I could have warned her, when she gave me that glance in the hall, to look out for him. Not only was she a sophisticated young woman, and not only did she glisten, but her slimness was the kind that comes from not eating enough, and Wolfe absolutely cannot stand people who don’t eat enough. I knew he would be down on her from the go.
But she came back at him. “I don’t mean that,” she said scornfully. “Don’t be so touchy! I mean I had lied to my father. What he thought about Alberto and me wasn’t true. I was just bragging to him because — it doesn’t matter why. Anyway, what I told him wasn’t true, and I told him so that night!”
“Which night?”
“When we got home — from the stage party after Rigoletto. That was where my father knocked Alberto down, you know, right there on the stage. When we got home I told him that what I had said about Alberto and me wasn’t true.”
“When were you lying, the first time or the second?”
“Don’t answer that, my dear,” Judge Arnold broke in, lawyering. He looked sternly at Wolfe. “This is all irrelevant. You’re welcome to the facts, but relevant facts. What Miss James told her father is immaterial.”
Wolfe shook his head. “Oh no.” His eyes went from right to left and back again. “Apparently I haven’t made it plain. Mrs. Mion wants me to decide for her whether she has a just claim, not so much legally as morally. If it appears that Mr. James’ assault on Mr. Mion was morally justified that will be a factor in my decision.” He focused on Clara. “Whether my question was relevant or not, Miss James, I admit it was embarrassing and therefore invited mendacity. I withdraw it. Try this instead. Had you, prior to that stage party, given your father to understand that Mr. Mion had seduced you?”
“Well—” Clara laughed. It was a tinkly soprano laugh, rather attractive. “What a nice old-fashioned way to say it! Yes, I had. But it wasn’t true!”
“But you believed it, Mr. James?”
Gifford James was having trouble holding himself in, and I concede that such leading questions about his daughter’s honor from a stranger must have been hard to take. But after all it wasn’t new to the rest of the audience, and anyway it sure was relevant. He forced himself to speak with quiet dignity. “I believed what my daughter told me, yes.”