The telegram, worded in the spirit just described, was forthwith
despatched care of Belknap and Jephson, who immediately counseled Clyde
what to reply--that all was well with him; that he had the best of
advice and would need no financial aid. Also that until his lawyers
advised it, it would be best if no member of the family troubled
to appear, since everything that could possibly be done to aid him
was already being done. At the same time they wrote Mrs. Griffiths,
assuring her of their interest in Clyde and advising her to let matters
rest as they were for the present.
Despite the fact that the Griffiths were thus restrained from
appearing in the east, neither Belknap nor Jephson were averse to some
news of the existence, whereabouts, faith and sympathy of Clyde's
most immediate relatives creeping into the newspapers, since the
latter were so persistent in referring to his isolation. And in this
connection they were aided by the fact that his mother's telegram on
being received in Bridgeburg was at once read by individuals who were
particularly interested in the case and by them whispered to the public
and the press, with the result that in Denver the family was at once
sought out and interviewed. And shortly after, there was circulated in
all the papers east and west a more or less complete account of the
present state of Clyde's family, the nature of the mission conducted
by them, as well as their narrow and highly individualistic religious
beliefs and actions, even the statement that often in his early youth
Clyde had been taken into the streets to sing and pray--a revelation
which shocked Lycurgus and Twelfth Lake society about as much as it did
him.
At the same time, Mrs. Griffiths, being an honest woman and
whole-heartedly sincere in her faith and in the good of her work, did
not hesitate to relate to reporter after reporter who called, all the
details of the missionary work of her husband and herself in Denver and
elsewhere. Also that neither Clyde nor any of the other children had
ever enjoyed the opportunities that come to most. However, her boy,
whatever the present charge might be, was not innately bad, and she
could not believe that he was guilty of any such crime. It was all
an unfortunate and accidental combination of circumstances which he
would explain at the trial. However, whatever foolish thing he might
have done, it was all to be attributed to an unfortunate accident
which broke up the mission work in Kansas City a few years before and
compelled the removal of the family from there to Denver, leaving Clyde
to make his way alone. And it was because of advice from her that he
had written her husband's rich brother in Lycurgus, which led to his
going there--a series of statements which caused Clyde in his cell to
tingle with a kind of prideful misery and resentment and forced him to
write his mother and complain. Why need she always talk so much about
the past and the work that she and his father were connected with, when
she knew that he had never liked it and resented going on the streets?
Many people didn't see it as she and his father did, particularly his
uncle and cousin and all those rich people he had come to know, and who
were able to make their way in so different and much more brilliant
fashion. And now, as he said to himself, Sondra would most certainly
read this--all that he had hoped to conceal.
Yet even in the face of all this, because of so much sincerity and
force in his mother, he could not help but think of her with affection
and respect, and because of her sure and unfailing love for him, with
emotion. For in answer to his letter she wrote that she was sorry if
she had hurt his feelings or injured him in any way. But must not the
truth be shown always? The ways of God were for the best and surely
no harm could spring from service in His cause. He must not ask her
to lie. But if he said the word, she would so gladly attempt to raise
the necessary money and come to his aid--sit in his cell and plan
with him--holding his hands--but as Clyde so well knew and thought
at this time and which caused him to decide that she must not come
yet--demanding of him the truth--with those clear, steady blue eyes of
hers looking into his own. He could not stand that now.
For, frowning directly before him, like a huge and basalt headland
above a troubled and angry sea, was the trial itself, with all that it
implied--the fierce assault of Mason which he could only confront, for
the most part, with the lies framed for him by Jephson and Belknap.
For, although he was constantly seeking to salve his conscience with
the thought that at the last moment he had not had the courage to
strike Roberta, nevertheless this other story was so terribly difficult
for him to present and defend--a fact which both Belknap and Jephson
realized and which caused the latter to appear most frequently at
Clyde's cell door with the greeting: "Well, how's tricks to-day?"
The peculiarly rusty and disheveled and indifferently tailored
character of Jephson's suits! The worn and disarranged effect of his
dark brown soft hat, pulled low over his eyes! His long, bony, knotty
hands, suggesting somehow an enormous tensile strength. And the hard,
small blue eyes filled with a shrewd, determined cunning and courage,
with which he was seeking to inoculate Clyde, and which somehow did
inoculate him!
"Any more preachers around to-day? Any more country girls or Mason's
boys?" For during this time, because of the enormous interest aroused
by the pitiable death of Roberta, as well as the evidence of her rich
and beautiful rival, Clyde was being visited by every type of shallow
crime-or-sex-curious country bumpkin lawyer, doctor, merchant, yokel
evangelist or minister, all friends or acquaintances of one or another
of the officials of the city, and who, standing before his cell door
betimes, and at the most unexpected moments, and after surveying him
with curious, or resentful, or horrified eyes, asked such questions
as: "Do you pray, brother? Do you get right down on your knees and
pray?" (Clyde was reminded of his mother and father at such times.)
Had he made his peace with God? Did he actually deny that he had
killed Roberta Alden? In the case of three country girls: "Would you
mind telling us the name of the girl you are supposed to be in love
with, and where she is now? We won't tell any one. Will she appear at
the trial?" Questions which Clyde could do no more than ignore, or if
not, answer as equivocally or evasively or indifferently as possible.
For although he was inclined to resent them, still was he not being
constantly instructed by both Belknap and Jephson that for the good of
his own cause he must try to appear genial and civil and optimistic?
Then there came also newspaper men, or women, accompanied by artists or
photographers, to interview and make studies of him. But with these,
for the most part and on the advice of Belknap and Jephson he refused
to communicate or said only what he was told to say.
"You can talk all you want," suggested Jephson, genially, "so long as
you don't say anything. And the stiff upper lip, you know. And the
smile that won't come off, see? Not failing to go over that list, are
you?" (He had provided Clyde with a long list of possible questions
which no doubt would be asked him on the stand and which he was to
answer according to answers typewritten beneath them, or to suggest
something better. They all related to the trip to Big Bittern, his
reason for the extra hat, his change of heart--why, when, where.)
"That's your litany, you know." And then he might light a cigarette
without ever offering one to Clyde, since for the sake of a reputation
for sobriety he was not to smoke here.
And for a time, after each visit, Clyde finding himself believing that
he could and would do exactly as Jephson had said--walk briskly and
smartly into court--bear up against every one, every eye, even that
of Mason himself--forget that he was afraid of him, even when on the
witness stand--forget all the terror of those many facts in Mason's
possession, which he was to explain with this list of answers--forget
Roberta and her last cry, and all the heartache and misery that went
with the loss of Sondra and her bright world.
Yet, with the night having once more fallen, or the day dragging on
with only the lean and bearded Kraut or the sly and evasive Sissell,
or both, hanging about, or coming to the door to say, "Howdy!" or to
discuss something that had occurred in town, or to play chess, or
checkers, Clyde growing more and more moody and deciding, maybe, that
there was no real hope for him after all. For how alone he was, except
for his attorneys and mother and brother and sisters! Never a word from
Sondra, of course. For along with her recovery to some extent from her
original shock and horror, she was now thinking somewhat differently of
him--that after all it was for love of her, perhaps, that he had slain
Roberta and made himself the pariah and victim that he now was. Yet,
because of the immense prejudice and horror expressed by the world,
she was by no means able to think of venturing to send him a word. Was
he not a murderer? And in addition, that miserable western family of
his, pictured as street preachers, and he, too,--or as a singing and
praying boy from a mission! Yet occasionally returning in thought, and
this quite in spite of herself, to his eager, unreasoning and seemingly
consuming enthusiasm for her. (How deeply he must have cared to venture
upon so deadly a deed!) And hence wondering whether at some time, once
this case was less violently before the public eye, it might not be
possible to communicate with him in some guarded and unsigned way,
just to let him know, perhaps, that because of his great love for her
she desired him to know that he was not entirely forgotten. Yet as
instantly deciding, _no_, no--her parents--if they should learn--or
guess--or the public, or her one-time associates. Not now, oh, not
now at least. Maybe later if he were set free--or--or--convicted--she
couldn't tell. Yet suffering heart-aches for the most part--as much as
she detested and abhorred the horrible crime by which he had sought to
win her.
And in the interim, Clyde in his cell, walking to and fro, or looking
out on the dull square through the heavily barred windows, or reading
and re-reading the newspapers, or nervously turning the pages of
magazines or books furnished by his counsel, or playing chess or
checkers, or eating his meals, which, by special arrangement on the
part of Belknap and Jephson (made at the request of his uncle),
consisted of better dishes than were usually furnished to the ordinary
prisoner.
Yet with the iterated and reiterated thought, based on the seemingly
irreparable and irreconcilable loss of Sondra, as to whether it was
possible for him to go on with this--make this, as he at times saw it,
almost useless fight.
At times, in the middle of the night or just before dawn, with all the
prison silent--dreams--a ghastly picture of all that he most feared
and that dispelled every trace of courage and drove him instantly
to his feet, his heart pounding wildly, his eyes strained, a cold
damp upon his face and hands. That chair, somewhere in the State
penitentiary. He had read of it--how men died in it. And then he would
walk up and down, thinking how, how, in case it did not come about as
Jephson felt so sure that it would--in case he was convicted and a new
trial refused--then, well--then, might one be able to break out of
such a jail as this, maybe, and run away? These old brick walls. How
thick were they? But was it possible that with a hammer or a stone,
or something that some one might bring him--his brother Frank, or
his sister Julia, or Ratterer, or Hegglund--if only he could get in
communication with some one of them and get him or her to bring him
something of the kind----If only he could get a saw, to saw those bars!
And then run, run, as he should have in those woods up there that time!
But how? And whither?