Mystery fiction; Trials (Murder) -- Fiction; United States -- Fiction
The fourth letter is typed, dated July 5th, 1959, and signed only with a
typed capital J. You remember yesterday Mr. Lamson testified that James
Doherty himself, as well as Miss Blake, acknowledged his authorship of
this letter. It reads:
"Dear Callista:
"I meant to write to you sooner, but have been very busy, so am
afraid the time has slipped by, besides I do not know just how to
say what I ought to, except that we must relinquish the prospect we
have discussed and that you mention in your letter, as it would not
work out for the best but am afraid would have bad consequences to
all concerned. I consider myself very much to blame having given
you a wrong idea of the situation, although that certainly was not
my intention. I think all we can do is try to forget about it,
because that is what we must do, unless the situation changes some
time. I am sorry to have to say it as you may feel disappointed and
that I have let you down, as a matter of fact I feel that myself,
am afraid I may have treated you rather badly letting you take
things for granted when I ought not to have done so, although that
was not my intention, and am very sorry if it is so. I feel you are
not to blame in any way but I am, I know, and the only thing we can
do is sort of forget the whole thing and hope you can forgive me
for letting you down.
"Sincerely,
"J."
"P.S. I feel we ought not to get in touch again about this for a
while as there is nothing we can do. Please read between the lines
and don't be angry."
Since the defendant appears to find this letter amusing, I can only say
that her sense of humor has not much in common with mine.
MR. WARNER: Is the defendant on trial for changes in facial expression?
I did not know that an unhappy smile was an indictable offense.
JUDGE MANN: The comments of both counsel are out of order. Continue,
please.
MR. HUNTER: As you have already heard, members of the jury, the last
letter we have here was not mailed, but found in Miss Blake's
possession. During her interrogation by Mr. Lamson, she stated certain
reasons for not mailing it--part of the testimony which you have heard,
to which you will give whatever weight you believe it deserves. This
last letter is dated August 8th, 1959, more than a month after Miss
Blake received that letter from James Doherty. I would remind you too
that August 8th was the day after the picnic which has been mentioned
several times in the testimony. The letter reads:
"Dear Jimmy:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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