecco. Gus had always had a high status, which necessarily made the country people dislike him.It would be better to ask to be transferred to another court to reduce the impact of this prejudice.

At the same time, a person who is familiar with interrogating criminals should be sent to interrogate Clyde.Since he was going to defend him, whether he could be saved depended on whether he could answer the questions truthfully—based on this alone, he should also tell the truth.Before sending this person, I dare not hold any hope.There was a Mr. Katschman in his office who was a very able man, and he was the most suitable man for the job, and his report was the only way to make sound judgments.However, in his opinion, some aspects of this type of case can be carefully considered and made a fuss.In fact, the Griffiths and his sons are also very clear that in Utiga, New York and Albany, many lawyers are particularly good at making fuss about the obscure parts of criminal law (thinking of this, he naturally thinks of the Carnarvon brothers in Albany) , they are not very decent but very competent).Any of them could defend a case no matter what it looked like at first, as long as it was well paid.They can easily use methods such as trials, litigants to withdraw charges, and appeals to postpone the final judgment and finally avoid the death penalty.As long as the powerful parents have this intention, it can be done.On the other hand, it is undeniable that this puzzling case will certainly make a splash, but is Samuel Griffiths willing to do this? It is likely that some people will say that he used money to trample on the law, which of course is not fair , public opinion is always biased against the rich in such cases.In the eyes of the public, however, it was reasonable for the Griffiths to defend Clyde, whether it was necessary or not.

So it was entirely up to the Griffiths to do what they did next: whether to hire the two eminent criminal lawyers he was thinking of, a lesser one, or not at all.Of course they could afford to hire a competent and disciplined lawyer for Clyde, and they could also hire a Bridgeburg lawyer to try to minimize the injustice in the newspapers.

After three hours of discussion, Samuel finally decided that Mr. Brockhart should send Mr. Catchman to Bridgeburg immediately to talk to Clyde, and no matter what the result was, he would have a famous and capable lawyer in the local area. Choose the one who best represents Clyde to defend him.Let's do that for now.But he just wanted to find out the real situation of the case from Clyde, and it was delusional to ask him to spend money or support other people to operate secretly.Concentrate on clarifying the truth, and the defense is limited to what is actually beneficial to Clyde.In a word, in order to clear him of his charges, he will never play tricks and obstruct the justice of justice.

(End of this chapter)