LUCY.
And you followed it carefully?
ALEC.
Very.
LUCY.
What impression did it leave on your mind?
ALEC.
What can it matter how it affected me?
LUCY.
I want to know.
d.i.c.k.
Lucy, you"re torturing us all.
LUCY.
If you had been on the jury would your verdict have been the same as theirs?
ALEC.
I should have been obliged to judge according to my conscience.
LUCY.
I see. And you have no doubt that he was guilty?
ALEC.
Don"t ask me these horrible questions.
LUCY.
But it"s very important. I know that you are a perfectly honest and upright man. If you think he was guilty, there is nothing more to be said.
ALEC.
The case was so plain that the jury were not out of the box for more than ten minutes.
LUCY.
Did the judge say anything?
ALEC.
[_Hesitatingly._] He said there could be no doubt about the justice of the verdict.
LUCY.
What else?... [_He looks at her without answering._] You had better tell me now. I shall see it in the papers to-morrow.
ALEC.
[_As though the words were dragged out of him._] He called it a very mean and shameful crime, worse than another man"s because your father was a gentleman of ancient family and bore a name of great honour.
d.i.c.k.
[_To_ MRS. CROWLEY.] These judges have a weakness for pointing a moral.
LUCY.
And what was the sentence? [_A pause._] Well?
ALEC.
Seven years" penal servitude.
GEORGE.
Oh, G.o.d!
d.i.c.k.
My dear girl, I can"t tell you how sorry I am.
LADY KELSEY.
Lucy, what is it? You frighten me.
LUCY.
Try and bear up, George. We want all the strength we"ve got, you and I.
[MRS. CROWLEY _puts her arms round_ LUCY _and kisses her._
MRS. CROWLEY.
Oh, my dear, my dear!
LUCY.