Scout actually comes to several conclusions during Tom
Robinson's testimony in Chapter 19 of To Kill a Mockingbird. First,
she noticed that Tom's "rubber-like left hand... slipped off the Bible and hit the
clerk's table." She already knew that the injuries to Mayella had to have been made by a
left-handed man and, to her, this eliminated Tom as a suspect. Secondly, Scout realized
that
Mayella
Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world... even lonelier than Boo
Radley... Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her. But she
said he took advantage of her, and... she looked at him as if he were dirt beneath her
feet.
Scout also remembered
one of Atticus' courtroom tricks: Sometimes it was better to listen to the witness
rather than watch him. When she listened to Tom, she decided that he was truthful, "with
no hint of whining in his voice."
He seemed to be a respectable Negro, and a
respectable Negro would never go up into somebody's yard of his own
volition.
Scout also noticed
that Tom's manners were as good as her father's, and she later came to understand that
Tom's running from the Ewell house was not a sign of guilt--just an act of
self-preservation.
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