YOUR WITNESS

by Helen Nielsen
With a degree of bitterness, a lawyer has been defined as one who 1 can make black appear
white or white appear black. Our detestable, forensic hero is singular only in that 2 he proved a
red traffic light green.
It was murder although slaughter was a better term for it or even assassination. Naomi
Shawn settled on murder because it was a word that felt strangely at home in her mind. 3 The crime,
by any name, was happening to a bewildered citizen, one Henry Babcock, whose place of execution
was the witness stand in Judge Dutton's court. Henry Babcock was in a somewhat similar
circumstance to the late Agnes Thompson,4 housewife, who had been struck down by a MercedesBenz5 and subsequently buried. Henry was being buried, too; but he had the uncomfortable
disadvantage of not being dead.
From her seat among the courtroom spectators, Naomi watched the scene with fascinated
eyes. Arnold Shawn was a man of electrifying virility, persuasive charm, and intellectual dexterity.
He was a dramatist, a strategist, a psychologist, and could, if need be, display the touch of the poet.
He was more handsome at fifty than he'd been at twenty-five, more confident, more successful,
more feared and much more hated. He was a lawyer who selected his clients with scrupulous care,
basing his decision solely on ability to pay. But once a retainer 6 was given, the accused could sit
back with whatever ease an accused can muster and know that his fate was in the hands of
as shrewd a legal talent as money could buy.
And the biggest heel.7
Naomi Shawn's vocabulary wasn't as extensive as her husband's. He would have found a
more distinctive way of describing his own character. In fact, he had done that very thing only a few
hours earlier.
"I'm not cruel, Naomi; I'm honest. I could lie to you. It would be easy, easier than you know,
my dear. I could prove to you, beyond your innermost feminine doubt, that I am an honest, loyal,
devoted husband who is passionately in love with you, and everything you think you've learned to
the contrary is pure illusion. But I won't lie. There is another woman."
Naomi tried not to listen to echoes. Arnold was speaking, and Arnold commanded attention
when he spoke.
"Now, Mr. Babcock," he was saying, "you have testified that you saw my client's automobile run
a red light, strike the deceased, Agnes Thompson, drive on for a space of some fifty yards, stop,
back up to a spot parallel with the body, and then drive on again without my client, Mr. Jerome, so
much as alighting from the vehicle..."
Mr. Jerome. He was nineteen. A slight nineteen with an almost childlike face and guilty blue
eyes that stared disconsolately at his uncalloused hands laced together on the table before him.
His blond hair was combed back neatly, and he wore a conservative tie, 8 white shirt and dark
suit, as per Arnold's instructions. 9 Kenneth Jerome looked more like an honor student than a
cold-blooded hit and run killer.10 And he was that; Naomi was the one spectator in the courtroom
who knew. She had gone to Arnold's office one morning. He hadn't been home all night, a
situation that was becoming alarmingly frequent. It was time to have a showdown." But young
Jerome and his father had come to the office that day and she was shunted off to another room.
She heard the story. Kenneth Jerome couldn't deny hitting his victim; the police had already
traced his car to the garage where it was being repaired.
"I didn't know I'd hit a woman," Kenneth Jerome explained. "I didn't see anyone. I thought I
felt a thud, but it's open country out near the airport. Sometimes you hit a rabbit or even a cat late
at night. And it was late. Somewhere near three-thirty, I think. Anyway, I thought that's what
happened when I got home and saw my right front fender.12 I thought I'd hit a rabbit or a cat."
And Arnold's voice had queried him from across the desk.
"Is that what you told the police?"
"Sure, it is. What else could I tell them?"

"Is there a traffic signal at that intersection?"

"There is-but there wasn't another car in sight."
"Was the signal with you, or against you?"
"It was with me. It was green."
"Is that what you told the police?"
"Sure, it is. I said the woman must have tried to cross against the light. I didn't see her at all."
And then Arnold had smiled. From the next room, Naomi couldn't see the smile; but she
could hear it in his words.
"Very good, Mr. Jerome. Now, unless you want me to throw
41this case back in your teeth,13 tell me what really happened last night. I don't deal with clients
who aren't honest with me..."
Honest was one of Arnold's favorite words. It had an exceptional meaning to him.
'To be perfectly honest with you, Naomi, I never did love you. Not the way a man wants to love
a woman. Your father had influence and I needed a start. It was that simple."
Echoes. She pushed them from her mind. She had come to watch Henry Babcock take
punishment for being a good citizen.
Arnold's voice came again. "You were standing on the sidewalk near the intersection at the time
of the accident, is that right?"
Henry Babcock was merely nervous at this stage of the cross-examination. He was a rather
slight man, balding, had a clean-shaven face and wore thick lensed glasses that magnified his eyes
owlishly. He might have been Arnold's age, Naomi realized with a sense of incredulity. There was
no other similarity. Henry Babcock looked shabby and servile. There was a natural elite, Arnold
had always maintained, that was predestined to govern any society. At the moment, the validity of
his theory seemed self-evident.
"Not exactly," Henry Babcock answered. "I was sitting on a bench at the bus stop, waiting for a
bus."
"And how far was the bench from the intersection, Mr. Babcock?"
Henry Babcock hesitated. "I don't know as I could say, exactly. Not very far."
"Not very far." Arnold smiled. He was always dangerous when he smiled. "That doesn't help
the jury much, does it, Mr. Babcock? Can't you be more specific? Was it as far"-he turned slowly,
his eyes sweeping the courtroom and finally coming to rest-"as from where you're sitting to where
the defendant is sitting?"
"Well, now, I don't know-"
"Yes or no, Mr. Babcock?"
The question was like a whip. Henry Babcock straightened his glasses and sat at attention.
"Well, yes," he said.
"The bench was the same distance from the intersection as you are from Mr. Jerome at this
moment?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very good. Now please continue and tell the jury just what happened..."
What had happened? Naomi's mind would wander, no matter how she tried to keep it in line
(14) Was it really as simple as Arnold had said-merely a marriage of convenience? It was difficult
to believe. She knew why she'd married Arnold. She had loved him; she still loved him, in spite of
what he'd become. Was she somehow responsible for that? She'd tried to be a good wife and
mother; she tried to keep up with Arnold's dazzling success.
"Mr. Babcock"-Arnold's voice intruded on the memories again-"I want you to clarify one detail.
You say you didn't see Agnes Thompson prior to the accident. You were sitting on the bench
waiting for a bus. Mrs. Thompson approached the intersection from the east-"
Someone had set up a blackboard in view of the judge and the jury. On it was drawn the
intersection with crosses indicating the location of the bench and Henry Babcock, the spot where

the accident occurred, and now, at Arnold's instruction, another cross for Mrs. Thompson
approaching the intersection.
"We know that she came from the east," Arnold continued, "because we know that she had been
visiting a sick grandchild and was returning to her own home, six blocks distant, only after the
grandchild had shown signs of recovery and gone to sleep. Presumably, Mrs. Thompson was weary
after the strain of her vigil; presumably, she walked with a heavy tread-she was a rather heavy
woman. How do you account for not hearing Mrs. Thompson approach the intersection, Mr.
Babcock?"
Henry Babcock appeared puzzled. He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully with one hand, and the light
glinted off the lens of his eyeglasses. The staring eyes of the jury and the courtroom seemed to
bother him. The question bothered him, too. "I didn't say that I didn't hear her," he answered. "Then
you did hear her."
"I didn't say that, either. Maybe I heard her. I don't remember. I was tired, too. I'd just come
from work."
"At the Century Club?"
"Yes, sir. I clean up there after the place closes at two o'clock."
"Two a.m., that is." "Yes, sir."
Two a.m. It was difficult to find an accident witness in broad daylight; but when, a few days
after taking the case, Arnold had received an urgent telephone call from Jerome Sr. at a similar hour
of a different morning, he knew there was work ahead. It was in the downstairs hall. Arnold had
just come in. He still wore his black Homburg and black topcoat over his tuxedo. Naomi had
descended most of the way down the stairs, having started when she heard him come in. He took
the call in silence, concluding it with a curt assurance that he would handle everything. He'd
dropped the telephone back into the cradle for a moment; then took it up again and dialed.
"Fran? Arnold here. Sorry to call you now, but something's come up. The Jerome case - a
witness. Yes, the police are keeping him under wraps; 15 but old man Jerome just got wind of it 16 at a
cocktail party and passed the word along. Now, here's what I want you to do. Get the wheels
rolling.17 Get everything you can on Henry Babcock. That's right. Babcock. He's a janitor, or porter,
or some such thing at the Century Club. He was waiting for a bus to go home after work when the
accident happened. I want him tabbed from the year One. 18 You know how."
Arnold had dropped the telephone back into the cradle and turned around. Naomi was at the
bottom of the stairs at that time. He stared at her without seeming to see her at all.
"Is that who she is?" Naomi had asked. "Is it Fran, your secretary?"
Arnold's eyebrows had a way of knitting together when he was annoyed. At that moment she
hadn't been sure whether he was more annoyed with her question or with Jerome's call; but it was
probably the latter. She didn't even possess nuisance value any more. 19
"Is that who who is?" he'd asked.
"The woman you've been with tonight."
She'd reached out and straightened his tie. Old-fashioned as it was, and Arnold did hate being
old-fashioned about anything.
"You're talking nonsense, Naomi. Go to bed."
It was the way to dismiss a child. He'd stalked upstairs, his mind busy with the problem of
Henry Babcock, good citizen, bent on the folly of doing his duty... 20
And so they were in the courtroom, and Arnold was solving his problem.
"...So, at approximately half-past three, having finished your work at the Century Club, you
were sitting on a bench at the bus stop waiting for transportation to take you home. Where do you
live, Mr. Babcock?"
It was an innocent question. Henry Babcock answered without hesitation.
"In Inglewood," he said. "I've got a three-room apartment."
"And you live alone?"
"Yes, sir. Since my wife died three years ago."

"Since your wife died," Arnold repeated. "My sympathies, Mr. Babcock. It must be lonely
coming home to an empty apartment."
The prosecutor stirred uneasily. He seemed to sense some ulterior motivation behind the
question. Before he could object, Henry Babcock, who sensed nothing but the discomfort of the
witness box, had answered,
"Yes, sir, it is," he said.
"But you do have friends."
"Friends?"
"At your place of employment. I believe the Century Club employs entertainers, including
several very attractive young ladies. I understand that you do little favors for them, such as
bringing coffee to the dressing rooms-"
The prosecutor leaped to his feet.
"Your Honor, I object to this line of questioning. We aren't here to ascertain the witness's
sociability,21 or to delve into his personal life."
Arnold turned toward him, smiling.
"And why aren't we?" he asked. "The witness has testified in direct contradiction to the sworn
statement of my client. Obviously, one of these two men is either mistaken or an outright liar. I see
nothing objectionable in attempting to establish the character of the witness. For that matter, I see
nothing objectionable - although the learned prosecutor seems to differ with me on this point -in a
lonely widower bringing coffee to a ladies' dressing room."
There was something diabolical about Arnold in action. Naomi was beginning to realize that. In
a few words, he'd, turned the prosecutor into an unwitting counsel for the defense. The man sat
down, chastened and confused. Arnold turned back to Henry Babcock. "Agnes Thompson
approached the intersection from the east," he resumed. "That means that she came from behind
you, doesn't it?"
"Yes, sir," Babcock answered.
"Yes, because you sat on a bench parallel to a street running north and south. The bench"Arnold referred to the blackboard again-"is on the southeast corner of the intersection. The signal,
which you have testified was red when my client's automobile struck Mrs. Thompson, is
approximately ten feet north of the bench, which would have been to your right as you sat facing
the street. Correct?"
Henry Babcock adjusted his glasses and leaned forward to follow Arnold's indications on the
blackboard map.
"Yes, that's correct," he agreed.
"And so, you were sitting on the bench, tired after the night's work."
"Yes, sir." "And alone?" "Yes, sir."
"Waiting for a bus to take you home to your apartment where you live alone."
Babcock's forehead had corrugated into a puzzled frown, but he answered:
"Yes, sir."
"You looked at the signal, and saw that it was red."
"Yes, sir."
"And before it changed to green, my client's automobile raced past the intersection, striking
down Mrs. Thompson, v horn you hadn't noticed prior to the accident-"Arnold paused, as if only at
that instant discovering a flaw in the testimony. "Now, that does seem strange," he mused aloud.
"You turned your head to the right and saw that the signal was red. Why didn't you also see Mrs.
Thompson preparing to step down into the crosswalk?"
There was a slight murmur in the courtroom. Arnold's strategy was beginning to take hold.
"I don't know," Babcock answered. "I guess she wasn't there yet when I looked."
"Then you must have looked away from the light for a time."
Babcock hesitated, sensing a trap.
"The light was red!" he insisted.

"But you didn't see Mrs. Thompson."

"It was dark."
"Isn't there a street lamp at that intersection? Think, Mr. Babcock."
"There's a street lamp but it only shines so far. After that it's dark."
"And yet Mrs. Thompson would have had to come into that arc of light, wouldn't she?"
"Maybe she came too fast for me to see her. Maybe she was running."
"Running?" Arnold caught up the word and dangled it before the ears of the court. "Now, why
would she have been running, Mr. Babcock? Haven't we already established that it was late, very
late, and that she must have been weary from sitting up with a sick grandchild?"
Henry Babcock was an uncomplicated man, who, very likely, had never sat in a witness box
before in his life. He'd come to do his duty, and yet, by answering a few minor questions he hadn't
thought through, he'd gotten himself into trouble.
He glanced pleadingly at the prosecutor, who was helpless at the moment, and then got himself
into worse trouble.
"Maybe she was afraid."
'But why should she have been afraid?" Arnold demanded.
'Because it was so late. It's not safe for a woman out alone at that hour. Things happen. You
read about it in the paper all the time."
Arnold listened carefully to Henry Babcock, so carefully that he caught up the entire
courtroom in his attitude22 and everyone listened, carefully.
"I read about it?" he echoed. "What do I read about?" The accentuated pronoun forced Henry
Babcock to a correction.
"I mean, people do," he explained. "Anybody."
"I think what you mean," Arnold interpolated, "is that you read about it all the time. Now, just
what do you read?"
Henry Babcock was perspiring freely. He didn't bother to wipe his brow.
"Things happen," he said. "Robberies, attacks-"
"And you always read about these things, is that right, Mr. Babcock? When you're all finished
bringing coffee to the ladies' dressing room, and cleaning up the deserted club, you go home to
your apartment, alone, and read about terrible things that happen to women who go out on the
streets at night-"
Arnold's voice- was an instrument played with professional skill. It was "impossible not to be
drawn along with it. But he got no farther before the prosecutor was on his feet shouting an
objection. Arnold smiled at him with an expression of tolerant patience, and only Naomi
understood what was happening. The innocent must always be made to appear guilty. This was
Arnold's secret of success.
"...I don't want a scene, Naomi. This woman need never have come between us if you hadn't
insisted on a showdown. I'm not planning to divorce you, or to allow you to divorce me. I can't
afford a scandal, and you have the children to consider even if my career means nothing to you..."
The innocent must always be made to appear guilty.
"Your Honor," Arnold continued, with mock humility. "I'm deeply sorry if my remarks have
caused prejudice in the minds of the jury. It wasn't my intention to infer that the witness "as socially
undesirable tendencies.23 Nevertheless, I'm still curious as to how he could have turned his head to
observe the traffic signal and not have seen a woman about to step out into th crosswalk. If he was
tired, he might have been dozing; but then he wouldn't have seen the signal. If, however, he
was alert enough to notice the signal, why didn't he see Mrs. Thompson?"
With these words, Arnold swung back to Henry Babcock.
"Or did you see her, Mr. Babcock?"
Henry Babcock drew back in the box.
"No," he said.

"Are you sure, Mr. Babcock? A few moments ago you were positive that you didn't see her; a
few moments later you thought that you might have heard her. Now you can't seem to explain why
you didn't see her. Isn't it possible that you did see her? That perhaps you spoke to her?"
"No-"
"That you approached her?"
"No! I never left the bench!"
"You never left the bench, and yet, with an automobile approaching, and surely Mrs. Thompson
could have seen the headlight, the victim stepped off the curb and into its path. Why did she do that,
Mr. Babcock, unless, as you have suggested, she was startled out of her wits? Was there anyone else
in the vicinity at the time?"
Babcock was no longer bewildered; he was furious.
"No!" he shouted.
"Then no one could have startled Mrs. Thompson unless it was yourself."
"I didn't say she was startled."
"But you suggested it. You suggested that she might have been running. These are interesting
suggestions, in view of the fact that you knew no one other than yourself was in the vicinity. Since
you've volunteered this much light on the mystery of what happened at that intersection the night
Mrs. Thompson died, perhaps, remembering that you're under oath, you would like to tell the whole
truth."
Arnold waited for an answer, and the court waited with him.
"I told the truth!" Babcock insisted. "The whole truth!"
"Thank you, Mr. Babcock."
Arnold stepped back. He seemed ready to release the witness; only Naomi knew it was a
feint.24 There had been another telephone call only this morning. She'd overheard enough to know
Henry Babcock wasn't going to get off so easily.25
"...Yes, Fran, he's going to be tough to crack26-too clean. Nothing on him unless I can color up
that job of his. What? Do you have proof? Good girl! Of course it's enough. I'll make it enough."
And then he'd looked up to find Naomi staring at him accusingly.
'What are you going to do to that poor man?" she had asked.
"I'm going to win my case," he had answered.
"Your client is guilty."
"Not until the jury brings in a verdict. Don't look so shocked, Naomi. You can't be that naive!
A courtroom is just like a battlefield. When a soldier's ordered to take an objective, he can't
consider if innocent people will be hurt. There are no innocent people; there are only the quick
and the dead. I'm one of the quick. 2' Because of that, you live in a beautiful house, wear lovely
clothes, drive an expensive sedan-"
"Who is the woman, Arnold?"
And that was when he had stopped evading her.
"I'm not cruel, Naomi; I'm honest. I could lie to you. It would be easy, easier than you know..."
Sitting among the spectators in the courtroom, Naomi learned how easy it was.
"Mr. Babcock-" Arnold swung back to face the witness, his sudden movement and the sound
of his voice magnetizing attention. "How long have you been employed at the Century Club?"
The change of tactic puzzled Babcock.
"Ten months," he said.
"I don't suppose your salary is anything remarkable."
"I don't need much."
"Still, it's not comparable to-let us say, an instructor of mathematics and mechanical drawing at
Freeman High School, which position you held for fourteen years prior to your employment at the
Century Club. Tell me, Mr. Babcock, why does a man of your background work as a porter in a
cheap nightclub? Why are you reduced to pushing a broom and running errands for showgirls? Or
does this explain better?"

No one was prepared for Arnold's next move, least of all Henry Babcock. When Arnold
reached out and snatched the glasses from his eyes, Babcock rose from the chair, grasped at empty
air, and barely steadied himself against the side of the bench, short of falling.
"My glasses-" he gasped.
"Your eyes, Mr. Babcock!" Arnold corrected. "Isn't it true that you relinquished your
profession because you were going blind?"
"No! I had cataracts-"
"Because your vision was eighty-five per cent impaired 28 when you underwent surgery eight
months ago? Because you were totally color blind?"
Arnold had won his case. Naomi could sense the feeling f the court even before her ears
picked up the murmur.
By that time, Henry Babcock was trying to explain that an operation had restored vision to one
eye and he was awaiting the required full year before a second operation that would restore the
other; but few people heard.
"I'll be good as new!" he insisted. "I'll get my teaching job back-"
"But you weren't 'good as new' the night you claim to have seen my client go through a red
light!" "With my glasses I can see color!" "Out of which eye?"
"The left eye. The one that had the operation." "But the signal was to your
right." "I turned my head." "But you didn't see Mrs. Thompson."
"I couldn't. I can't see out of the sides-only straight ahead."
"Only straight ahead!" Arnold pounced on the phrase, as if he had been waiting for it all this
time. "And how far straight ahead, Mr. Babcock? As far as from where you are sitting to
the defendant-that's what you said, didn't you?"
Henry Babcock leaned forward, a grotesque figure of a man trying to peer through a fog. "With
my glasses-" he began.
"Your Honor," Arnold announced, "I move that the testimony f the witness be stricken out from
the record. It's obvious everyone in this courtroom that he is not capable of giving reliable
information on anything of a visual nature. The distance from the witness stand to the defendant,
which Mr. Babcock has, under oath, declared to be the same as the distance from the bench on
which he was seated at the time of the accident to the point at which the accident occurred, can't
possibly measure in excess of thirty feet. I invite the prosecution to check me on this." There was
no need to check. Naomi, remembering, realized when Arnold had set his trap. He was always
dangerous when he smiled. "I have already checked the distance between the bench and the place
of the accident," he added, "and it is, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exactly sixty-two feet! Not
only is the witness color blind, not only is he incapable of seeing out of the sides of his eyes; he is
also completely unable to estimate simple distances. Unless he's deliberately lying about
everything, unless he did leave the bench and does know some reason why Mrs. Thompson stepped
out in front of a fast moving automobile, the most charitable conclusion we can reach is that this
poor man's mind has been enfeebled by the double tragedy of losing his wife and almost losing his
sight, and he is incompetent to testify in a court of law!"
The prosecution roared a protest. Arnold turned toward mm with a gesture of contemptuous
dismissal.
Your witness!" he said.
The jury was out fifteen minutes. After the acquittal, Arnold received congratulations with his
customary indifference. The courtroom emptied. Naomi watched a defeated little man make his
way toward the corridor: Henry Babcock, ex-good citizen. She caught his eyes, magnified by the
lenses of the glasses, as he went by. It had been murder. He went out and she waited alone for
Arnold.
"So that's how you take an objective," she said. "Did you have to destroy his character as well
as his testimony? Do you think he'll ever get that teaching job back now?"
"If he's man enough," Arnold said. "That's his problem, not mine."

"Your problem is only how to get rid of a bothering wife, isn't it?"
Arnold didn't seem to consider the question worth answering. They went out together. The
sidewalk was deserted now except, for a dejected man waiting at the bus stop, a man for whom
Arnold didn't have so much as a glance. At the entrance to the parking lot, he looked up and
frowned at the sky. It was starting to rain lightly.
"I'm glad you decided to visit court today, Naomi," he said. "I've got a five o'clock
appointment and it's the very devil to catch a cab in bad weather."
"Five o'clock?" Naomi echoed. "That gives you time to pick up flowers. Shall I stop at a
florist?"
"No, thank you, Naomi. Just get your car, please. I'll wait."
And Arnold waited. He stood at the edge of the parking lot driveway,29 so supremely confident
that he didn't so much as step back when Naomi brought the sedan around. He didn't even have
time to change his self-satisfied expression to surprise when she suddenly cut the wheels 30 and
slammed her foot on the accelerator.
After the police officer had extracted Arnold's body from under the wheels, Naomi tried to
explain.
"It was a mistake!" she sobbed. "I meant to put my foot on the brake! It was a terrible
mistake!"
A small crowd had gathered, but there was only one eyewitness. The officer turned to him, and
for a moment Naomi caught the glimpse of the man's eyes. The sympathy she'd given him in the
courtroom was in them.
"If this woman is the victim's wife, surely she's telling the truth he said. "Anyway, what I
might have seen couldn't contradict her.' Henry Babcock removed his glasses and blinked at
the blur which was the policeman. "It's a legal fact," he said, "that I'm not a reliable witness."
NOTES
1. a lawyer has been defined as one who... , ...
2. Our detestable forensic here is singular only in that...
, ...

3. a word that felt strangely at home in her mind

4. the late Agnes Thompson
5. a Mercedes-Benz - ( )
6. a retainer
7. a heel Am. si. , ,
8. a conservative tie
9. as per Arnold's instructions
10. a cold-blooded hit and run killer , , ,

11. to have a showdown coll. ,

12. a right front fender ( )
13. unless you want me to throw this case back in your teeth ,

14. no matter how she tried to keep it (the mind) in line

15. to keep under wraps
16. to get wind of smth -.
17. to get the wheels rolling
18. I want him tabbed from the year One. .
19. She didn't even possess nuisance value any more. .
20. bent on the folly of doing his duty ,

21. to ascertain the witness's sociability

22. he caught up the entire courtroom in his attitude on

23. the witness had socially undesirable tendencies

Selected vocabulary
bewildered adj , ,
a witness stand Am., a witness box fir. : The crime, by
any name, was happening to a bewildered citizen, one Henry Babcock Whose place of execution was the
witness stand in Judge Button's court.
to strike down : : The late Agnes Thompson had been struck down by a Mercedes-Benz.
to select ,
scrupulous adj , : He was a lawyer who selected his clients with scrupulous care.
shrewd adj , ; His client's fate was in the hands of as shrewd a legal talent as money could
buy.
to back np : "You saw my client's automobile... stop, back up to a spot parallel with the
body, and then drive on again..."
to trace , : The police had already traced his car to the garage where it was
being repaired.
thud n : "I didn't see anyone. I thought I felt a thud, but it's open country out near the airport.
Sometimes you hit a rabbit or even a cat late at night."
to deal (with) (): "I don't deal with clients who aren't honest with me..."
incredulity , : Babcock might have been Arnold's age, Naomi realized with a sense of
incredulity.
jury n (}: "That doesn't help the jury much, does it, Mr, Babcock? Can't you be
more specific?'
a defendant , : "Was it as far... as from where you're sitting to where the
defendant is sitting?"
a marriage of convenience : Was it really as simple as Arnold had said - merely a marriage
of convenience? Naomi thought;
to keep up (with) (): .she tried to keep up with Arnold's dazzling success...
to clarify , : "Mr. Babcock, I want :you to clarify one detail."
to account (for) : "How do you account for not hearing Mrs. Thompson approach the
intersection. Mr. Babcock?"
a witness :
in broad daylight : It was difficult to find an accident witness in broad daylight.
urgent adj , : Arnold received an urgent telephone call from Jerome Sr.
to come u , : "Fran? Arnold here. Sorry to call you now, but
something's come up. The Jerome case - a witness."
to reach out : Naomi reached out and straightened his tie.
a prosecutor : The prosecutor stirred uneasily. He seemed to sense some motivation behind the
question.
outright adj , ' "Obviously, one of these two men is either mistaken or outright
liar."
to differ with (from) smb on (about) smth , -. . : "...the learned prosecutor seems to differ with me on this point."
unwitting adj ,
a counsel for the defence , : In a few words he'd turned the prosecutor
into an unwitting counsel for the defence.
to adjust
to lean forward , : Henry Babcock adjusted his glasses and leaned
forward to follow Arnold's indications on the blackboard.
to get oneself into trouble , : He'd, come to do his duty, and yet. by
answering a few minor questions Babcock hadn't thought through, he'd gotten himself into trouble.
to divorce (): "I'm not planning to divorce you, or to-allow you to divorce me." Arnold said. "I
can't afford a scandal."

alert adj , : "If, however, he was alert enough to notice the signal, why
didn't he see Mrs. Thompson?"
in the vicinity : "Was there anyone else in the vicinity at that time?"
furious adj , : Babcock was no longer bewildered, he was
furious. "No!" he shouted.
under oath : "...perhaps, remembering that you're under oath, you would like to tell the whole
truth."
background n , :
to run errands (for) ): "Tell me, Mr. Babcock, why does a man of your
background work as a porter in a cheap night club? Why are you reduced to pushing a broom and running
errands for show-girls?"
to snatch
to steady oneself- , : When Arnold reached out and snatched the
glasses from his eyes, Babcock rose from his chair, grasped at empty air, and barely steadied himself against
the side of the bench, short of falling.
to go blind , : "Isn't it true. Mr. Babcock, that you relinquished your profession
because you were going blind?"
to be color blind , : ...you were totally color blind.
to set a trap ; Naomi realized when Arnold had set a trap.
to estimate (); "...he is also completely unable to estimate simple distances."
an acquittal ; After the acquittal, Arnold received congratulations with his customary
indifference.
to make one's way (toward) , -.; Naomi watched a defeated little man make his
way toward the corridor: Henry Babcock. ex-good citizen.
to catch a glimpse (of) ; ...for a moment Naomi caught a glimpse of the man's eyes.
to remove , ; Babcock removed his glasses and blinked at the blur which was the policeman.
reliable adj ; -It's a legal fact," Babcock said, "that I'm not a reliable witness."

II. Make up situations based on the text using the following words and word
combinations:
1. shrewd, to select smb with scrupulous care, to deal with smb;
2. to deny doing smth, to trace smth, to feel a thud;
3. to clarify smth, to account for smth, to be weary, to walk with a heavy tread;
4. to be startled out of one's wits, in the vicinity, to be furious, to get oneself into trouble;
5. a marriage of convenience, with a sense of incredulity, to be responsible for smth, to keep
up with smb;
6. to divorce smb, can't afford smth, to mean smth to smb;
7. an urgent telephone call, an accident witness, in broad daylight, to come up;
8. an outright liar, to object to smth, to differ with smb on smth;
9. one's background, to run errands for smb;
10. to be color blind, to reach out, to snatch one's glasses, to steady oneself;
11. to have cataracts, to restore vision to one eye, out of the sides of one's eyes;
12. to estimate simple distances, to be incompetent, to testify in a court of law;
13. to make one's way toward, to catch a glimpse of smth, to remove one's glasses, reliable
III. Give detailed answers to the following questions:
1. How did Babcock happen to be the only witness to the accident? 2. What do we know about
Henry Babcock? 3. How did he behave during the cross-examination? 4. What did Arnold Shawn
try to prove to the jury? 5. Who was Agnes Thompson and how did she come to be struck down
by the car? Can you draw a plan of the intersection where the accident occurred? 6. What do we
know about the defendant, Jerome Kenneth? 7. How did he happen to knock down Agnes
Thompson? What version did he stick to at the trial? 8. What do we know about the defendant's
lawyer, Arnold Shawn? 9. What can you say about Naomi Shawn? 10. Did Arnold win the case?
In what way did he receive congratulations? 11. What conversation took place between Naomi
and her husband as they were leaving the court? 12. What happened at the entrance to the parking

lot when Arnold Shawn was waiting for his wife to bring around her car? 13. What answer did
Babcock give the policeman when he was asked about the accident?
DISCUSSION
IV.
Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
1. Babcock was unable to prove that his evidence was true, 2. Babcock's reputation was rained
after the trial. 3. It was not easy for Arnold Shawn to win the case. 4. Arnold Shawn stopped at
nothing to succeed in life. 5. Naomi's life was ruined.
V.
Answer the following interpretation questions:
1. Do you think that Arnold Shawn was an outstanding lawyer? 2. How can you account for the
acquittal of Jerome Kenneth? 3. What do you think of Naomi Shawn? Was she in any way to blame
for the failure of their marriage? 4. Do you think it was a mere accident that Arnold Shawn was
killed? Prove your point of view. 5. Why do you think Babcock answered the policeman's question
the way he did? Comment on it.
4. Give character-sketches of Arnold Shawn and Henry Babcock (their appearance,
social position, life's credo, character traits).
5. Talking points:
1. Do you think the author has created true-to-life characters? 2. What does the author want to
say calling Babcock an ex-good citizen? 3. What evidence of the author's criticism of law practice
do you find in the story? 4. How do you see the duty of a lawyer? 5. What is your idea of a good
citizen?