“Miss X, you mean?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And so you continued to run after her until you had made her care for you?”
“No, sir, that wasn’t the way at all.”
“Well then, what was the way?”
“I just met her here and there and got crazy about her.”
“I see.
But still you didn’t go and tell Miss Alden that you couldn’t care for her any longer?”
“No, sir.
Not then.”
“And why not?”
“Because I thought it would hurt her, and I didn’t want to do that.”
“Oh, I see.
You didn’t have the moral or mental courage to do it then?”
“I don’t know about the moral or mental courage,” replied Clyde, a little hurt and irritated by this description of himself, “but I felt sorry for her just the same.
She used to cry and I didn’t have the heart to tell her anything.”
“I see.
Well, let it stand that way, if you want to.
But now answer me one other thing.
That relationship between you two — what about that — after you knew that you didn’t care for her any more. Did that continue?”
“Well, no, sir, not so very long, anyhow,” replied Clyde, most nervously and shamefacedly.
He was thinking of all the people before him now — of his mother — Sondra — of all the people throughout the entire United States — who would read and so know.
And on first being shown these questions weeks and weeks before he had wanted to know of Jephson what the use of all that was. And Jephson had replied:
“Educational effect.
The quicker and harder we can shock ’em with some of the real facts of life around here, the easier it is going to be for you to get a little more sane consideration of what your problem was.
But don’t worry your head over that now.
When the time comes, just answer ’em and leave the rest to us.
We know what we’re doing.”
And so now Clyde added:
“You see, after meeting Miss X I couldn’t care for her so much that way any more, and so I tried not to go around her so much any more.
But anyhow, it wasn’t so very long after that before she got in trouble and then — well —”
“I see.
And when was that — about?”
“Along in the latter part of January last year.”
“And once that happened, then what?
Did you or did you not feel that it was your duty under the circumstances to marry her?”
“Well, no — not the way things were then — that is, if I could get her out of it, I mean.”
“And why not?
What do you mean by ‘as things were then’?”
“Well, you see, it was just as I told you.
I wasn’t caring for her any more, and since I hadn’t promised to marry her, and she knew it, I thought it would be fair enough if I helped her out of it and then told her that I didn’t care for her as I once did.”
“But couldn’t you help her out of it?”
“No, sir.
But I tried.”
“You went to that druggist who testified here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“To anybody else?”
“Yes, sir — to seven others before I could get anything at all.”
“But what you got didn’t help?”
“No, sir.”