"Possibly. But that doesn't necessarily…"
"If a man sat down to write a play or a novel about the Army, would he not be likely to include men of various backgrounds, such as those who might be found in a real platoon?"
"Yes, but…"
"Would he not be likely to include a member of a minority group?"
Arthur hesitated, and then looked out at Brackman.
"Mr. Constantine," Willow said, "would you answer the question, please?"
"I could answer that with a yes or no," Arthur said, "but the answer would be misleading."
Willow looked up in what seemed like genuine surprise. He stared at Arthur for a moment, and then said, "Please answer it any way you wish."
"A writer would include a member of a minority group only if it served a purpose," Arthur said.
"What purpose does Sergeant D'Agostino serve in your play?"
"He is a catalyst."
"For what?"
"For everything that happens on the island. He's the man who sacrifices himself for the lieutenant. He's the man who—"
"What does this have to do with his being Italian?"
"It adds to the conflict. Corporal Janus harps on this. It causes further conflict between the lieutenant and the squad."
"The fact that D'Agostino is Italian?"
"Yes. Driscoll does the same thing in his novel. Only the character is Negro."
"You mean that Mr. Driscoll uses a Negro character to further the conflict between the lieutenant and the squad, is that true?"
"That's it, yes."
"By having a scene in which the lieutenant is suspected of bigotry, is that what you're referring to? Where Sergeant Morley believes the lieutenant is a bigot?"
"Yes, that's the scene."
"And you had earlier used this same device in Catchpole, is that right? This is why you chose to put an Italian in your fictitious squad. To point up a conflict with the lieutenant along lines of possible prejudice."
"Yes."
Willow walked to the defense table. "Here's a copy of your play," he said. "Would you kindly show me the scene or scenes wherein Lieutenant Mason and Sergeant D'Agostino confront each other in such a manner?"
"What manner do you mean?"
"Show me a scene where the lieutenant is suspected of prejudice."
"It isn't a scene, there are only references."
"Show me the references."
"I'll have to look for them."
"Please take all the time you need."
Arthur accepted the manuscript. He began leafing through it. He could feel sweat running down the sides of his chest. He wiped a hand across his lip. "I don't know if this is what you're looking for…"
"I'm looking for any lines in your play that would indicate Sergeant D'Agostino suspects the lieutenant of being prejudiced against Italians. Or rather, Mr. Constantine, you are looking for them."
"May I read this?"
"Certainly."
"This is in Act II, it's Corporal Janus speaking to sergeant D'Agostino. He says, 'I understand you, Mike. You're a Wop and I'm a Pole, and we just don't fit.' "
"And this—"
"There's more."
"Please read it."
"He answers—"
"D'Agostino answers?"
"Yes. He answers, 'We're just poor little orphans, huh, Danny?' and Janus says, 'We're misfits. They'll never understand us as long as we live.' That's the reference."
"The reference to what?"
"Prejudice."
"As I understand it, Mr. Constantine, this series of speeches you have just read to us constitute the sole reference to prejudice…"
"There are others."
"Find them, please."
"Perhaps more specific," Arthur said.
"Yes, please find them."
He wiped his lip again. He knew exactly why he had made D'Agostino Italian. He had done it to point up the conflict, the very conflict Willow was harping on, and which Driscoll had stolen and amplified in his book, making the character a Negro to cash in on the burgeoning civil rights movement, where were those other scenes? "Well, here," he said, "on page 2-16 (there's another short encounter between Janus and D'Agostino that I think points up this business of racial prejudice between the lieutenant—"
"Racial prejudice?"
"No, I mean his prejudice against Italians."
"Please read it, Mr. Constantine."
"D'Agostino is talking about the feast of La Madonna di Carmela which they have every year on 115th Street in Harlem. I don't know whether or not you're familiar with it."
"No, I'm not."
"Well, he's talking about the feast — he refers to it as 'the festa' that's the Italian word for it — and he says, 'Whenever I went to the festa, Danny, I felt as if I was stepping into a world I knew inside out and backwards, you know what I mean? All the sounds and all the smells and all the people. It was where I belonged.' And Janus replies, 'Yeah, not on a goddamn island in the middle of the Pacific with a lieutenant trying to get us all killed.' "
"This is the specific reference?" Willow said.
"Yes, it links D'Agostino's Italian background with the lieutenant."
"In what way?"
"D'Agostino is talking about where he belongs, and Janus subtly implies that he does not belong here with the lieutenant."
"Are there any other references, Mr. Constantine?"
"There are several more, I'm sure. This was a thread I put into the play, a constant nagging by Janus, a constant reminder that the lieutenant is aware of D'Agostino as an Italian."
"If you can find any more references, we would be grateful," Willow said.
"Well, if you'll give me a few moments…"
"Certainly."
"Oh, yes," Arthur said, "that's right. The scene with the Jap, when they capture the Jap. Just a second now." He began turning pages. "Yes," he said, "no, wait a minute, yes, here it is, the end of Act II, just before the end of the act. They've captured a Japanese soldier, and they're trying to interrogate him, but they can't find anyone who speaks Japanese. So Meredith, he's one of the men in the squad, says, 'Do you think the Loot speaks Japanese?' and Janus says, 'Don't be silly, the Loot speaks white American Protestant.' Then he turns to D'Agostino and says, 'How about you, Mike? Japanese is just like Italian, ain't it?' That's the thread being picked up again, of course, the constant juxtaposition of D'Agostino being Italian and the lieutenant being aware of it, that's the reference here."
"I see," Willow said. "Are there any others?"
"I'm sure there must be, but those are all that I can think of at the moment." He leaned forward to hand the manuscript back to Willow.
"No, please hold on to it," Willow said. "There are several other things I'd like you to find."
"If I knew you were going to ask me for specific references…"
"That's what we're dealing with here, Mr. Constantine. Specifics."
"I thought we were dealing with plagiarism."
"That is your allegation."
"Wouldn't it be more to the point to compare the two works instead of—?"
"Mr. Constantine, it would be more to the point to allow me to conduct my own cross-examination, if that's all right with you."
"Certainly."
"Thank you. You said yesterday in testifying about thematic similarities that your hero, and I am reading from the record now, 'is a new lieutenant who feels that human life is more important than the quarrels of nations, and this theme is stated in Act I, Scene 4, pages 21 and 22 of Catchpole.' Would you please turn to those pages now?"
"Pages 21 and 22?"
"That's right."
"I have them."
"Would you read to me the line or lines that indicate the lieutenant felt human life was more important than the quarrels of nations?"