Did he read it?
And Clyde having been long since provided with a Bible by a prison worker, assured her that he had and did read it.
But now she must go first to see his lawyers, next to file her dispatch, after which she would return.
But once out on the street being immediately set upon by several reporters and eagerly questioned as to the meaning of her presence here.
Did she believe in her son’s innocence?
Did she or did she not think that he had had a fair trial?
Why had she not come on before?
And Mrs. Griffiths, in her direct and earnest and motherly way, taking them into her confidence and telling how as well as why she came to be here, also why she had not come before.
But now that she was here she hoped to stay.
The Lord would provide the means for the salvation of her son, of whose innocence she was convinced.
Would they not ask God to help her?
Would they not pray for her success?
And with the several reporters not a little moved and impressed, assuring her that they would, of course, and thereafter describing her to the world at large as she was — middle-aged, homely, religious, determined, sincere and earnest and with a moving faith in the innocence of her boy.
But the Griffiths of Lycurgus, on hearing this, resenting her coming as one more blow.
And Clyde, in his cell, on reading of it later, somewhat shocked by the gross publicity now attending everything in connection with him, yet, because of his mother’s presence, resigned and after a time almost happy.
Whatever her faults or defects, after all she was his mother, wasn’t she?
And she had come to his aid.
Let the public think what it would.
Was he not in the shadow of death and she at least had not deserted him.
And with this, her suddenly manifested skill in connecting herself in this way with a Denver paper, to praise her for.
She had never done anything like this before.
And who knew but that possibly, and even in the face of her dire poverty now, she might still be able to solve this matter of a new trial for him and to save his life?
Who knew?
And yet how much and how indifferently he had sinned against her! Oh, how much.
And still here she was — his mother still anxious and tortured and yet loving and seeking to save his life by writing up his own conviction for a western paper.
No longer did the shabby coat and the outlandish hat and the broad, immobile face and somewhat stolid and crude gestures seem the racking and disturbing things they had so little time since.
She was his mother and she loved him, and believed in him and was struggling to save him.
On the other hand Belknap and Jephson on first encountering her were by no means so much impressed.
For some reason they had not anticipated so crude and unlettered and yet convinced a figure.
The wide, flat shoes.
The queer hat.
The old brown coat.
Yet somehow, after a few moments, arrested by her earnestness and faith and love for her son and her fixed, inquiring, and humanly clean and pure blue eyes in which dwelt immaterial conviction and sacrifice with no shadow of turning.
Did they personally think her son innocent?
She must know that first.
Or did they secretly believe that he was guilty?
She had been so tortured by all the contradictory evidence.
God had laid a heavy cross upon her and hers.
Nevertheless, Blessed be His name!
And both, seeing and feeling her great concern, were quick to assure her that they were convinced of Clyde’s innocence.
If he were executed for this alleged crime it would be a travesty on justice.
Yet both, now that they saw her, troubled as to the source of any further funds, her method of getting here, which she now explained, indicating that she had nothing.
And an appeal sure to cost not less than two thousand.
And Mrs. Griffiths, after an hour in their presence, in which they made clear to her the basic cost of an appeal — covering briefs to be prepared, arguments, trips to be made — asserting repeatedly that she did not quite see how she was to do.
Then suddenly, and to them somewhat inconsequentially, yet movingly and dramatically, exclaiming:
“The Lord will not desert me.
I know it.
He has declared himself unto me.
It was His voice there in Denver that directed me to that paper.
And now that I am here, I will trust Him and He will guide me.”