How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Walter Moody was much experienced in the art of confidences. He knew that by confessing, one earned the subtle right to become confessor to the other, in his turn. A secret deserves a secret, and a tale deserves a tale; the gentle expectation of a response in kind was a pressure he knew how to apply (I.1.131).
Moody realizes that he's going to have to come out with a bit of his own story to get the men to decide that he's trustworthy. Once he gives them the background on how he got there, they will understand that he barged in by mistake (not design). Also, it will show them that he has nothing to hide…so they shouldn't hide anything from him either.
Quote #5
'Yes,' said Staines. 'That's where I was hiding, when I took the bullet from Anna's gun' (IV.4.96).
When Emery Staines is testifying at his own trial, he has to explain to the court how he got shot. However, from reading the rest of the narrative, it doesn't appear that what he's saying here could have actually happened—elsewhere, the narration strongly suggests that at the moment Anna's gun went off, Emery was on the Godspeed on his way to Hokitika. Our best guess is that, because the court knew that a gun had accidentally gone off in Anna's room, and Emery didn't know how he got shot (and the wound might have been the result of a supernatural connection between Anna and Emery . . .), they decided to go with this story as the best way to explain the unexplainable/knowable …
Quote #6
Next the Magistrate's Court heard the testimonies of Mannering, Quee, Löwenthal, Clinch, Nilssen, and Frost—all of whom described the discovery and deployment of the fortune discovered in Crosbie Wells's cottage quite as if the retorted gold had indeed been discovered upon the Aurora. Mannering testified to the conditions under which the Aurora had been sold, and Quee to the fact of the ore's retortion. Löwenthal detailed his interview with Alistair Lauderback on the night of the 14th of January, during which he learned about the death of Crosbie Wells. Clinch testified that he had purchased the estate the following morning. Nilssen described how the gold had been hidden in Crosbie Wells's cottage, and Frost confirmed its value. They made no mention whatsoever of Anna's gowns, nor of the foundered barque, Godspeed, nor of any of the concerns and revelations that had precipitated their secret council in the Crown Hotel three months ago (IV.4.164).
Emery's tall tale about the curtain and the gunshot isn't the only lying that goes on during Anna and Emery's trial. As the narrator notes in this passage, lots of people get on the stand and manage to tell a consistent story, all while leaving out some key details to keep things, er, simple(r).