Capítulo 23 de 27 · 4'38"
After Christine's testimony, Vole breaks down in the dock — "God, it's like a nightmare" — while Wilfrid tells his nurse the jury believed her. Then a stranger phones at night: she claims to hold "the goods" on the German wife and offers to sell them at Euston Station. Told it is a wild-goose chase, Wilfrid goes anyway.
Vole Breaks Down in the Dock
❝ Monólogo · 4 frases Wilfrid Won't Rest Until It's Over
The trial over for the day, Vole collapses in the dock, calling the whole thing a nightmare. Back home, Wilfrid and his nurse discuss the case: the jury liked Vole but did not believe him, and they believed the wife. A late-night call brings a stranger who claims to have evidence about Christine and wants money for it. Wilfrid calls it a wild-goose chase, then heads to Euston Station.
Two things are happening at once. In court, Vole's last shred of dignity is gone: "God, it's like a nightmare. Some ghastly, horrible dream." Out of court, Wilfrid is already doing what he does best — reading the jury like an instrument. "No, but they believed her. They liked Leonard Vole but they didn't believe him," he says, and the distinction is the whole case in one line. He is certain Christine lied, but not why, and the uncertainty keeps him from resting. The phone call offers an answer in the form of a shady deal, and his refusal to be sensible — going after it despite his health — is the same stubbornness that makes him a great barrister.
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
“No, but they believed her. They liked Leonard Vole but they didn't believe him.”
It separates liking a man from believing him, and in that gap the verdict already sits.
Neutral
“My client's life is at stake. That's all that matters... his life.”
He repeats the last two words and turns a lawyer's duty into something painfully personal.
Formal
“If I can't stand up to make my final appeal for him, I'll make it sitting down.”
The line shrugs off his own body and quietly insists that duty will be done either way.
Neutral
“God, it's like a nightmare. Some ghastly, horrible dream.”
He sums up the whole ordeal in one word: a nightmare he cannot wake from.
Informal
My client's life is at stake. That's all that matters... his life. He's entitled to the best that I can do. If I can't stand up to make my final appeal for him, I'll make it sitting down. If I become short of breath I'll take a pill, or two pills, or all of them and the box too.
Siguiente · 24on the slyLa escena: Sir Wilfrid Buys the LettersThe jury liked Vole but did not believe him, and they believed Christine's testimony. Wilfrid says the case looks too open-and-shut, and the travel agency detail makes it worse.
The woman claims to have documentary evidence about Christine and will sell it. Although he calls it a wild-goose chase, he cannot ignore any chance to help his client.
She says she has the goods on Christine, the German wife — the lowdown on her past — and she has it in black and white, meaning written proof she is willing to sell.
He insists that until the trial is over he is still a barrister, and his client's life is at stake. He jokes that if he cannot stand to make the appeal, he will make it sitting.
She watched Christine on the stand and says the jury did not like her. Wilfrid corrects her: they did not like her, but they believed her, and that is what matters.
