Now, what have you to say to that?
Is that true, or isn’t it?”
“No, sir!
It’s not true!” returned Clyde, clearly and emphatically.
“I never went there of my own accord in the first place, and I only went there because she didn’t like Grass Lake.”
And here, because he had been sinking down in his chair, he pulled himself up and looked at the jury and the audience with what measure of strength and conviction he could summon — as previously he had been told to do. At the same time he added:
“And I wanted to please her in any way that I could so that she might be a little more cheerful.”
“Were you still as sorry for her on this Thursday as you had been the day before?”
“Yes, sir — more, I think.”
“And had you definitely made up your mind by then as to what you wanted to do?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, and just what was that?”
“Well, I had decided to play as fair as I could.
I had been thinking about it all night, and I realized how badly she would feel and I too if I didn’t do the right thing by her — because she had said three or four times that if I didn’t she would kill herself.
And I had made up my mind that morning that whatever else happened that day, I was going to straighten the whole thing out.”
“This was at Grass Lake.
You were still in the hotel on Thursday morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you were going to tell her just what?”
“Well, that I knew that I hadn’t treated her quite right and that I was sorry — besides, that her offer was fair enough, and that if after what I was going to tell her she still wanted me, I would go away with her and marry her.
But that I had to tell her first the real reason for my changing as I had — that I had been and still was in love with another girl and that I couldn’t help it — that probably whether I married her or not —”
“Miss Alden you mean?”
“Yes, sir — that I would always go on loving this other girl, because I just couldn’t get her out of my mind.
But just the same, if that didn’t make any difference to her, that I would marry her even if I couldn’t love her any more as I once did.
That was all.”
“But what about Miss X?”
“Well, I had thought about her too, but I thought she was better off and could stand it easier.
Besides, I thought perhaps Roberta would let me go and we could just go on being friends and I would help her all I could.”
“Had you decided just where you would marry her?”
“No, sir.
But I knew there were plenty of towns below Big Bittern and Grass Lake.”
“But were you going to do that without one single word to Miss X beforehand?”
“Well, no, sir — not exactly.
I figured that if Roberta wouldn’t let me off but didn’t mind my leaving her for a few days, I would go down to where Miss X lived and tell her, and then come back.
But if she objected to that, why then I was going to write Miss X a letter and explain how it was and then go on and get married to Roberta.”
“I see.
But, Clyde, among other bits of testimony here, there was that letter found in Miss Alden’s coat pocket — the one written on Grass Lake Inn stationery and addressed to her mother, in which she told her that she was about to be married.
Had you already told her up there at Grass Lake that morning that you were going to marry her for sure?”
“No, sir.
Not exactly, but I did say on getting up that day that it was the deciding day for us and that she was going to be able to decide for herself whether she wanted me to marry her or not.”
“Oh, I see.
So that’s it,” smiled Jephson, as though greatly relieved. (And Mason and Newcomb and Burleigh and State Senator Redmond all listening with the profoundest attention, now exclaimed, sotto voce and almost in unison:
“Of all the bunk!”)
“Well, now we come to the trip itself.
You have heard the testimony here and the dark motive and plotting that has been attributed to every move in connection with it.
Now I want you to tell it in your own way.
It has been testified here that you took both bags — yours and hers — up there with you but that you left hers at Gun Lodge when you got there and took your own out on the lake in that boat with you.
Now just why did you do that?
Please speak so that all of the jurymen can hear you.”
“Well, the reason for that was,” and here once more his throat became so dry that he could scarcely speak, “we didn’t know whether we could get any lunch at Big Bittern, so we decided to take some things along with us from Grass Lake.