Ollie was present, although Joe had not expected to see her, he knew not
why. She was sitting in the first row of benches, so near him he could
have reached over and taken her hand. He bowed to her; she gave him a
sickly smile, which looked on her pale face like a dim breaking of sun
through wintry clouds.
To the great surprise and greater disappointment of the public in
attendance upon the trial, Sam Lucas announced, when court opened, that
the state would not proceed with the cross-examination of the defendant.
Hammer rose with that and stated that the defense rested. He had no more
witnesses to call.
Hammer wore a hopeful look over his features that morning, a reflection,
perhaps, of his client's unworried attitude. He had not been successful
in his attempt to interview Alice Price, although he had visited her
home the night before. Colonel Price had received him with the air of
one who stoops to contact with an inferior, and assured him that he was
delegated by Miss Price--which was true--to tell Mr. Hammer that she
knew nothing favorable to his client's cause; that her caution in his
moment of stress had nothing behind it but the unaccountable impulse of
a young and sympathetic girl.
Hammer accepted that explanation with a large corner of reservation in
his mind. He knew that she had visited the jail, and it was his opinion
that his client had taken her behind the door of his confidence, which
he had closed to his attorney. Alice Price knew something, she must know
something, Hammer said. On that belief he based his intention of a
motion for a new trial in case of conviction. He would advance the
contention that new evidence had been discovered; he would then get
Alice Price into a corner by herself somewhere and make her tell all she
knew.
That was why Hammer smiled and felt quite easy, and turned over in his
mind the moving speech that he had prepared for the jury. He was glad of
the opportunity which that great gathering presented. It was a plowed
field waiting the grain of Hammer's future prosperity.
Hammer kept turning his eyes toward Alice Price, where she sat in the
middle of the court-room beside the colonel. He had marked an air of
uneasiness, a paleness as of suppressed anxiety in the girl's face. Now
and then he saw her look toward the door where Captain Taylor stood
guard, in his G. A. R. uniform today, as if it were a gala occasion and
demanded decorations.
For whom could she be straining and watching? Hammer wondered. Ah, no
doubt about it, that girl knew a great deal more of the inner-working of
his client's mind than he did. But she couldn't keep her secret. He'd
get it out of her after filing his motion for a new trial--already he
was looking ahead to conviction, feeling the weakness of his case--and
very likely turn the sensation of a generation loose in Shelbyville when
he called her to the witness-stand. That was the manner of Hammer's
speculations as he watched her turning her eyes toward the door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account