got off up there and got settled she kept saying to me that if
I would only marry her then—that she would not want to
stay married long—that she was so sick and worried and
felt so bad—that all she wanted to do was to get through
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and give the baby a name, and after that she would go
away and let me go my way, too.”
“And then?”
“Well, and then—then we went out on the lake——”
“Which lake, Clyde?”
“Why, Grass Lake. We went out for a row after we got
there.”
“Right away? In the afternoon?”
“Yes, sir. She wanted to go. And then while we were out
there rowing around——” (He paused.)
“She got to crying again, and she seemed so much up
against it and looked so sick and so worried that I decided
that after all she was right and I was wrong—that it wouldn’t
be right, on account of the baby and all, not to marry her,
and so I thought I had better do it.”
“I see. A change of heart. And did you tell her that then and
there?”
“No, sir.”
“And why not? Weren’t you satisfied with the trouble you
had caused her so far?”
“Yes, sir. But you see just as I was going to talk to her at
that time I got to thinking of all the things I had been
thinking before I came up.”
“What, for instance?”
“Why, Miss X and my life in Lycurgus, and what we’d be up
against in case we did go away this way.”
“Yes.”
An American Tragedy
1026
“And … well … and then I couldn’t just tell her then—not
that day, anyhow.”
“Well, when did you tell her then?”
“Well, I told her not to cry any more—that I thought maybe it
would be all right if she gave me twenty-four hours more to
think things all out—that maybe we’d be able to settle on
something.”
“And then?”
“Well, then she said after a while that she didn’t care for
Grass Lake. She wished we would go away from there.”
“She did?”
“Yes. And then we got out the maps again and I asked a
fellow at the hotel there if he knew about the lakes up there.
And he said of all the lakes around there Big Bittern was
the most beautiful. I had seen it once, and I told Roberta
about it and what the man said, and then she asked why
didn’t we go there.”
“And is that why you went there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“No other reason?”
“No, sir—none—except that it was back, or south, and we
were going that way anyhow.”
“I see. And that was Thursday, July eighth?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, now, Clyde, as you have seen, it has been charged
here that you took Miss Alden to and out on that lake with
the sole and premeditated intent of killing her—murdering
her—finding some unobserved and quiet spot and then first
striking her with your camera, or an oar, or club, or stone
An American Tragedy
1027
maybe, and then drowning her. Now, what have you to say
to that? Is that true, or isn’t it?”
“No, sir! It’s not true!” returned Clyde, clearly and
emphatically. “I never went there of my own accord in the
first place, and I only went there because she didn’t like
Grass Lake.” And here, because he had been sinking down
in his chair, he pulled himself up and looked at the jury and
the audience with what measure of strength and conviction
he could summon—as previously he had been told to do. At
the same time he added: “And I wanted to please her in any
way that I could so that she might be a little more cheerful.”
“Were you still as sorry for her on this Thursday as you had
been the day before?”
“Yes, sir—more, I think.”
“And had you definitely made up your mind by then as to
what you wanted to do?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, and just what was that?”
“Well, I had decided to play as fair as I could. I had been
thinking about it all night, and I realized how badly she
would feel and I too if I didn’t do the right thing by her—
because she had said three or four times that if I didn’t she
would kill herself. And I had made up my mind that morning
that whatever else happened that day, I was going to
straighten the whole thing out.”
“This was at Grass Lake. You were still in the hotel on
Thursday morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you were going to tell her just what?”
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1028
“Well, that I knew that I hadn’t treated her quite right and
that I was sorry—besides, that her offer was fair enough,
and that if after what I was going to tell her she still wanted
me, I would go away with her and marry her. But that I had
to tell her first the real reason for my changing as I had—
that I had been and still was in love with another girl and
that I couldn’t help it—that probably whether I married her
or not——”
“Miss Alden you mean?”
“Yes, sir—that I would always go on loving this other girl,
because I just couldn’t get her out of my mind. But just the
same, if that didn’t make any difference to her, that I would
marry her even if I couldn’t love her any more as I once did.
That was all.”
“But what about Miss X?”
“Well, I had thought about her too, but I thought she was
better off and could stand it easier. Besides, I thought
perhaps Roberta would let me go and we could just go on
being friends and I would help her all I could.”
“Had you decided just where you would marry her?”
“No, sir. But I knew there were plenty of towns below Big
Bittern and Grass Lake.”
“But were you going to do that without one single word to
Miss X beforehand?”
“Well, no, sir—not exactly. I figured that if Roberta wouldn’t
let me off but didn’t mind my leaving her for a few days, I
would go down to where Miss X lived and tell her, and then
come back. But if she objected to that, why then I was
going to write Miss X a letter and explain how it was and
then go on and get married to Roberta.”
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1029
“I see. But, Clyde, among other bits of testimony here, there
was that letter found in Miss Alden’s coat pocket—the one
written on Grass Lake Inn stationery and addressed to her
mother, in which she told her that she was about to be
married. Had you already told her up there at Grass Lake
that morning that you were going to marry her for sure?”
“No, sir. Not exactly, but I did say on getting up that day that
it was the deciding day for us and that she was going to be
able to decide for herself whether she wanted me to marry
her or not.”
“Oh, I see. So that’s it,” smiled Jephson, as though greatly
relieved. (And Mason and Newcomb and Burleigh and
State Senator Redmond all listening with the profoundest
attention, now exclaimed, sotto voce and almost in unison:
“Of all the bunk!”)
“Well, now we come to the trip itself. You have heard the
testimony here and the dark motive and plotting that has
been attributed to every move in connection with it. Now I
want you to tell it in your own way. It has been testified here
that you took both bags—yours and hers—up there with
you but that you left hers at Gun Lodge when you got there
and took your own out on the lake in that boat with you.
Now just why did you do that? Please speak so that all of
the jurymen can hear you.”
“Well, the reason for that was,” and here once more his
throat became so dry that he could scarcely speak, “we
didn’t know whether we could get any lunch at Big Bittern,
so we decided to take some things along with us from
Grass Lake. Her bag was packed full of things, but there
was room in mine. Besides, it had my camera with the
tripod outside. So I decided to leave hers and take mine.”
“You decided?”
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“Well, I asked her what she thought and she said she
thought that was best.”
“Where was it you asked her that?”
“On the train coming down.”
“And did you know then that you were coming back to Gun
Lodge after going out on the lake?”
“Yes, sir, I did. We had to. There was no other road. They
told us that at Grass Lake.”
“And in riding over to Big Bittern—do you recall the