[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Mary was really sweating for this girl, but fortunately, Mr. Alfred still found Stevens' loophole.

He asked the shopkeeper: "Do you have a lot of this kind of lace?"

The owner replied: "No, sir, this is imported lace, and I only have one box of this kind of lace in my store."

"So it's precious?"

"Yes, of course, worth fifty pounds."

"Where did you put it?"

"In the A-size cabinet, all my precious raw materials are placed there."

"Is it locked?"

"of course."

"But the lock on the cabinet hasn't been broken. The sheriff said the lock was always there?"

"Obviously that thief stole my key, sir." The owner said triumphantly. "She locked the cabinet after stealing the things, thinking she didn't know anyone."

"So you lost your keys too?"

"of course."

"How many keys do you have?"

"Just this one, sir, the only one."

"But Jennifer didn't find that key at home."

"Perhaps she lost the key."

"So your locker can't be opened now?"

"Oh..." Stevens hesitated, and then said, "Yes, I can't find where the key is." He paused for a moment, and then said loudly, "God, I can't open the locker, I have to find it." Jennifer Crowley is a heinous crime for a craftsman to change that lock."

At this moment, Mr. Alfred asked him suddenly: "Since you can't open the cabinet at all, how do you know that there is a box of lace in the cabinet?"

"What... what?" Stevens froze for a moment.

Alfred ignored him this time. He turned to the jury and said: "This Mr. Stevens found the key missing. Normally we look for the key everywhere. Usually people think where they left it. and then wondered if someone would find the key and take the contents. But this gentleman," said Alfred, pointing to Stevens, "the gentleman ran straight to the sheriff There, he reported that his employee, Miss Crawley, had stolen a box of lace inside. Attention: he did not open the cabinet, and even concluded that a box of lace inside was stolen, and it was a box of imported lace from France, not gold imported from France. Silver wire. And he decided it was Miss Crawley who stole it, and not any other employee! Isn't that suspicious, gentlemen?"

Mr. Alfred suddenly said loudly: "Unless he had put that box of lace in Miss Crawley's residence long ago, that's why he can make such an affirmation!"

The jury immediately erupted in an uproar.

Mr. Stevens was sweating profusely. "No, it's not."

Alfred sarcastically said, "Then how do you explain my question just now?"

Stevens was tongue-tied, his face turned red, and then quickly turned white, his eyes blinked quickly, and some meaningless syllables came out of his voice.

Pointing at him, Mr Alfred told the jury: "Look at the look on his face, gentlemen, this man is clearly lying!"

The people around whispered and whispered.

The prosecution lawyer immediately stood up and objected: "Your Honor, Mr. Alfred is fabricating facts to slander my client. His duty is to question witnesses, not to exert additional influence on the jury. The fact is that the magistrate from The discovery of stolen goods at the defendant's residence does not conflict with how Mr. Stevens concluded the defendant stole!"

The judge said to Alfred: "Watch the repercussions, my sir. Will you continue to question the witnesses?"

Mr. Alfred called another witness, the tailor of the dress shop.

After stepping down from the witness box, Mr. Stevens did not leave, but sat down in the gallery below.

The short and fat seamstress in her 40s got up from the upper seat and stood nervously in the witness column.

Mr. Alfred asked him: "On October 10th, the Duchess of Woodhouse asked you to order a dress?"

The seamstress's expression was a little dull. She never thought that Mr. Alfred asked such an irrelevant question, but she still replied: "Yes."

"Can you describe to us what kind of dress that is?"

"She wanted to make a Greek dress out of linen, but she wanted to be flamboyant, so I suggested we could sew pearls on it and it would be beautiful."

"Did the Duchess provide the pearl, or did you provide it yourself?"

"It's provided by the clothing store, sir. The Duchess doesn't have to worry about this kind of thing. She just needs to see the beautiful clothes at the end."

"Do you have a lot of pearls in your shop?"

"There's a box, and Mr. Stevens locked it up."

"It seems that he likes to lock things, and doesn't like letting you touch them?"

"Yes, he has always acted cautiously."

"Do you have access to the key? Is there any chance of getting the key?"

"No!" The seamstress was a little nervous, "He always wears it with him, and we can't touch it."

"Let's not talk about that, did the Duchess ask to see the fabric of her beautiful dress?"

"Of course, every woman asks for that, who doesn't care about their new clothes?"

"Since the cloth has to be seen with her own eyes, what about the pearls? She must also see it with her own eyes, right?"

"Yes."

"Was she satisfied with those pearls?"

"Yes, they are very fine pearls. The Duchess has chosen some pink round beads herself. There are nineteen of them."

"Did you bring those pearls to the Duchess?"

"No, no, no," the seamstress waved her hands repeatedly, "those pearls are very valuable, a whole box worth hundreds of pounds, we dare not touch those."

"Then the innkeeper himself gave it to the Duchess?"

"Yes, Mr. Stevens himself opened the cabinet and took out the box, and after the Duchess finished picking, he put the box back."

After the seamstress finished speaking, the jury and the gallery immediately burst into discussions.

Mr Alfred struck while the iron was hot: "Gentlemen and ladies, Mr Stevens just stood here telling the sheriff on October 10rd that Jennifer Crowley had stolen his imported lace Our Miss Crawley stole the keys together, but instead of stealing hundreds of pounds worth of pearls in the cabinet, this lady took away tens of pounds of lace. Tell me, this lady's head It doesn't work!"

The crowd immediately burst into laughter, and even people in the auditorium knocked on the wooden railings. The scene was suddenly chaotic, and the judge knocked on the gavel to silence the people.

When people fell silent, Mr. Alfred continued: "What is even more amazing about this matter is that Mr. Stevens, who claimed that the key was stolen and could not open the cabinet, managed to find a way to open the cabinet on October 10th. , that is, on the second day after the key was lost, take out the pearls in the cabinet for the guests to choose, and then put them in again. I’m curious how he did it, is he a wizard?”

These words caused everyone to roar with laughter.

The judge warned Mr. Alfred this time: "Please clarify your point of view as soon as possible, and don't make unnecessary metaphors and descriptions."

Mr. Alfred apologized hastily, and said to the seamstress, "Has Mr. Stevens harassed Miss Crawley?"

The seamstress hesitated: "I... I don't pay much attention to this..."

Mr. Alfred walked up to the seamstress suddenly, and said seriously: "Please think carefully, Miss Crawley is your colleague and spends almost every day with you. You shouldn't have noticed."

A complicated expression appeared on the seamstress's face, and Mr. Alfred continued: "Miss Crawley has worked with you for a whole year. What kind of person is she?"

"She...she is diligent and kind..."

"But if you don't carefully recall some things that you should have noticed before, that hardworking and kind girl will be hanged alive!"

A frightened look appeared on the seamstress' face.

"Look at her," Mr. Alfred pointed to Jennifer Crawley in the dock, and his tone suddenly became gentle: "She came from a small place in the country to this big city to find a job. , her first job is to be with you, she is hardworking, kind, and likes to help you, and you like her very much, treat her as your own child, and sometimes offer to help her mend clothes. She is very frugal, but her boss is very stingy. After working for a whole year, she only saved £5. Even with this small amount of money, she is very satisfied. She secretly asks you to make a dress for her with the overstocked fabrics that are discounted in your store. , She is only 17 years old, and she still loves beauty very much, dreaming that after wearing a beautiful dress, some handsome young man will propose to her. But now, if you don’t tell the truth, she will be hanged to death.”

Suddenly the seamstress covered her face and began to weep.

Mr. Alfred asked her sternly: "Thinking of the oath you just swore to God, with your natural conscience, I ask you again: Has Mr. Stevens ever tried to insult Jennifer Crawley, As a result, they resisted and tried to retaliate?"

"Your Honor!" The prosecutor's lawyer immediately stood up and interrupted his interrogation, "Mr. Alfred is not interrogating the witnesses, but publicly guiding and instigating the witnesses."

"Mr. Alfred, please watch your words!" the judge said loudly.

Alfred gave the judge a slight salute, then turned to the seamstress, "Do you have anything to say?"

The seamstress raised her head and cried, "That time she went to the warehouse to find fabrics for me, and she didn't come back for a long time. I went to find her, and I opened the door and saw..." She choked up, "I saw history Mr. Stevens was on top of her, and she was struggling and crying..."

Stevens jumped to his feet and roared, "You traitor, trash, stinking bastard, go to hell—"

The jury and the public auditorium erupted in an instant, and the environment immediately became noisy and noisy.

The judge warned Stevens: "If you yell again, I will hold you in contempt of court!" He sent two bailiffs to pin Mr. The seamstress said, "No one in court will hurt you for telling the truth."

The seamstress regained her composure and spoke again. When she made a sound, it was like pressing the mute button on the TV. The people around became silent in an instant, and needles could be heard.

"Later, Jennifer said she wanted to change jobs. You don't know, sir, it's too difficult for a girl with no skills to find a job, so she can't leave for the time being. But Mr. Stevens kept cursing her, saying Teach her a lesson and she'll regret it. Good God, old Mr. Stevens is so generous, but his son is mean and mean and greedy, and we've been in hell since he took over the dress shop. God is terrified."

Stevens couldn't help yelling again, the judge knocked on the gavel, and angrily said: "Mr. Stevens, you have been sentenced to three hours of shackles for contempt of court."

Stevens was taken away by the magistrate cursing. Before the aftermath of the uproar subsided, the judge asked the jury directly: "Has the jury reached a conclusion? Guilty or not guilty?"

The six gentlemen in the front turned their heads and discussed with the gentlemen sitting behind them for a while. Mary thought they were going to have a meeting or something, but within a minute, a juror stood up. Get up: "Not guilty!"

The author has something to say:

My eloquence is not good, and my logical thinking ability is also very low. This court trial has been revised several times, so let’s leave it at that. If you have any opinions, you must point them out. If not, we will continue...