"Yes, sir. That was my intention at that time."
"And accordingly you were fairly certain of coming back?"
"Yes, sir—I thought I was."
"Then why did you pack everything in your room in your trunk and lock it?"
"Well ... well ... that is," hesitated Clyde, the charge coming so quickly and so entirely apart from what had just been spoken of before that he had scarcely time to collect his wits—"well, you see—I wasn't absolutely sure. I didn't know but what I might have to go whether I wanted to or not."
"I see. And so if you had decided up there unexpectedly—as you did—" (and here Mason smirked on him as much as to say—you think any one believes that?) "you wouldn't have had time to come back and decently pack your things and depart?"
"Well, no, sir—that wasn't the reason either."
"Well then, what was the reason?"
"Well, you see," and here for lack of previous thought on this subject as well as lack of wit to grasp the essentiality of a suitable and plausible answer quickly, Clyde hesitated—as every one—first and foremost Belknap and Jephson—noted—and then went on: "Well, you see—if I had to go away, even for a short time as I thought I might, I decided that I might need whatever I had in a hurry."
"I see. You're quite sure it wasn't that in case the police discovered who Clifford Golden or Carl Graham were, that you might wish to leave quickly?"