"Yes, sir."
"Well, were they all liars, or were they telling the truth?"
"Well, they were telling the truth as near as they could remember, I suppose."
"But they couldn't remember very well—is that it?"
"Well, I wasn't off all the time. Maybe I was gone two or three times a week—maybe four sometimes—not more."
"And the rest you gave to Miss Alden?"
"Yes, sir."
"Is that what she meant in this letter here?" And here he took up another letter from the pile of Roberta's letters, and opening it and holding it before him, read: "'Night after night, almost every night after that dreadful Christmas day when you left me, I was alone nearly always.' Is she lying, or isn't she?" snapped Mason fiercely, and Clyde, sensing the danger of accusing Roberta of lying here, weakly and shamefacedly replied: "No, she isn't lying. But I did spend some evenings with her just the same."
"And yet you heard Mrs. Gilpin and her husband testify here that night after night from December first on Miss Alden was mostly always alone in her room and that they felt sorry for her and thought it so unnatural and tried to get her to join them, but she wouldn't. You heard them testify to that, didn't you?"
"Yes, sir."