MYERS. If my friend had not abandoned his customary patience, and had waited for one more question, your lordship would have been spared this further interruption.
(SIR WILFRID resumes his seat.)
(He picks up a document.) Mrs. Heilger, is this a certificate of a marriage between yourself and Otto Gerthe Heilger on the eighteenth of April, nineteen forty-six, in Leipzig?
(The USHER rises, takes the certificate from MYERS and takes it to ROMAINE.)
ROMAINE. It is.
JUDGE. I should like to see that certificate.
(The USHER gives the certificate to the CLERK, who hands it to the JUDGE.)
It will be exhibit number four, I think.
MYERS. I believe it will be, my lord.
JUDGE. (After examining the document.) I think, Sir Wilfrid, this witness is competent to give evidence. (He hands the certificate to the CLERK.)
(The CLERK gives the certificate to the USHER, who hands it to MAYHEW. The USHER then crosses and resumes his seat. MAYHEW shows the certificate to SIR WILFRID.)
MYERS. In any event, Mrs. Heilger, are you willing to give evidence against the man you have been calling your husband?
ROMAINE. I’m quite willing.
(LEONARD rises, followed by the WARDER.)
LEONARD. Romaine! What are you doing here?—what are you saying?
JUDGE. I must have silence. As your counsel will tell you, Vole, you will very shortly have an opportunity of speaking in your own defence.
(LEONARD and the WARDER resume their seats.)
MYERS. (To ROMAINE.) Will you tell me in your own words what happened on the evening of October the fourteenth.
ROMAINE. I was at home all the evening.
MYERS. And Leonard Vole?
ROMAINE. Leonard went out at half past seven.
MYERS. When did he return?
ROMAINE. At ten minutes past ten.
(LEONARD rises, followed by the WARDER.)
LEONARD. That’s not true. You know it’s not true. It was about twenty-five past nine when I came home.
(MAYHEW rises, turns to LEONARD and whispers to him to be quiet.)
Who’s been making you say this? I don’t understand. (He shrinks back and puts his hands to his face. Half whispering.) I—I don’t understand. (He resumes his seat.)
(MAYHEW and the WARDER sit.)
MYERS. Leonard Vole returned, you say, at ten minutes past ten? And what happened next?
ROMAINE. He was breathing hard, very excited. He threw off his coat and examined the sleeves. Then he told me to wash the cuffs. They had blood on them.
MYERS. Did he speak about the blood?
ROMAINE. He said, “Damnit, there’s blood on them.”
MYERS. What did you say?
ROMAINE. I said, “What have you done?”
MYERS. What did the prisoner say to that?
ROMAINE. He said, “I’ve killed her.”
LEONARD. (Rising; frenzied.) It’s not true, I tell you. It’s not true.
(The WARDER rises and restrains LEONARD.)
JUDGE. Please control yourself.
LEONARD. Not a word of this is true. (He resumes his seat.)
(The WARDER remains standing.)
JUDGE. (To ROMAINE) You know what you’re saying, Mrs. Heilger?
ROMAINE. I am to speak the truth, am I not?
MYERS. The prisoner said, “I have killed her.” Did you know to whom he referred?
ROMAINE. Yes, I knew. It was the old woman he had been going to see so often.
MYERS. What happened next?
ROMAINE. He told me that I was to say he had been at home with me all that evening, especially he said I was to say he was at home at half past nine. I said to him, “Do the police know you’ve killed her?” And he said, “No, they will think it’s a burglary. But anyway, remember I was at home with you at half past nine.”
MYERS. And you were subsequently interrogated by the police?
ROMAINE. Yes.
MYERS. Did they ask you if Leonard Vole was at home with you at half past nine?
ROMAINE. Yes.
MYERS. What did you answer to that?
ROMAINE. I said that he was.
MYERS. But you have changed your story now. Why?
ROMAINE. (With sudden passion.) Because it is murder. I cannot go on lying to save him. I am grateful to him, yes. He married me and brought me to this country. What he has asked me to do always I have done it because I was grateful.
MYERS. Because you loved him?
ROMAINE. No, I never loved him.
LEONARD. Romaine!
ROMAINE. I never loved him.
MYERS. You were grateful to the prisoner. He brought you to this country. He asked you to give him an alibi and at first you consented, but later you felt that what he had asked you to do was wrong?
ROMAINE. Yes, that is it exactly.
MYERS. Why did you feel it was wrong?
ROMAINE. When it is murder. I cannot come into Court and lie and say that he was there with me at the time it was done. I cannot do it. I cannot do it.
MYERS. So what did you do?
ROMAINE. I did not know what to do. I do not know your country and I am afraid of the police. So I write a letter to my ambassador, and I say that I do not wish to tell any more lies. I wish to speak the truth.
MYERS. That is the truth—that Leonard Vole returned that night at ten minutes past ten. That he had blood on the sleeves of his coat, that he said to you, “I have killed her.” That is the truth before God?
ROMAINE. That is the truth.
(MYERS resumes his seat.)
SIR WILFRID. (Rising) When the prisoner went through this form of marriage with you, was he aware that your first husband was still alive?
ROMAINE. No.
SIR WILFRID. He acted in good faith?
ROMAINE. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. And you were very grateful to him?
ROMAINE. I was grateful to him, yes.
SIR WILFRID. You’ve shown your gratitude by coming here and testifying against him.
ROMAINE. I have to speak the truth.
SIR WILFRID. (Savagely.) Is it the truth?
ROMAINE. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. I suggest to you that on the night of October the fourteenth Leonard Vole was at home with you at nine-thirty, the time that the murder was committed. I suggest to you that this whole story of yours is a wicked fabrication, that you have for some reason a grudge against the prisoner, and that this is your way of expressing it.
ROMAINE. No.
SIR WILFRID. You realize that you are on oath?
ROMAINE. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. I warn you, Mrs. Heilger, that if you care nothing for the prisoner, be careful on your own account. The penalty for perjury is heavy.
MYERS. (Rising and interposing) Really, my lord. I don’t know whether these theatrical outbursts are for the benefit of the Jury, but I do most respectfully submit that there is nothing to suggest that this witness has spoken anything but the truth.
JUDGE. Mr. Myers. This is a capital charge, and within the bounds of reason I would like the defence to have every latitude. Yes, Sir Wilfrid.
(MYERS resumes his seat.)
SIR WILFRID. Now then. You have said—that there was blood on both cuffs?
ROMAINE. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. Both cuffs?
ROMAINE. I have told you, that is what Leonard said.
SIR WILFRID. No, Mrs. Heilger, you said, “He told me to wash the cuffs. They had blood on them.”
JUDGE. That is precisely my note, Sir Wilfrid.
SIR WILFRID. Thank you, my lord. (To ROMAINE.) What you were saying is that you had washed both cuffs.
MYERS. (Rising) It is my friend’s turn to be inaccurate now, my lord. Nowhere has this witness said she washed both cuffs, or indeed that she washed even one. (He sits.)
SIR WILFRID. My friend is right. Well, Mrs. Heilger, did you wash the sleeves?
ROMAINE. I remember now. It w
as only one sleeve that I washed.
SIR WILFRID. Thank you. Perhaps your memory as to other parts of your story is equally untrustworthy. I think your original story to the police was that the blood on the jacket came from a cut caused while carving ham?
ROMAINE. I said so, yes. But it was not true.
SIR WILFRID. Why did you lie?
ROMAINE. I said what Leonard told me to say.
SIR WILFRID. Even going so far as to produce the actual knife with which he was cutting the ham?
ROMAINE. When Leonard found he had blood on him, he cut himself to make it seem the blood was his.
LEONARD. (Rising) I never did.
SIR WILFRID. (Silencing LEONARD) Please, please.
(LEONARD resumes his seat.)
(To ROMAINE.) So you admit that your original story to the police was all lies? You seem to be a very good liar.
ROMAINE. Leonard told me what to say.
SIR WILFRID. The question is whether you were lying then or whether you are lying now. If you were really appalled at murder having been committed, you could have told the truth to the police when they first questioned you.
ROMAINE. I was afraid of Leonard.
SIR WILFRID. (Gesturing towards the woeful figure of LEONARD) You were afraid of Leonard Vole—afraid of the man whose heart and spirit you’ve just broken. I think the Jury will know which of you to believe. (He sits.)
MYERS. (Rising) Romaine Heilger. I ask you once more, is the evidence you have given the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
ROMAINE. It is.
MYERS. My lord, that is the case for the prosecution. (He sits.)
(ROMAINE stands down and crosses to the door up L. The POLICEMAN opens the door.)
LEONARD. (As ROMAINE passes him.) Romaine!
USHER. (Rising) Silence!
(ROMAINE exits up L. The POLICEMAN closes the door. The USHER resumes his seat.)
JUDGE. Sir Wilfrid.
SIR WILFRID. (Rising) My lord, members of the Jury, I will not submit to you, as I might, that there is no case for the prisoner to answer. There is a case. A case of very strong circumstantial evidence. You have heard the police and other expert witnesses. They have given fair, impartial evidence as is their duty. Against them I have nothing to say. On the other hand, you have heard Janet MacKenzie and the woman who calls herself Romaine Vole. Can you believe that their testimony is not warped? Janet MacKenzie—cut out of her rich mistress’s will because her position was usurped, quite unwittingly, by this unfortunate boy. (He pauses.) Romaine Vole—Heilger—whatever she calls herself, who trapped him into marriage, whilst concealing from him the fact that she was married already. That woman owes him more than she can ever repay. She used him to save her from political persecution. But she admits no love for him. He has served his purpose. I will ask you to be very careful how you believe her testimony, the testimony of a woman who, for all we know, has been brought up to believe the pernicious doctrine that lying is a weapon to be used to serve one’s own ends. Members of the Jury, I call the prisoner. Leonard Vole.
(The USHER rises and crosses to the witness box. LEONARD rises, crosses and goes into the witness box. The WARDER follows LEONARD and stands behind him. The USHER picks up the Bible, hands it to LEONARD and holds up the oath card.)
LEONARD. I swear by Almighty God that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. (He puts the Bible on the ledge of the witness box.)
(The USHER replaces the oath card on the ledge of the witness box and sits R. of the table.)
SIR WILFRID. Now, Mr. Vole, we have heard of your friendship with Miss Emily French. Now I want you to tell us how often you visited her.
LEONARD. Frequently.
SIR WILFRID. Why was that?
LEONARD. Well, she was awfully nice to me and I got fond of her. She was like my Aunt Betsy.
SIR WILFRID. That was an aunt who brought you up?
LEONARD. Yes. She was a dear. Miss French reminded me of her.
SIR WILFRID. You’ve heard Janet MacKenzie say Miss French thought you were a single man, and that there was some question of marrying you. Is there any truth in this?
LEONARD. Of course not. It’s an absurd idea.
SIR WILFRID. Miss French knew that you were married?
LEONARD. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. So there was no question of marriage between you?
LEONARD. Of course not. I’ve told you, she treated me as though she was an indulgent aunt. Almost like a mother.
SIR WILFRID. And in return you did everything for her that you could.
LEONARD. (Simply.) I was very fond of her.
SIR WILFRID. Will you tell the Jury in your own words exactly what happened on the night of October the fourteenth?
LEONARD. Well, I’d come across a kind of a cat brush—a new thing in that line—and I thought it would please her. So I took it along that evening. I’d nothing else to do.
SIR WILFRID. What time was that?
LEONARD. Just before eight I got there. I gave her the cat brush. She was pleased. We tried it out on one of the cats and it was a success. Then we played a game of Double Demon—Miss French was very fond of Double Demon—and after that I left.
SIR WILFRID. Yes, but did you not . . .
JUDGE. Sir Wilfrid, I don’t understand this piece of evidence at all. What is a cat brush?
LEONARD. It’s a brush for brushing cats.
JUDGE. Oh!
LEONARD. A sort of brush and comb combined. Miss French kept cats—eight of them she had, and the house smelt a bit . . .
SIR WILFRID. Yes, yes.
LEONARD. I thought the brush might be useful.
SIR WILFRID. Did you see Janet MacKenzie?
LEONARD. No. Miss French let me in herself.
SIR WILFRID. Did you know Janet MacKenzie was out?
LEONARD. Well, I didn’t think about it.
SIR WILFRID. At what time did you leave?
LEONARD. Just before nine. I walked home.
SIR WILFRID. How long did that take you?
LEONARD. Oh, I should say about twenty minutes to half an hour.
SIR WILFRID. So that you reached home . . . ?
LEONARD. I reached home at twenty-five minutes past nine.
SIR WILFRID. And your wife—I will call her your wife—was at home then?
LEONARD. Yes, of course she was. I—I think she must have gone mad. I . . .
SIR WILFRID. Never mind that now. Just go on with your story. Did you wash your coat when you got in?
LEONARD. No, of course I didn’t.
SIR WILFRID. Who did wash your coat?
LEONARD. Romaine did, the next morning. She said it had got blood on it from a cut on my wrist.
SIR WILFRID. A cut on your wrist?
LEONARD. Yes. Here. (He holds out his arm and shows his wrist.) You can still see the mark.
SIR WILFRID. When was the first you heard of the murder?
LEONARD. I read about it in the evening paper the next day.
SIR WILFRID. And what did you feel?
LEONARD. I was stunned. I could hardly believe it. I was very upset too. The papers said it was a burglary. I never dreamed of anything else.
SIR WILFRID. And what happened next?
LEONARD. I read that the police were anxious to interview me, so of course I went along to the police station.
SIR WILFRID. You went along to the police station and made a statement?
LEONARD. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. You were not nervous? Reluctant to do so?
LEONARD. No, of course not. I wanted to help in any way possible.
SIR WILFRID. Did you ever receive any money from Miss French?
LEONARD. No.
SIR WILFRID. Were you aware that she had made a will in your favour?
LEONARD. She said she was ringing up her lawyers and going to make a new will. I asked her if she often made new wills and she said, “From time to time.” br />
SIR WILFRID. Did you know what the terms of this new will were to be?
LEONARD. I swear I didn’t.
SIR WILFRID. Had she ever suggested to you that she might leave you anything at all in her will?
LEONARD. No.
SIR WILFRID. You have heard the evidence that your wife—or the woman whom you considered as your wife—has given in Court.
LEONARD. Yes—I heard. I can’t understand—I . . .
SIR WILFRID. (Checking him) I realize, Mr. Vole, that you are very upset, but I want to ask you to put aside all emotion and to answer the question plainly and simply. Was what that witness said true or untrue?
LEONARD. No, of course it wasn’t true.
SIR WILFRID. You arrived home at nine-twenty-five that night, and had supper with your wife?
LEONARD. Yes.
SIR WILFRID. Did you go out again?
LEONARD. No.
SIR WILFRID. Are you right or left handed?
LEONARD. Right handed.
SIR WILFRID. I’m going to ask you just one more question, Mr. Vole. Did you kill Emily French?
LEONARD. No, I did not.
(SIR WILFRID sits.)
MYERS. (Rising) Have you ever tried to get money out of anybody?
LEONARD. No.
MYERS. How soon in your acquaintance with Miss French did you learn that she was a very wealthy woman?
LEONARD. Well, I didn’t know she was rich when I first went to see her.
MYERS. But, having gained that knowledge, you decided to cultivate her acquaintance further?
LEONARD. I suppose that’s what it looks like. But I really liked her, you know. Money had nothing to do with it.
MYERS. You would have continued to visit her, no matter how poor she’d been?
LEONARD. Yes, I would.
MYERS. You yourself are in poor circumstances?
LEONARD. You know I am.
MYERS. Kindly answer the question, yes or no.
JUDGE. You must answer the question, yes or no.
LEONARD. Yes.
MYERS. What salary do you earn?
LEONARD. Well, as a matter of fact I haven’t got a job at the moment. Haven’t had one for some time.
MYERS. You were recently discharged from your position?
LEONARD. No, I wasn’t—I quit.
MYERS. At the time of your arrest how much money had you in the bank?