Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen

Aunt Lin's reaction to this incident had an astonishing 180-degree turn. When the Franchise incident turned from a regional scandal into a national news, Aunt Lin gradually accepted the relationship between Robert and Franchise.After all, there was no shame in being involved in a case that made it to the national The Times.Aunt Lynn didn't read the paper, of course, but her friends did, like the clergyman, old General Whitaker, old Mrs. Warren from the big city, and the lady who worked in the pharmacy; The glory of being a defense attorney in a prestigious case, never mind that it was against a helpless girl who was beaten to the brink of death.And of course, it never occurred to her that Robert might not win the case.She didn't think twice in her mind, first of all, Robert himself was an extremely smart person, and secondly, Buhapo Associated Law Firm had nothing to do with failure.She was already beginning to regret that Robert's victory had come at Norton and not at Milford Town Court, where everyone in the town was likely to attend.

So she was surprised when the first doubts came to her.Not in shock or fear, because she still couldn't put the possibility of failure into practice.But it was something she had never thought of. "But, Robert," she said, sweeping her feet under the table for her mats, "it doesn't occur to you that you might lose?" "On the contrary," said Rob, "I never thought we'd win." "Rob!" "In a case with a jury, it is customary for both parties to present considerable evidence. So far, we have had none. I don't think the jury will be sympathetic to us in this case. "You sound like you're in a tantrum, my dear, and I think it's because of your bad mood.Why not give yourself a break and go play golf with a friend? You haven't exercised in ages, and that's not good for your liver. "

"I can't believe it," said Robert in amazement. "I used to be on the golf course, obsessed with a white plastic ball like that. Sounds like a lifetime ago." "That's what I mean, honey. You've lost focus in your life, and you've been worrying unnecessarily about this event. You've got Kevin anyway." "I'm not optimistic about that." "What do you mean, dear?" "I can't imagine Kevin coming all the way from London to Norton for a case he's doomed to lose. He's a bit quixotic at times, but that doesn't mean that's going to blind his ordinary mind. common sense."

"But Kevin agreed." "When he said that, it seemed like we had a good chance of finding some good evidence. Now we're just sitting there counting down the days until the circuit courts, and we can't do anything about it." Miss Bonnet's eyes fixed on his face over the spoon she was carrying. "I think, you know, dear," she said, "that your faith isn't strong enough." Robert wanted to say that he didn't really have any faith, but he tried to hold back the words.In any case, miracles play little role in the Franchise affair. "Have faith, my dear," she said cheerfully, "things will get better. You just wait and see." She was met with a long silence, which troubled her, and she said, "If I I should have prayed more for you if I knew you were so troubled and unhappy about this case. I took it for granted that you and Kevin would handle it well." "It" the British judicial system. "Now that I know your sorrow, I will certainly send a special petition to God."

The tone of it being so simple, just praying to God in particular, revived Robert's sense of humor. "Thank you, dear," he said in a good-humoured tone. She put the spoon on the empty plate and adjusted her sitting position, a teasing smile on her round pink cheeks. "I know that tone," she said. "That means you're kidding me. But, you know, it's true, and this time I'm right and you're wrong. It is obvious from people’s accumulated experience that faith can move mountains. The only difficulty is that moving mountains requires great faith, but it is impossible to gather such great faith in reality, so mountains can basically be moved of.

But in some relatively small things - such as this case - it is possible to gather considerable belief to drive. So, my dear, don't be so depressed, it is better to give yourself more confidence.In the meantime I'll go to church tonight and spend time praying for you, hoping you'll have a little proof tomorrow morning. That will make you happier. "When Alec Lunsden walked into his office the next morning with the good news, Rob's first thought was that it would strengthen Aunt Lynn's faith in God. There was no way he wouldn't let Aunt Lynn Knowing the news, because when he came home for lunch, she was bound to ask him in a bright, confident tone, "How, dear, did you get the news that I prayed for you?"

Lunsden seemed content with himself, and apparently quite happy. "I'd better confess, Mr Blair, that when you suggested I go to school, I didn't have much hope. But I went anyway, only because the school could be the starting point for my investigation, and I might be able to learn from the school staff how to get close to Reese.What I want is for my young boys to get to know her.I even figured out how to get her handwriting without violating the law when my men got to know her well.But, Mr. Blair, you are amazing.Your intuition turns out to be all right. " "You mean you got what we asked for!"

"I went to see the dean of her school and set the record straight as to why we were here, as frank as possible. I said Gretty had committed perjury - in a criminal proceeding - but we thought she might have been intimidated Yes, but to prove that we need a sample of her handwriting. To be honest, when you asked me to try it out there, I thought she hadn't left anything with handwriting on since Kindergarten. But the school The director—Miss Bagley—asked me to give her a minute to think about it. 'Come to think of it,' she said, 'she has some talent for drawing, maybe teaching art if I don't have anything left of her here Our teachers have. We like to keep the good work of the students.' I think it's a pity to have to put up with something that doesn't work in order to encourage students. Later, I didn't have to go to the art teacher, because Ba Miss Gurley found this from a stack of papers."

He spread out a piece of paper on the table in front of Robert.It was a hand-drawn map of Canada, with basic administrative regions, towns, and rivers.Not exactly drawn, but clean and tidy."Canada Territory" is written across the bottom of the map.Signed in the lower right corner: Glady Reese. "Every summer, before the school holidays, they have an exhibition of their work, and usually the exhibition works are kept until the following summer. I think it is because it is too hard to throw away the work after the exhibition. Or they keep the work for display. For visiting visitors, superintendents, etc. There's a stack of that stuff over there. This,"

He pointed to the map on the table, "It's the result of a competition—'draw a map of any country from memory within 20 minutes'—the top three winners can be exhibited. This one won the third place." "It's unbelievable," said Rob, unable to take his eyes off Gretty Reese's drawings. "Miss Bagley said she was dexterous, which is fine. It's odd she's still pretty much illiterate. You can see the school correcting her capital I with a dot on all seven sides." You can tell, Robert snickered. "She has no brains, the girl, but she has good eyesight," he said, surveying Gretty's vision of Canada. "She remembered the shape, but not the name.

The words are not spelled right.I guess the reason for the third place is because of the cleanliness. ""Clean and tidy is fine for us," Lunsden said, pulling out the note that came with the watch. "Let's thank God she didn't choose Alaska." " "Yes," said Robert. "A miracle," (Aunt Lin's miracle, he murmured in his mind.) "Who's an expert on comparing handwriting?" Lunsden told him. "I'll take these to town tonight and have the report ready by tomorrow morning. I'll take it to McDermot's before breakfast, okay?" "Is that all right?" said Rob. "It's just perfect." "I thought it would be a good idea to have the fingerprints taken along the way - and the fingerprints on the little cardboard box. Some judges don't like handwriting collation experts, but handwriting and fingerprints together can win the trust of a difficult judge." "Very well," said Robert, handing them over, "at least now my client won't be sentenced to hard labor." "The future is bright," Lunsden said sarcastically.Robert laughed. "You think I'm not grateful for this development? I am. That took a lot of weight off of my heart.But the real worry is still there.Proving that Rose Green was a thief, a liar, and intimidating would disprove the case; but nothing could be done about Betty Kane's story.What I most want to prove is the untruth of Betty Kane's claims. ""We still have time. said Lunsden, unconvincingly. "You mean we still have time to wait for a miracle." "Why not? Miracles do exist. Of course they can happen to us. When should I call you tomorrow?" It was Kevin who called the next day, his tone full of congratulations and cheers. "Rob, you are amazing. I can refute them." Yes, for Kevin, this is simply a game of cat and mouse; and the Sharp mother and daughter will be released "not guilty".They are free to go back to the home where they were molested, to continue their lives where they were pointed at, and they will still be seen as half-mad witches who terrorized and beat up a girl. "You don't sound happy, Rob. What's the matter?" Rob explained his thinking: Sharp might be acquitted by the courts, but they were still victims of Betty Kane's fabricated story. "Maybe not, maybe not," Kevin said. "I'm going to do my best to deal with Ken for the inaccurate account of Lane in her story. Seriously, if Miles Ellison wasn't the opposing defense, I could probably force her to tell the truth, but Miles is likely to be quick. It's remedied. Be happy, Rob, at least her story is shaken." But taking the ground out of Betty Kane's story wasn't enough, he knew that would have little effect in popular opinion. He had had enough of the gossip in the streets of late and was amazed at the inability of the general public to analyze the simplest facts. The press would probably be too busy reporting the sensational story of Rose Green's perjury, and even if they reported the view from the attic window, it would be of little use to the general reader. Kevin may be able to destroy the veracity of Betty Kane's story in court before journalists, police, and a critical audience; Ken's one-sided sympathy has nothing to do, and the Sharp mother and daughter will still be spurned. And Betty Kane would be all right. For Robert, this is more unbearable than Sharp's mother and daughter may still be harassed in the future.Betty Kane will go on to be a good family favorite - safe, pitied, and cherished.This made Robert, who was originally kind and easy-going, become irritable and angry. He confessed to Aunt Lin that after she prayed, a favorable piece of evidence appeared, but he did not have the courage to tell her that this evidence was enough to destroy the foundation of the police case.Because she would call it a victory, and "victory" meant something very different to Robert. For Navier, obviously the same.For the first time since Neville was stationed in the back office of the firm, Robert felt that he was his ally, that they had a common spirit.Neville also couldn't stand Betty Kane being able to do nothing.Once again Robert was amazed that a man who had always spoken of peace could, when indignation arose, be filled with frightening rage.Neville mentioned Betty Kane in a special tone, his pronunciation seemed to have accidentally swallowed poison and was spitting it out forcefully. "Poisonous" was his favorite word to describe her - "poisonous creature".Robert was very relieved. But there is no way to comfort the actual phenomenon.The Sharpes accepted their escape from prison with the usual dignity, as they accepted all injustices, from Betty Kane's claim to the summons to the dock.But they also know that this is only a possibility for them to escape from prison, not to clear their innocence.The police case will not stand, and they will get a verdict.But they got a verdict because English law has no so-called intermediary referee.In Scottish courts such cases would be classified as unprovable.And that, in fact, is what the circuit court will decide next week; just because the police don't have enough evidence to prove it doesn't mean the prosecution is fundamentally wrong. It was only four days before the Circuit Court was scheduled to open that he told Aunt Lin that the evidence they had was sufficient for the police to drop the charges.Because he couldn't bear the sorrow that gradually piled up on that round pink fat face.When he first started talking, he just wanted to point to lE; but then he found himself talking to her from the beginning, just like when he was wronged as a child, when Aunt Lin was an omnipotent and omnipotent angel, not the kind but somewhat Stupid woman.She listened to this turbulent utterance that was totally unexpected, very different from the usual dinner table chatter, but she listened quietly, her sapphire blue eyes focused and caring. "You get it, Aunt Lin, that's not victory, that's defeat," he finished. "That's a twist of justice. That is not the result of our struggle, what we want is justice.And we have no chance of getting it, no hope at all!" "But why didn't you tell me this before, dear? You think I won't understand or agree, or what?" "Well, you didn't have me before—" "Just because I don't like the looks of the people who live in the Franchise? - I have to admit, my dear, that even now, they're not the kind of people I'd associate with - but I don't like them Indifference to justice!" "Of course not; but you have said very clearly how you feel about Betty. Ken's story is believable, and so..." "That," Aunt Lynn said quietly, "was before the police inquiry court. " "The court appearance? But you didn't go." "No, dear, but old General Whittaker has gone, and he doesn't like the girl at all." "He doesn't like it, really?" "Yes. He's pretty insistent. He said there was a—what do you call it—a Lancer in his regiment, or battalion, or something, like Betty Kane. He said he was The kind of person who makes the whole group troublesome but still pretends to be innocent, this kind of person is more difficult to deal with than the bad embryo who can be seen at a glance. What an adjective: Bad bastard, isn't he? He went to the Green House at last, said old General Whiteker. " "It should be a warm room." "Don't know, that's where it is anyway. As for Green, the girl from Staples Farm, he said that just by looking at her, you automatically start counting how many lies she's going to put in a sentence. He didn't like that either." Girl named Greene. So you see honey, you shouldn't think that I have no sympathy for your concerns. I assure you that I share your passion for justice. From now on, I will double it Pray for you. I was going to a garden dinner this afternoon, but I changed my mind to go to church and sit quietly for a while. The weather looks like it's going to rain.It was a pity that the garden dinner always met with rainy days. " "Well, Aunt Lynn, I don't deny that we need your prayers. But I doubt a miracle will save us." "I'm going to pray for a miracle." "Is that miracle that comes at the last moment of the probation, when the noose is already round the hero's neck? That only happens in a detective story or in the last few minutes of an opera." "Not necessarily. There are miracles somewhere in the world every day. If we had a way of knowing, you would be amazed if you piled up those miracles. When all else fails, you know, God will lend a helping hand.Your faith is not strong enough, my dear, as I told you the other day. ""I don't think God sent His angel to show up at my office and tell me exactly where Betty Kane was and what she was doing that month. said Rob. "Your problem, my dear, is that you think God's angel is a client with wings, and he, he's probably a scruffy little man with a bowler hat. Leave you alone, I'll try hard this afternoon Pray, at night too, of course, and then maybe tomorrow a miracle will happen."