"How?"
"It was a part of my play. It came from my mind. It was a numerical designation for a division I invented. That is its significance and its importance and its value. It is mine, and not another man's."
"You began working on this play of yours in July of 1946…"
"Possibly August."
"… and completed it in November sometime, is that what you said?"
"Yes."
"You then had a hundred and fifty copies mimeographed, and in January of 1947 you began distributing those copies."
"That's right."
"And you distributed well over a hundred of them?"
"A hundred and ten, a hundred and twenty, something like that."
"Mimeographed copies?"
"Yes." Willow had returned again to the mimeographed copies, and now Arthur was certain a trap was being baited. He wondered why Brackman did not object, wondered why Brackman did not rise to give him some clue as to the nature of the trap. He looked at Brackman hopefully, but the man seemed completely unaware that Willow had again returned to the same topic. Couldn't he see that this was a persistent and recurring thread, similar to the thread in Catchpole, where Janus is constantly badgering D'Agostino about..
"… to different people?" Willow said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The question was, Mr. Constantine: Were these hundred and twenty mimeographed copies distributed to different people?"
"Yes, they were."
"Beginning in January of 1947?"
"Yes."
"And ending when?"
"When I found a producer."
"Which was when?"
"May of 1947. May 11th, to be exact, I won't forget that date. That's when the play was optioned by Mr. Frederick Gerard, who eventually produced it later that year."
"You personally arranged for or actually made delivery of one hundred and twenty mimeographed copies of your play between January and May of 1947?"
"Yes, I did."
"Do you believe Mr. Driscoll somehow came across one of these copies at that time?"
"You'll have to ask him about that."
"I am asking you."
"How would I know whether or not he saw a copy at that time?"
"Mr. Constantine, instead of engaging me in argument, would you please answer my question: Do you believe that Mr. Driscoll saw a copy of your play at that time?"
"He could have, yes."
"Do you think he did?"
"It's possible that he did."
"In addition to having seen a performance of your play?"
"Yes, in addition."
"Do you feel he could have successfully plagarized your work after having seen only one performance of the play?"
"Yes."
"That would have been sufficient?"
"Yes. Besides, it ran for twelve days. He could have seen it any number of times."
"He could have been so impressed by it the first time that he ran back to see it again and again, is that it?"
"Ignoring the sarcasm, that is not it. I don't know what goes on in Mr. Driscoll's head, either now or in 1947."
"Do you know how old Mr. Driscoll was in 1947?"
"No, I do not."
"He was eighteen."
"I was eighteen when I got drafted into the Army to fight a war," Arthur said.
"Which is commendable, but hardly to the point. Did you go into the Army as an officer, Mr. Constantine?"
"No. I was sent to O.C.S. after my basic training."
"And emerged as a second lieutenant."
"Yes."
"And you were sent to the Pacific in time for the Marshall Islands landings."
"Yes."
"Did your men ever call you 'Loot'?"
"Yes, they did."
"The way they call Mason 'Loot' in your play?"
"No. In my play, they use the word in a derogatory manner. If we're going to get into this again…"
"Into what again?"
"Into hastily trained officers, and platoons composed of cross-sections of America, and the prevalence of minority group members, and ninety-day wonders and soldiers who use obscenity, all in an attempt to show that Mr. Driscoll was only following his natural bent, he was only creating a wholly original work of fiction out of common everyday experience, I'm sorry, Mr. Willow, but I don't agree with you, and I see exactly what you're trying to do."
"I am trying to ask some questions," Willow said, "if I may be permitted, your Honor."
"Please go on, Mr. Willow. I find nothing objectionable in your line of questioning."
"Your Honor," Brackman said, rising, "Mr. Constantine is not an attorney, though perhaps he did feel Mr. Willow was badgering him."
"I am not aware of any badgering," McIntyre said. "Please go on, Mr. Willow."
"Would you not agree, Mr. Constantine, that the word 'Loot' is a common expression in the United States Army, whether it be used affectionately or derogatively?"
"I would agree," Arthur said tightly.
"Your claim, however, is that both in your play and in The Paper Dragon, the men use this expression in order to annoy the lieutenant. They use it derogatively. In fact, you pointed out an example of its use in your play, and an example of its use in the novel. Your claim is that they constitute specific similarity of language, isn't that so?"
"That's right. And they do."
"The language you referred to in your play was, and I quote, 'How about lengthening that to Lieutenant Mason?' to which Corporal Janus replies, 'Isn't that what I said, Loot?' You indicated in your testimony yesterday that the word 'Loot' was stressed, isn't that so?"
"That's absolutely correct."
"Now would you please show me the page in your play where those lines appear."
"They're in the second act," Arthur said.
"Please find the page."
Arthur was angry, and worried, and not a little confused, and very disappointed in Brackman who, he felt, had apologized again rather than objecting, and who had completely missed the point of what was happening, missed the trap that Arthur was sure Willow had baited and somehow sprung, though he still did not know what the trap was. That was supposed to be Brackman's job, god-damnit, to see a closing trap and to prevent its jaws from clamping down, what the hell kind of a lawyer was he? Angrily, he flipped through the pages, and then suddenly stopped.
"Have you found it?" Willow asked.
"It wouldn't be in this version," Arthur said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Those two lines were not in the original mimeographed version of the play."
"Am I to understand that there is yet another version of Catchpole?"
"Not another version, actually. But certain line changes were made in rehearsal and appeared in the play as it was produced. These would not be in any of the original mimeographed copies."
"In what copy can these line changes be found?"
"I imagine in the actors' scripts, or the stage manager's. The ones that were used during the actual rehearsal of the play."
"Do you have any of these copies, Mr. Constantine?"
"No, I haven't."
"Does anyone?"
"Not to my knowledge. The members of the company may have retained them, I wouldn't know about that. This was almost twenty years ago."
"In other words, these two lines to which you refer are not to be found in the copy of the play now before this Court."
"That's correct. But the lines were spoken on the stage."
"And you heard them spoken?"