american tragedy

Chapter 142 (3)
Chapter 325 (3)
"Well, I didn't go into the village until the sun came out, and I sat down and rested for a while when I was tired."

"did you sleep well?"

"I'm tired, I slept for a while."

"About the boat, the time of sailing, and everything about Three Mile Bay, how do you know such details? Did you know it in advance?"

"Well, everyone over there knows about the boat between Sharon and Three Mile Bay."

"Ah, is it? Is there any other reason?"

"Well, we noticed this place when we were looking for a place to get married," Clyde replied cleverly, "but we didn't notice that the train doesn't go there, only to Sharon."

"You did notice, though, that this is south of Great Berton?"

"Oh, I suppose so," Clyde replied.

"And the road west of Kenloch goes south down Great Burton all the way there?"

"Well, I didn't realize there was a road, at least a trail, when I got there, but I didn't think it was a common one."

"I see. Then when you met those three people in the woods, why did you ask them how far they were from Three Mile Bay?"

"I never asked them that," replied Clyde, which Jefferson wanted him to answer. "I asked them if they knew the way to Three Mile Bay, and how far it was, and I didn't know. Know if it's the way."

"Well, that's not how they testify here."

"Well, I don't care how people testify, anyway, that's what I asked."

"I see, I think the witnesses are all lying, and you're the only one who's honest .

"No, I'm not hungry," Clyde replied.

"You just want to leave as soon as possible, don't you? Are you afraid that those three people may go to Great Burton, and when they hear about Miss Alden, they will mention that they met you?"

"No, that's not it. I've said why I don't want to stay there."

"I see. But, you feel safer when you arrive in Sharon, and you won't miss the opportunity to eat if you are far away? The food there is good, isn't it?"

"I don't know. I had a cup of coffee and a sandwich."

"And a little bit of pie, we figured it out," said Mason, "and then you squeezed in with the station guys, like you just came from Albany, you told everybody that?"

"That's it."

"Well, take a guy who's just come back to be really innocent--don't you think it's over-cautious to hide like that, waiting in the night, and pretending to be from Albany?"

"I've explained it all."

Mason intends to humiliate Clyde again, because Roberta is deeply in love with him, but he registers three false names for Roberta in three hotels, making her become the mistress of three different men within three days.

"Why don't you live separately?"

"She doesn't want to. She wants to live with me. Besides, I don't have much money."

"Even so, why did you disrespect her there? After she died, she didn't care about her reputation, so she fled and concealed it. Is this to protect her name and reputation?"

"Your Honor," put in Belknap, "this is not a question, this is a speech."

"I retract the question," Mason shot back, "and do you admit to being a spiritual and moral coward, Griffiths, do you?"

"No, sir, I do not admit it."

"You don't admit it?"

"No, sir."

"Then if you tell a lie and swear on a lie, you're one of those spiritual and moral cowards, aren't you?"

"Correct."

"Well, if you're not a spiritual and moral coward, why would you say you should have thrown her in the lake after you said you had no intention of hitting her. You knew her parents would die for her Grieving and not saying a word to others and hiding the tripod and your clothes and slipping away like a common murderer, how do you explain that? Would you consider it murder if someone else did it, and murder An act of deliberate escape after success? Or do you think it's just a cunning act, and the man is nothing more than a spiritual and moral coward, and the girl he seduced accidentally died. This news may hinder his future, so He just tried to take refuge? Which kind?"

"Well, I didn't kill her anyway," Clyde replied.

"I ask the court to instruct witnesses not to answer," Jefferson interrupted, rising, staring first at Clyde and then at the judge. "This is pure sophistry and has nothing to do with the case."

"I agree," said the judge, "witnesses don't need to answer." After hearing this, Clyde just stared in front of him, encouraged by the unexpected help.

"Well, more," continued Mason, all the more angry and more determined not to be broken by Belknap and Jefferson, who were so on the alert and weakened his strength in every attack. "You said before you got there that you intended not to marry her if you could?"

"Yes, sir."

"You said she wanted you to marry her, but you haven't made up your mind yet?"

"Yes."

"Well, do you remember all those cookbooks and guidebooks and salt and pepper shakers and stuff she kept in her suitcase?"

"remember."

"What do you think she was doing with these things in her suitcase when she set off at Beards, to find a place to live, not to marry, but only if you saw her once in a while?"

Before Belknap protested, Clyde responded quickly.

"I can't tell what was in her mind about that."

"Is it possible, for example, that you called Beards and told her you were going to marry her—after writing threatening letters?"

"No, I didn't say that, sir."

"Haven't you been so cowardly, spiritually and morally, that you had to be compelled to do so?"

"I never said I was a spiritual and moral coward."

"But you're never going to be frightened by a girl you've seduced?"

"Well, I didn't think she should be married at the time."

"Do you think she is inferior to Miss X?"

"I don't think I should marry her if I don't love her anymore."

"Shouldn't we marry her even to save her reputation and my own character?"

"Well, I don't think we'll be happy together."

"That was before you changed your mind greatly?"

"Yes, before we got to Utiga."

"When you were still so obsessed with Miss X?"

"Yes, I love Miss So-and-so."

"In your letters that you never answered, do you remember," (Mason stepped forward and took one of the first letters in his hand to read) "these words she told you: 'I feel that everything is Is capricious, though I refrain myself from thinking about it now, since we now have our plans and you will come as promised.' 'Now that we have our plans', what the hell did she mean by that?"

"I don't know, unless it means that I am going to find her and take her somewhere temporarily."

"Not marrying her."

"I didn't say marry her."

"However, in the same letter, she wrote: 'I didn't go home directly when I came back. I decided to see my sister and brother-in-law, because even if we meet again next time, I don't know when it will be. I really don't have the slightest chance. Because I have made up my mind that I will either meet them decently or never see them again.' What do you think she means by 'decent'? It means to live in seclusion without getting married, have a child, and let you send She gets a little money and then maybe comes back and pretends to be single and innocent, or a widow, or something else? Do you think she means marrying you, at least for a while, and giving the kids a last name? She mentioned this' plan', isn't that even worse?"

"Well, maybe she finds it impossible," Clyde evaded, "but I never said I'd marry her."

"Well, well, that'll come to that later," said Mason resolutely, "but read this." He began to read the tenth letter: "'It doesn't make much difference that you came a few days earlier than originally planned, my dear. ?Even if we have to get by, I know we'll figure it out. At least for as long as you and I are together, and it may not last longer than six or eight months. You know, If you want to go at that time, I will never stop you. I can save a lot, and there is no other way, Clyde, although for you, I hope there is another way now.''Save''Eight months Didn't let you go before', what does that mean? Living in a small room and you visiting her once a week? Or have you actually agreed to go with her and marry her, as she thought in her letter?"

"I don't know, unless she thinks she can force me," replied Clyde, at which point many woodlanders, farmers, and jurors literally laughed and sneered.Clyde's inadvertent use of the word "forced" drove them into a rage.Clyde added, "I never agreed."

"Unless she can force you. Is that what you think about the matter, Griffiths?"

"Yes, sir."

"Would you like to swear at once on this as on other things?"

"Well, I've sworn to that."

At this time, Mason, Belknap, Jefferson, and Clyde all felt that the dislike and anger of most of the people present towards him at the beginning was now even more intense and surging.The sentiment filled the courtroom, but the time Mason needed was available now.During these hours, he could choose any piece of evidence from the mass of evidence in order to continue to torture Clyde, laugh at him, and make him dizzy, so he looked at the summary of his account-for his convenience, Earl Nucor Boo had fanned out the summaries for him on the table—he spoke again:

"Griffiths, you testified yesterday under the guidance of your lawyer, Mr. Jefferson (here Jefferson bowed slightly with a forced smile), and you said that in July when you started this death journey, A change of heart after Fonda and Utiga reunited with Roberta."

Before Belknap had time to protest, Clyde had already said "Yes, sir", but Belknap still changed "death travel" to "travel".

"Before you got there with her, you never liked her the way you used to, did you?"

"Not as fond of her as I was then, yes, sir."

"How long did you really like her, from when to when?"

"Well, from the first time I met her until I met Miss So-and-so."

"But you don't like it after this?"

"Well, I can't say I didn't like it at all after that, but I still have a little bit of her in my heart; I miss her a lot, I think, but it's not as good as it used to be, and I think I'm more sorry for her."

"Now, let's see, let's say, it's after December [-] of last year and April or May of this year, right?"

"I think so, roughly for a while."

"Well, during this period, from December [-]st to April or May [-]st, you were very close to her, weren't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Even if you don't love her very much."

"Well, yes, sir," Clyde hesitated, and at the mention of sexual crimes, the faces of the bumpkins twitched suddenly, and they all craned their necks.

"But on those nights, though she was alone in the room and devoted herself to you, as you testified yourself, she sat at home while you went to balls, parties, drives, etc."

"Oh, I don't always go."

"Ah, is it? But, on this point, Tracy Duble, Jell, Duble, Frederick, Sells, Frank, Harriet, Bechaut, Taylor, you also hear Are you there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, are they all lying or telling the truth?"

"Well, I think they're pretty much telling the truth."

"But they don't remember very well, do they?"

"Well, I don't go all the time. Maybe I go out two or three times a week, maybe four, but not more."

"Give it to Alden at other times?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did she say the same in this letter?" He took one from Roberta's stack, opened it, and read: "'Night after night, since that miserable Christmas night, you abandoned It's been like this almost every night since I've been, and I'm almost always alone'. Did she lie?" Mason asked viciously.Clyde, seeing that accusing Roberta of lying here would be a thorn in the side of a hornet's nest, replies feebly and shamefully, "No, she didn't lie, but I did spend some nights with her anyway. "

"However, you also heard Mrs. Gilpin and her husband testify here that from the first of December Miss Alden was almost always alone in her own room every night, and that they were sorry for her. , thought it natural to let her play with them. They tried to persuade her, but she wouldn't listen, did you hear them testify?"

"Yes, sir."

"But you still insist that you spend some time with her?"

"Yes, sir."

"But you still love Miss So-and-so and try to accompany Miss-So-and-so?"

"Yes, sir."

"And managed to get her to marry you?"

"I hope she does, yes, sir."

"But whenever you have spare time, except for another interest, you continue to have affairs with Miss Alden."

(End of this chapter)