WHERE THE WEAK MUST BE STRONG
The trial was called for early June, and Baptiste reached the city a
week or ten days before the time set. He had become very friendly with
the Negro lawyer who was conducting his case. He also secured a Gregory
lawyer, the one who had conducted the contest case. When he arrived in
the city, the lawyer advised that, inasmuch as they had a spare bedroom
at his home, and that it would be imperative for them to be close to
discuss various phases of the prosecution, he could have the room if he
liked. So he accepted it.
It so happened that the lawyer's home was located in the same block on
Vernon Avenue as was the McCarthys, and on the same side of the street.
Moreover, it had been built at the same time as had that of the
McCarthys, and was very much like in appearance the one in which they
were living.
One afternoon a few days before the trial, while lingering at the bar of
the Keystone Hotel, Baptiste was approached by Glavis, who invited him
to a table nearby, where they were very much alone. He ordered the
drinks, and when they were served he began:
"Now, Baptiste, it seems we ought to be able to get together on this
case without going into court."
"Yes?" replied Baptiste, regarding the other noncommittally.
"Yes, I think we could, and should. I think you and Orlean ought to be
able to console your differences without such an extreme."
"You _think_ so?"
"Why, I do. Orlean has always--ah--rather loved you, Baptiste, and I
think you two could make up."
"But this is not between Orlean and me, Glavis. You seem to
misunderstand. It is between N. Justine McCarthy and me."
"Of course, but it is over Orlean. You have sued father for this sum, a
sum you know he cannot pay in the event you should secure judgment. So
there would be nothing left for you but to remand him to jail, which
seems to be your desire."
"Possibly so." The other was still noncommittal.
"Then why not you and I get together on this proposition before the
trial is called?"
"I don't see as I can oblige you, Glavis. There comes a time when
compromise is impossible, only vindication can suffice. And it's
vindication that I want now and, regret to advise, am determined to
have."
"That seems rather severe, Baptiste."
"Why so?"
"Well, you see, I understand that the old man kinda--er, gave you the
worst of it, but you ought to forget some things. Look at it from a
broad viewpoint. See how expensive it is going to be, and all that."
"I considered all that before I went into it, Glavis," replied Baptiste
calmly.
"Well, now, Baptiste, I want to stop this thing before it goes to court.
If you had of kinda flattered the old man a little in the beginning as I
did, all would have been well."
"Why should I have done so when I didn't feel to?"
"Oh, Baptiste, you are _so_ severe!"
"When a man has suffered as I have, it is time to be severe, my friend.
For your own benefit, I will say that I do not trust your father-in-law.
I do not love him and never have. If it wasn't because I wish to observe
and subserve to the law of the land, I would have killed him long ago.
_Even when I think of it now_, my bitterness is so great at times that I
must repel the inclination to strike him down for the coward he is. So
if that's all, we will call the meeting to an end," so saying he arose,
strode toward the bar and ordered drinks for both. He drank his with a
gulp when served, and turned and left the saloon.
Glavis proceeded to his lawyer, and advised him of his inability to
dissuade the plaintiff.
"Couldn't dissuade him, eh?"
"Couldn't do a thing!"
"That's too bad. It might be to your advantage if you could settle this
case out of court. When will your father-in-law be in?"
"I'm looking for him here in a day or so, now."
"M-m." The attorney was thoughtful. "This is rather an unusual case," he
resumed, "and I have been studying the complaint of the plaintiff. The
old man, it seems to me, committed some very grave blunders."
"You think so?"
"Quite obvious. And while it will be difficult for the plaintiff to
secure a judgment in such a case; it is, however, apparent that the
sympathy of the court will be against your father-in-law in the
proceedings."
Glavis was uncomfortable.
"Now I take notice here that the plaintiff states that his wife drew a
check for two hundred dollars unknown to her husband, and that the
Reverend had it cashed. That may be regular, but it will not help her
father's case. Again, he complains that her father influenced the girl
to sell a quarter section of land for less than one-tenth what it cost
the plaintiff. Of course these are technicalities that while they cannot
justify a judgment will win the sympathy of the jury. What the plaintiff
must show, however, is that his father-in-law actually was the direct
cause of and did alienate the affections of his wife. Such a case is not
without parallel, but it is uncommon. A father alienating the affections
of his daughter.
"Now where is your sister-in-law?"
"At home."
"Wish you'd bring her down. This is a complicated case, and we've got to
conduct it with directness. She can be of great assistance in
extricating her father from this predicament."
"All right, sir. When shall I bring her?"
"Oh, any time that is convenient. Tomorrow morning at nine will perhaps
be the best. And, now, say! Have you any idea who the plaintiff is going
to use as witnesses?"
"Why, I think he plans to bring his grandmother from what I can hear,
for one."
"His grandmother? What does she know about it?"
"Well, she was in the house when my father-in-law went on the visit and
the girl came away with him."
"I see. I'd like to know just what passed and what she heard and will
testify to. I wonder whether she will testify that she overheard your
father-in-law abusing this Baptiste to his wife?"
"I really don't know."
"Who else?"
"I heard something about him going to bring a doctor down, and also a
lawyer."
"The doctor, eh?" He shook his head then a little dubiously. "This
physician attended the girl while she was confined?"
"I think so."
"M-m. I see here where we have recorded that your father-in-law claims
that the girl was neglected; didn't have proper medical attention. What
about this? Have you any knowledge as to how many visits this doctor
made to the bedside of this girl when she was sick? Any knowledge of
what kind of bill was rendered by him?"
"I hear that his bill amounted to something like two hundred dollars."
"Two hundred! Great Scott! And for a dead baby! Gee! We'll have to keep
away from neglect as an excuse. That's a fact. No jury will believe such
a statement if that fellow shows where he's paid such a bill as that!"
Glavis shifted uneasily. He was seeing another side of the controversy.
Before he had only seen one side of it, and that side was as the
Reverend had had him see it.
"You send or bring the girl down here tomorrow. It will be up to _her_
to keep her father out of jail, that's all. It will be up to _her_ to
convince the court that she never loved this man, that all he did for
her was by persuasion, and that her father only followed her
instructions. In short, it's almost directly up to her; for the
plaintiff has certainly got the goods on her dad if he can prove that
she ever loved him."
Glavis was much disturbed when he went home. For the first time he was
able to appreciate the full circumstances. It would be up to Orlean to
save her father, and that he could see. He would take her to the lawyer,
and have her carefully drilled. The success for them depended on her; on
her falsifying to the court, for it could not be otherwise. For her to
testify that she did not love--and had never loved Jean Baptiste, he
knew would be a deliberate falsehood. It worried him, but he had to go
through with it.
He accompanied her to the lawyer's office as agreed, and there she was
made to understand the gravity of the situation, that everything
depended on her statements, _and her statements only_.
Her father arrived the following day, and at the attorney's office in
company with Orlean and Glavis, he was impressed with the nature of the
defense. All were finally drilled in their course of action.
That night Orlean faced the most serious period in her life. She was a
weak woman and her weakness had been the cause of it all. The trial was
approaching--and the result was _up to her_. Her father's freedom, his
continuance in the pulpit, his vindication of the action he had taken
depended upon _her_, and _her strength_.
And that strength--for on that day she would _have_ to be
strong,--_depended upon a lie_.