“I can’t say.”
“Are you certain that the figure had a knife before it reached the coffee table?”
“Objected to, as already asked and answered a dozen different times,” Burger said.
“I’ll let him answer this one question,” Judge Markham ruled, leaning forward and staring steadily at Duncan.
“Yes,” Duncan said, “he had a knife in his hand.”
“You’re certain of the identity of the figure you saw?” Mason asked.
“I am.”
“It was the defendant?”
“It was.”
“How was he dressed?”
“Only in a night shirt.”
“His feet were bare?”
“Yes.”
“How close was he to you when you first saw him distinctly?”
“He crossed in front of my window.”
“And threw a shadow on your face?”
“Yes.”
“But at that time you couldn’t see him distinctly. You were in bed and you wakened from a sound sleep, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“How far away was he when you first saw him clearly?”
“I can’t tell you exactly.”
“Can you point out on the map?”
“Yes, he was approximately here.” Mason marked the spot with a crayon, then, by referring to the scale of the map, said, “In other words, he was approximately thirtyfive feet away?”
“It may have been that, yes.”
“His back was to you?”
“Yes, I believe it was.”
“And yet you recognized him?”
“I recognized him.”
“You understand the importance of being absolutely correct in your testimony?”
“I do.”
“You understand the seriousness of this trial?”
“Certainly.”
“And yet you are willing to swear positively that this figure which you saw, wearing only a nightgown, a figure walking away from you, at a distance of thirtyfive feet, in the moonlight, was the defendant?”
“I do.”
“You looked at the clock when you got up?”
“Yes.”
“And again when you came back to bed?”
“I think so, yes.”
“What time was it when you first got up?”
“Exactly three o’clock.”
“What time was it when you came back to bed?”
“Why, just about the same time, I don’t suppose over thirty seconds had elapsed.”
“And you noticed the hands of the clock for the second time, just before you got in bed?”
“Yes.”
“As a matter of fact, wasn’t it quarter past twelve?”
“No.”
“When you first reported what you had seen, didn’t you place the time at quarter past twelve?”
“I may have.”
“At that time, your recollections were more vivid and fresh than they are now, were they not?”
“No.”
“They weren’t?”
“No.”
“Do I understand you to say that your recollection becomes more vivid with the passage of time?”
“It does in this case, yes.”
“Because when you learned the killing must have taken place at approximately three o’clock you transposed the position of the hands of the clock in your mind so that you could be a star witness in this case and…”
Judge Markham pounded with his gavel. “I think, Counselor, that about the star witness is unnecessary.”
“I wish to show the motive of the witness.”
“It isn’t so!” Duncan shouted. “I know now that it was three o’clock in the morning. There’s no chance it was quarter past twelve.”
“Your eyesight’s good?” Mason asked.
“Very good.”
“And it was on the morning of the fourteenth?”
“Certainly.”
“You wore glasses, didn’t you?”
“I have worn glasses for thirtyfive years.”
“And you were wearing glasses habitually during the period covered in your testimony?”
“Yes.”
“Did you put on your glasses when you got up to look out of the window?”
“No… Yes, I guess I did. I think I must have.”
“Why did you put them on?”
“To see with, of course.”
Once more there was a titter which ran around the courtroom, but this time, something in the tense attitude of Perry Mason caused the titter to subside even before the bailiff could rap for order. “In other words, then,” Mason said, “when you were aroused by a marauder prowling about your room in the dead of night, the very first thing you did after wakening was to put on your glasses so that you could see to better advantage, is that right?”
“Well, what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing is wrong with it, Mr. Duncan, I am asking you if that is what happened.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“In other words, you knew that your eyes would be virtually valueless without the glasses.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No,” Mason said, smiling, “you didn’t say it, but your actions said it more plainly than words. You put on your glasses because you knew you couldn’t see without them. Isn’t that right?”
“I knew they’d help me to see.”
“You knew that you couldn’t see clearly any great distance without them, didn’t you?”
“Well, my eyesight’s a lot better with them on than with them off.”
“And with your glasses your eyesight was quite good?” Mason asked.
“Oh, yes.”
“Would you say it was perfect?”
“I’d say that it was normal.”
“Perfectly normal?”
“If you want to express it that way, yes.”
“Then,” Mason said, pointing his forefinger at Duncan, “why was it that, immediately after you had reported to the district attorney what you had seen, you were sent to an oculist to have new glasses fitted?”
Burger shouted, “He wasn’t instructed to do any such thing! I resent that insinuation!”
“Why did you do it?” Mason asked Duncan.
“I didn’t say that I did it.”
Mason, pounding his fist on the counsel table, said, “I say you did it, then. Why did you do it?”
Duncan squirmed uncomfortably. “Well,” he said, “I wanted to, that’s all.”
“Why did you want to?”
“I’d been wanting to for some time and hadn’t had a chance to do it. I’d been too busy. You understand I’m a very busy attorney.”
“Oh,” Mason said, “you’d been putting it off, then, for some time.”
“Yes.”
“You’re quite busy?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you been quite busy?”
“For years.”
“And did you put off getting these glasses during the time you’d been busy?”
“During much of it, yes.”
“You’d put off getting these glasses for years, then, is that right?”
“Yes… No, that isn’t what I meant.”
“Never mind what you meant. What are the facts of the case? How long had you put off getting new glasses?”
“I don’t know.”
“When were you last fitted for glasses before the fourteenth of this month?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“As much as five years ago?”
“I don’t know.”
“As much as ten years ago?”
“I don’t think so.”
“And the very first thing you did after telling the district attorney what you saw was to go out and consult an oculist and get glasses. Isn’t that right?”
“It wasn’t the first thing I did.”
“It was just about the first thing you did, wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know.”
“It was that evening, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was that evening.”
“And did you find an oculist in his office on that evening?”
“Yes.”
Mason’s smile was fiendish. “You found him there, Mr. Duncan, because you had previously telephoned and made an appointment with him, isn’t that right?”
Duncan hesitated a minute and then said, “No, I didn’t telephone to him.”
Mason frowned for a moment, then triumphantly asked, “Who did telephone to him?”
Blaine jumped to his feet. “Your Honor,” he said, “that’s objected to as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. It makes no difference who telephoned to the oculist.”