This is the story about a lawyer, a solicitor, trying to get his client's innocence proved. Leonard Vole is the subject judged, and Mr. Mayherne is the solicitor in charge of his case. Leonard is accused of having murdered an old lady for wanting her money. This old lady had trusted her issues to Vole, and he was supposed to have betrayed her and killed her.
The story begins with Vole telling Mayherne everything that made him conclude Vole was innocent. There were two important things that arose from this conversation:
1. Janet Mackenzie, the maid to the old lady, hated Leonard; maybe because Mrs. French had trusted everything to a man she barely knew and not to her, her companion probably for a very long time. So even though Mackenzie hated Leonard, her word was still valid to the court.
The fact here was that Mackenzie had accused Vole for having killed Mrs. French within a certain hour. Leonard said that what Mackenzie had said was not at all true, as by the time she claimed the murder had taken place, Leonard was supposed to be already at home.
The fact here was that Mackenzie had accused Vole for having killed Mrs. French within a certain hour. Leonard said that what Mackenzie had said was not at all true, as by the time she claimed the murder had taken place, Leonard was supposed to be already at home.
2. As a witness to this event, he had his wife, Romaine. Leonard said that Romaine was a very devoted wife and that she would be proving that he had arrived home at the time he said.
This led Mr. Mayherne to his continuing of his invetigation with Romaine, knowing that if she was as dovited as Loeonard had said, she would not be of much help, as a devoted wife's opinion was taken only as coverage to the accused.
And so Mayherne went with her, and found out that she actually hated her husband, and told him whatever things against Leonard. This resulted very confusing, but in the end he still believed that Leonard was innocent and that Romaine was sort of out of her mind because of her hatred to Leonard, who she even denied as her husband.
At court, Mayherne is delivered a note with an address. He went there and found a woman who had a bunch of letters from Romaine to her lover, making her a liar in what she had said at court, and turning the case in favour of Leonard. The important letter said something about being finally happy with Leonard's arrest. With this note, the case was won by Mayherne and Leonard was set free.
At the end, we surprisingly find that Romaine was in fact the one who had led the prosecution all the time. She had actually invented that she hated him for her argument to be convincing and put the blame on herself. All this she told to Mr. Mayherne, who was obviously astonished, as the winning of the case had not been because of his work, but because of the most unthinkable person's. A little detail he had forgotten: Romaine was an actress. That detail he could have noticed, but what he actually noticed was the habit that both the woman of the letters and Romaine had of shaking their hands. That little detail made him finally realize that they were the same woman. She had faken the letters and acted a fake hatred. She was very intelligent, and the only one who knew the terrible truth: Leonard had actually killed Mrs. French, fact that Mayherne did not believe.
Incredible how desperate a man can be, but the fear that still makes him shake for having to tell the truth. Leonard was desperate to find a way out of jail, so he put all his faith on his wife to cover him, and yet never told the turth because all he wanted was to be free. And so he managed to fool his solicitor; and his wife, the solicitor and the court. They were both intelligent. The difference is that Leonard could fool the solicitor, but there could be anything that could reveal his lies. On the other hand, we had Romaine, who had a perfectly well structured plan and the necessary elements to make it credible and that it would work.
So Leonard Vole was not lying that much, as he said his wife was a devoted one, but he did not think about the lack of use that that argument had.
Romaine is a very intelligent woman who could manage the problem, not letting the worries blur her intelligence and saving the man she loved from going to jail. But in the end, we do not know if she's taken to jail or not for having "lied" to the court.
I think it is a story easy to follow in the events, as you are discovering the facts as the same time and from Mayherne's point of view. This makes you wonder if what he is thinking actually makes sense, or if there is any other possible way for getting more clues and evidence. The most shocking part of the story is when we come to know that Romaine had been the mastermind behind the case, and that she posessed all the information and knew how to handle it.
But even though it was shocking, it does not make it the climax of the story. This is because it does not give a turn to the story, it does not tell us what happens after that, it is just the resolution. The case is solved, and what happens to the couple, to Romaine or to Mayherne is not relevant for the story we are told: "That is another story and shall be told another time". So to the main plot, what matters is wether the case is solved or not, and the point where it is decided is when the letter is read at court and Romaine has to give her defense.
I believe it is a very good story and the ending is definitely good and unexpected.
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