american tragedy

Chapter 143 (4)
Chapter 325 (4)
"Well . , at least not intentionally so bad. Isn’t it the same for others—these young people in the Lycurgus social circle? Or, what they say is true.

"Well, don't you think your learned lawyers have chosen a light word for you by calling you a spiritual and moral coward?" Mason sneered.At this time, in the back row of the narrow court, an angry forest resident solemnly demanded revenge. He said: "Why don't you kill this bloody ghost son?" The orderly people were caught in, and all those who were not seated were driven out at the same time, and this order was also carried out.The disruptors were caught and ordered to stand trial the next morning.After that, the whole court was silent.Mason continued:

"Griffiths, you said you had no intention of marrying Roberta when you left Lycurgos, unless there was no other way?"

"Yes, sir, was that what I intended?"

"So you're sure you'll be back?"

"I think so, sir."

"Then why do you put everything in the room in boxes and lock it up?"

"Well... well... this is," Clyde hesitated. The attack was too fast and had nothing to do with what happened just now, which caught him off guard. "Well, you know I'm not absolutely sure. I don't Know whether you should go, whether you want to or not."

"I see. Well, if you unexpectedly make up your mind over there, as you later..." (Here, Mason smirks at him, as if to say: You think anyone will believe it You?) "You're not going to have time to come back and pack your things at your leisure before you go, are you?"

"Well, no, sir, not that."

"Well, what's the reason for that?"

"Well, you know," said Clyde, hesitating again because he hadn't thought of this beforehand, and he was not quick enough to give a reasonable and appropriate answer.Everyone, especially Belknap and Jefferson, discovered this.And then he went on to say, "Well, you know, if I had to go, even for a short period, it was initially thought that I might go for a short period, so I thought I might have to rush what I needed."

"I see. You can be sure it wasn't the fear of the police finding out who Cleves Golden or Carl Graham were, and you might have to get out of here?"

"Not that, sir."

"So you didn't tell Mrs. Peyton that you weren't renting that room, did you?"

"No, sir."

"When you testified that day, what did you say? Not enough money to go there and take Miss Alden away for any temporary marriage, even six months?"

"Yes, sir."

"How much money did you have when you set out on Lycurgus?"

"About fifty dollars."

"'Roughly' fifty dollars? You don't know exactly how much you have?"

"I have fifty dollars, yes, sir."

"How much did you spend a day in Utiga, Grass Lake, and then Sharon?"

"I think it cost about 30 yuan on the way."

"Do you know the exact number?"

"Not exactly, no sir, but about twenty dollars or so."

"Well, let's see if we can figure it out," Mason went on.At this time, Clyde once again felt that there was another trap waiting for him, and he became uneasy again, because he still had the money Sandra gave him, and part of it had already been spent. "How much do you pay for a ticket from Fonda to Utiga?"

"A dollar and a quarter."

"How much did you and Roberta pay for a hotel in Utiga?"

"Four dollars."

"Of course, I have to eat dinner too. How much will it cost for the next day's meal?"

"About three dollars."

"Did it cost so much to get to Utiga?" Mason glanced at a piece of paper next to him. There were some numbers and attachments on this paper, but Clyde didn't notice it.

"Yes, sir."

"How much did you pay for that straw hat in Utiga afterward?"

"Oh, no, I forgot that," said Clyde uneasily. "It's two dollars, yes, sir." He felt he had to be more careful.

"And your car fare to Grass Lake, it's five dollars, not bad."

"Yes, sir."

"You rented a boat later, how much did it cost?"

"Triangle five an hour."

"How long have you rented it?"

"Three hours."

"That's one dollar and five cents."

"Yes, sir."

"And how much do hotels charge for a night? Five dollars, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"You bought a lunch snack to take to the lake, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir. That's about sixty cents."

"How much does it take to get to Great Berton?"

"It's a dollar for the train to Ken Lodge, and a dollar for two people to go to Great Biton by car."

"I think you know the figures. Of course you do. You don't have a lot of money, which is very important. How much did it cost from Three Mile Bay to Sharon?"

"Seventy-five cents by boat."

"Have you calculated accurately?"

"No, sir."

"Well, do you want to do the math?"

"Well, do you know how many there are?"

"Yes, I know. It was twenty-four dollars and sixty-five cents. You said you spent twenty dollars. But here it is four dollars and sixty-five cents. What do you say?"

"Well, I guess I'm not quite right," said Clyde.These figures were calculated so accurately that he was very angry.

But Mason asked slyly in a low voice: "Ah, Griffiths, I forgot, how much did you rent the boat at Great Berton?" He wanted to hear Clyde's answer.Because he has spent a lot of effort to dig this trap.

"Ah, ah... ah... that is," Clyde hesitated again.Because as far as he recalls now, he didn't even ask how much the charter would cost in Great Berton, and he thought at that time that neither he nor Roberta would come back.And yet, here and now, the question was posed to him for the first time in its present form.As for Mason, he realized that he was caught now, and pressed to ask. "Huh?" Clyde answered him, but it was just a random guess: "Ah, [-] per hour, the same as Grass Lake, the boatman said so."

However, he spoke too quickly.What's more, he didn't know that the watchman was also behind and wanted to come here to testify that he didn't ask how much the charter was at all.Mason continued:

"Oh, that's it, isn't it? The boatman told you, didn't he?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, now do you remember that you never asked the watchman at all? It wasn't thirty-five cents an hour, it was fifty cents. But, of course, you wouldn't understand that. Because you were in such a hurry to get to the lake Go up, and you don't want to come back and pay the money anyway. So you didn't even ask, got it, got it? Now do you remember?" At this point, Mason took the money from the watchman. He took out the bill that came and shook it vigorously in front of Clyde. "It's fifty cents per hour," he repeated, "and the price is higher than Caohu. But what I want to know is, you are so clear about other numbers just now, why are you not clear about this number? You Have you ever wondered how much it will cost to take her aboard from noon to night?" The blow was so severe that Clyde immediately panicked.He frantically wandered through his mind, swallowed, and looked at the floor uneasily, too embarrassed to look at Jefferson.On this point, Jefferson did not let him practice.

"Well," exclaimed Mason, "is there any explanation for that? Isn't it strange to you that you remember all the other expenses but not this one?" The members all became nervous again and leaned forward one after another.Clyde, noticing that they were paying attention, wanting to hear, and probably very suspicious, replied:

"Well, I don't know why on earth I forgot that."

"Of course you don't know," Mason said with a snort. "A person who wants to kill a girl on a desolate lake will certainly think about many things. It's not surprising if you forget some things. Bay, but you didn’t forget to ask the ship’s accountant about the fare to Chalon?”

"Well, I don't remember if I asked or not."

"Well, he does remember, and he testified about it here. You specifically asked about the rent at Grass Lake. You asked about the rent of the boat over there, and you even asked about the bus fare to Big Patton, but I didn't think to ask about the rent of the boat in Big Patton, what a pity! Otherwise you wouldn't be so disturbed by it, would you?" Mason glanced at the jurors, as if to say: You understand!

"I guess, just because I didn't think of it," Clyde repeated.

"I believe this is a very satisfactory explanation," Mason continued sarcastically, and immediately asked again: "On July 13th at Casino, there is [-] yuan and [-] cents for lunch. I don't think you will happen to Forget it too, this happened the day after Roberta's death, do you remember that?" Mason was very dramatic, forced, and spoke quickly, without giving him time to think or breathe.

Clyde almost jumped up when he heard this sentence, and this question made him flustered, because he didn't know that others had also investigated the lunch. "And do you remember?" Mason said, "More than 80 dollars were found on you when you were arrested?"

"Yes, I remember now."

He had forgotten about the 80 yuan, but now he didn't say anything because he didn't know how to put it.

"So what do you say?" Mason demanded viciously, "If you only had fifty dollars with you when you left Lycurgus, and you had more than eighty dollars when you were arrested, you spent another twenty-four dollars and sixty-five cents, plus The lunch is 80 yuan, so where will the rest of the money come from?"

"Well, I can't answer that question yet," Clyde replied sullenly, because he felt he had been cornered and wronged.It was Sandra's money, and no one in the world could compel him to tell where it came from.

"Why can't you answer that question," growled Mason, "where exactly do you think you are? And what do you think we're doing here? Answer or not answer as you please? You're on trial for your own life and death , don't forget this! You are not allowed to ignore the law despite all the lies you have told. You are now in front of these twelve jurors who are waiting to know, now you say where did you get this money? "

"Borrowed from a friend."

"Well, say the name, what friend?"

"I don't want to say."

"Oh, you don't want to! You lied about how much money you had with you when you set off at Lycurgus, that's obvious, and don't forget it's a lie under oath! It's A sacred oath that you honor, is it so?"

"No, it's not," Clyde finally said.This blow made him realize the strength of it, "I borrowed this money after I went to NO.12 lake."

"Borrowed from whom?"

"Well, I can't say."

"That sentence doesn't make any sense." Mason retorted.

After that, Clyde seemed to cower, and his voice dropped.Every time Mason ordered him to speak up, to turn his head so the jury could see his face, he did so, but he grew increasingly disgusted with the man.This man wants to get all his secrets out one by one! Let him mention Sandra, but Sandra is still his sweetheart, and he will never reveal anything that will involve her.And so he stared obstinately at the jury.That's when Mason picked up a few photos.

"Remember, these?" he asked Clyde, showing him a picture of Roberta, blurred and watery, and pictures of Clyde and others, not one of Sandra.These were taken on his first visit to the Cranstons.In addition, there are four photos taken in Xionghu Lake later, one of which is that he is holding a banjo and stroking the strings with the back of his hand. "Do you remember where it was taken?" Mason asked, showing him Roberta's picture first.

"I remember."

"Where?"

"When we were on the south bank of Great Patton that day." He also knew that there were these photos in the camera, and he had told Belknap and Jefferson, but he couldn't help being surprised that they were able to print them out.

"Griffiths," Mason went on, "before your lawyer knew we'd recovered it, he sent men out there fishing, fishing, fishing, for this camera you swore you didn't have." Fish it up, didn't they tell you that?"

"Never talked about it," Clyde replied.

"Well, that's a shame, otherwise I could have saved them a lot of trouble. Well, were these pictures found in this camera, or did you take them after you changed your mind, remember?"

"I remember." Clyde replied sullenly.

"Well, this was taken before the two of you went on board for the last time, before you were going to tell her those words for the last time, before she was killed at that time, and as you testify, it was when she was very sad. of."

"No, that was the case the day before." Clyde retorted.

"Ah, I see, um, these pictures look happier than when you said she was depressed."

"Well, but she's not as depressed as she was the day before." Clyde said hastily, because this was the truth he still remembered.

"I see. But anyway, let's look at the other pictures. Where were these three taken?"

"I think it was taken at No. 12 Lake Cranston House."

(End of this chapter)