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〃Who is there?〃 shouted Arthur。 〃Who are you? Are you Innocent?〃
〃Not quite;〃 answered an obscure voice among the leaves。
〃I cheated you once about a penknife。〃
The wind in the garden had gathered strength; and was throwing the tree
backwards and forwards with the man in the thick of it; just as it
had on the gay and golden afternoon when he had first arrived。
〃But are you Smith?〃 asked Inglewood as in an agony。
〃Very nearly;〃 said the voice out of the tossing tree。
〃But you must have some real names;〃 shrieked Inglewood in despair。
〃You must call yourself something。〃
〃Call myself something;〃 thundered the obscure voice; shaking the tree
so that all its ten thousand leaves seemed to be talking at once。
〃I call myself Roland Oliver Isaiah Charlemagne Arthur Hildebrand
Homer Danton Michaelangelo Shakespeare Brakespeare〃
〃But; manalive!〃 began Inglewood in exasperation。
〃That's right! that's right!〃 came with a roar out of the rocking tree;
〃that's my real name。〃 And he broke a branch; and one or two autumn
leaves fluttered away across the moon。
Part II
The Explanations of Innocent Smith
Chapter I
The Eye of Death;
or; the Murder Charge
The dining…room of the Dukes had been set out for the Court
of Beacon with a certain impromptu pomposity that seemed somehow
to increase its cosiness。 The big room was; as it were;
cut up into small rooms; with walls only waist highthe sort
of separation that children make when they are playing at shops。
This had been done by Moses Gould and Michael Moon
(the two most active members of this remarkable inquiry)
with the ordinary furniture of the place。 At one end of the long
mahogany table was set the one enormous garden chair; which was
surmounted by the old torn tent or umbrella which Smith himself
had suggested as a coronation canopy。 Inside this erection
could be perceived the dumpy form of Mrs。 Duke; with cushions
and a form of countenance that already threatened slumber。
At the other end sat the accused Smith; in a kind of dock;
for he was carefully fenced in with a quadrilateral of light
bedroom chairs; any of which he could have tossed out the window
with his big toe。 He had been provided with pens and paper;
out of the latter of which he made paper boats; paper darts;
and paper dolls contentedly throughout the whole proceedings。
He never spoke or even looked up; but seemed as unconscious
as a child on the floor of an empty nursery。
On a row of chairs raised high on the top of a long settee sat
the three young ladies with their backs up against the window;
and Mary Gray in the middle; it was something between a jury
box and the stall of the Queen of Beauty at a tournament。
Down the centre of the long table Moon had built a low barrier
out of eight bound volumes of 〃Good Words〃 to express the moral
wall that divided the conflicting parties。 On the right side
sat the two advocates of the prosecution; Dr。 Pym and Mr。 Gould;
behind a barricade of books and documents; chiefly (in the case
of Dr。 Pym) solid volumes of criminology。 On the other side;
Moon and Inglewood; for the defence; were also fortified
with books and papers; but as these included several old yellow
volumes by Ouida and Wilkie Collins; the hand of Mr。 Moon
seemed to have been somewhat careless and comprehensive。
As for the victim and prosecutor; Dr。 Warner; Moon wanted at first
to have him kept entirely behind a high screen in the court;
urging the indelicacy of his appearance in court; but privately
assuring him of an unofficial permission to peep over the top
now and then。 Dr。 Warner; however; failed to rise to the chivalry
of such a course; and after some little disturbance and discussion
he was accommodated with a seat on the right side of the table
in a line with his legal advisers。
It was before this solidly…established tribunal that Dr。 Cyrus Pym;
after passing a hand through the honey…coloured hair over each ear;
rose to open the case。 His statement was clear and even restrained;
and such flights of imagery as occurred in it only attracted attention
by a certain indescribable abruptness; not uncommon in the flowers
of American speech。
He planted the points of his ten frail fingers on the mahogany;
closed his eyes; and opened his mouth。 〃The time has gone by;〃
he said; 〃when murder could be regarded as a moral and individual act;
important perhaps to the murderer; perhaps to the murdered。
Science has profoundly。。。〃 here he paused; poising his compressed
finger and thumb in the air as if he were holding an elusive idea
very tight by its tail; then he screwed up his eyes and said
〃modified;〃 and let it go〃has profoundly Modified our view of death。
In superstitious ages it was regarded as the termination of life;
catastrophic; and even tragic; and was often surrounded by solemnity。
Brighter days; however; have dawned; and we now see death as universal
and inevitable; as part of that great soul…stirring and heart…upholding
average which we call for convenience the order of nature。
In the same way we have come to consider murder socially。
Rising above the mere private feelings of a man while being forcibly
deprived of life; we are privileged to behold murder as a mighty whole;
to see the rich rotation of the cosmos; bringing; as it brings
the golden harvests and the golden…bearded harvesters; the return
for ever of the slayers and the slain。〃
He looked down; somewhat affected with his own eloquence; coughed slightly;
putting up four of his pointed fingers with the excellent manners
of Boston; and continued: 〃There is but one result of this happier
and humaner outlook which concerns the wretched man before us。
It is that thoroughly elucidated by a Milwaukee doctor;
our great secret…guessing Sonnenschein; in his great work;
‘The Destructive Type。' We do not denounce Smith as a murderer;
but rather as a murderous man。 The type is such that its very life
I might say its very healthis in killing。 Some hold that it is
not properly an aberration; but a newer and even a higher creature。
My dear old friend Dr。 Bulger; who kept ferrets〃 (here Moon
suddenly ejaculated a loud 〃hurrah!〃 but so instantaneously
resumed his tragic expression that Mrs。 Duke looked everywhere
else for the sound); Dr。 Pym continued somewhat sternly〃who;
in the interests of knowledge; kept ferrets; felt that the creature's
ferocity is not utilitarian; but absolutely an end in itself。
However this may be with ferrets; it is certainly so with the prisoner。
In his other iniquities you may find the cunning of the maniac;
but his acts of blood have almost the simplicity of sanity。
But it is the awful sanity of the sun and the elementsa cruel;
an evil sanity。 As soon stay the iris…leapt cataracts of our virgin
West as stay the natural force that sends him forth to slay。
No environment; however scientific; could have softened him。
Place that man in the silver…silent purity of the palest cloister;
and there will be some deed of violence done with the crozier or the alb。
Rear him in a happ