Justice by John Galsworthy
page 53 of 126 (42%)
page 53 of 126 (42%)
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7th, and tell the jury what happened.
FALDER. [Turning to the jury] I was having my breakfast when she came. Her dress was all torn, and she was gasping and couldn't seem to get her breath at all; there were the marks of his fingers round her throat; her arm was bruised, and the blood had got into her eyes dreadfully. It frightened me, and then when she told me, I felt--I felt--well--it was too much for me! [Hardening suddenly] If you'd seen it, having the feelings for her that I had, you'd have felt the same, I know. FROME. Yes? FALDER. When she left me--because I had to go to the office--I was out of my senses for fear that he'd do it again, and thinking what I could do. I couldn't work--all the morning I was like that--simply couldn't fix my mind on anything. I couldn't think at all. I seemed to have to keep moving. When Davis--the other clerk--gave me the cheque--he said: "It'll do you good, Will, to have a run with this. You seem half off your chump this morning." Then when I had it in my hand--I don't know how it came, but it just flashed across me that if I put the 'ty' and the nought there would be the money to get her away. It just came and went--I never thought of it again. Then Davis went out to his luncheon, and I don't really remember what I did till I'd pushed the cheque through to the cashier under the rail. I remember his saying "Gold or notes?" Then I suppose I knew what I'd done. Anyway, when I got outside I wanted to chuck myself under a bus; I wanted to throw the money away; but it seemed I was in for it, so I thought at any rate I'd save her. Of course the tickets I took for the passage and the little I gave her's been wasted, and |
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