He mentioned the prior housekeepers who had not stayed. He did not mention Clara directly. Holt noted this to her in a whisper during the brief recess. "He doesn't want the judge focused on you." He said, "because you're the thing that breaks their argument."
When it was Holt's turn, he was methodical. He put Thomas on the stand and Thomas answered every question with the directness that was simply his nature and there was nothing in his answers that was not true and nothing that could be made to look like anything other than what it was, a man who had struggled and had kept going and had built something back from the wreckage. Then Holt called Clara. She sat in the witness chair and looked at Judge Webb and answered his questions plainly. She had been managing the Callahan household since early July.
The children were well-fed, well-clothed, and in good health. The household was orderly and functional. She was now Mrs. Thomas Callahan, married 11 days prior. The Harlow family's attorney stood.
"Mrs. Callahan," he said with the deliberate emphasis of someone testing the word, "prior to your marriage, you were employed as a housekeeper." "I managed the household." She said. "You answered an advertisement for a housekeeping position."
"I did." "And you stayed because the wages were adequate." "I stayed." Clara said, "because it was the right thing to do." He looked at her.
"Can you explain what you mean by that?" She looked at him. She thought about $42 and a soft folded letter and a stagecoach and a man who hadn't slept in a year. "I came for a job." She said.
"I found a family that needed someone to stay. Those aren't the same thing, but they're not incompatible, either. I stayed because four children had already lost enough and I was in a position to make sure they didn't lose more. She paused. And then I stayed because I love them, in that order.
The courtroom was quiet. And your husband, the attorney said, you married him in some haste before this court date. I married him, Clara said, because he asked me and I wanted to and the timing was right. The court date was incidental. She said it with such flat plain certainty that the attorney paused.
Judge Webb was looking at her. No further questions, the attorney said. Holt called one final witness. Catherine Harlow had not come to the courthouse but her written assessment had been submitted directly to the court and Holt read the relevant sections aloud in the courtroom. The household was found to be adequately maintained.
The children were in good physical condition. The domestic situation showed evidence of recent and significant improvement. No grounds were found to support the allegations of the complaint. He read it slowly and clearly and let it sit. Then he looked at Judge Webb.