The Mousetrap and Other Plays (106 page)

the
CURTAIN
falls.

ACT TWO

Scene I

SCENE
:
The same. Four days later. About midday.

When the CURTAIN rises, the lights come up. The room is empty. It is much the same as before except that
ANYA
'
S
wheelchair has gone. The doors are all closed. After a moment,
KARL
enters up
C
, moves down
C
, pauses for a moment and looks where the wheelchair used to be, then sits in the armchair.
LISA
enters up
C
and goes to the desk. She wears outdoor clothes. The
DOCTOR
enters up
C
, looks at the others, then moves below the sofa.
LESTER
enters up
C
and stands rather awkwardly up
C
.
They all enter very slowly and are very depressed.

DOCTOR
. (
rather uncomfortably
) Well, that's over.

LISA
. (
removing her gloves and hat
) I have never been to an inquest in this country before. Are they always like that?

DOCTOR
. (
still a little ill at ease
) Well, they vary, you know, they vary. (
He sits on the sofa at the right end
)

LISA
. (
after a pause
) It seems so business-like, so unemotional.

DOCTOR
. Well, of course, we don't go in for emotion much. It's just a routine business enquiry, that's all.

LESTER
. (
moving up
L
of the sofa; to the
DOCTOR
) Wasn't it rather an odd sort of verdict? They said she died from an overdose of stropanthin but they didn't say how it was administered. I should have thought they'd have said suicide while the balance of the mind was disturbed and have done with it.

LISA
sits at the desk.

KARL
. (
rousing himself
) I cannot believe that Anya committed suicide.

LISA
. (
thoughtfully
) I should not have said so, either.

LESTER
. (
moving
LC
) All the same, the evidence was pretty clear. Her fingerprints on the bottle and on the glass.

KARL
. It must have been some kind of accident. Her hand shook a great deal, you know. She must have poured in far more than she realized. The curious thing is that I can't remember putting the bottle and glass beside her, yet I suppose I must have done.

LISA
rises and moves to
L
of
KARL
.
LESTER
sits on the left arm of the sofa.

LISA
. It was my fault. I should have given her the drops before I went out.

DOCTOR
. It was nobody's fault. Nothing is more unprofitable than accusing oneself of having left undone something one should have done or the opposite. These things happen and they're very sad. Let's leave it at that—(
Under his breath and not to the others
) if we can.

KARL
. You don't think Anya took an overdose, deliberately, Doctor?

DOCTOR
. (
slowly
) I shouldn't have said so.

LESTER
. (
rising and moving
LC
) She did talk about it, you know. I mean, when she got depressed.

LISA
moves to the desk.

DOCTOR
. Yes, yes, nearly all chronic invalids talk about suicide. They seldom commit it.

LESTER
. (
after a pause; embarrassed
) I say, I do hope I'm not butting in, coming here. (
He moves
C
) I expect you want to be alone. I shouldn't . . .

KARL
. No, no, my dear boy, it was kind of you.

LESTER
. I just thought perhaps there was something I could do. (
He turns up stage in embarrassment and falls over the chair
L
of the table, then moves to
R
of
KARL
) I'd do anything—(
He looks devoutly at
KARL
) if only I could do something to help.

KARL
. Your sympathy helps. Anya was very fond of you, Lester.

MRS
.
ROPER
enters up
C
.
She wears a rusty black costume and hat. She carries a tray of coffee for four and a plate of sandwiches.
LESTER
goes to the desk.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
in a suitably muted voice
) I've made some coffee and some little sandwiches. (
She puts the tray on the table
RC
.
To
KARL
) I thought, sir, as you'd need something to keep your strength up.

LISA
crosses to the tray and pours the coffee.

KARL
. Thank you, Mrs. Roper.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
with conscious virtue
) I hurried back from the inquest as fast as I could, sir—(
She moves
C
) so as to have things ready when you come.

KARL
. (
realizing
MRS
.
ROPER
's rather unusual costume of rusty black with a hat
) Did you go to the inquest, then?

MRS
.
ROPER
. 'Course I did. I felt I had an interest, like. Poor, dear lady. (
She leans across the sofa to the
DOCTOR
) Low in her spirits, wasn't she? I thought I'd go as a sign of respect, if nothing more. I can't say as it's been very nice, though, having the police here asking questions.

During this scene with
MRS
.
ROPER
, the others all avoid looking at her directly in the hope that she will stop talking and leave, but she persists in trying to start a conversation first with one and then the other.

DOCTOR
. (
rising
) These routine enquiries have to be made, Mrs. Roper. (
He takes a cup of coffee to
KARL
, then goes above
MRS
.
ROPER
to the tray.
)

MRS
.
ROPER
. Of course, sir.

DOCTOR
. Whenever a certificate cannot be given, there has to be a coroner's enquiry.

MRS
.
ROPER
. Oh, yes, sir, I'm sure it's very right and proper, but it's not very nice. That's what I say.

The
DOCTOR
takes a cup of coffee for himself, then sits on the sofa.

MRS
.
ROPER
. It's not what I've been accustomed to. My husband, he wouldn't like it at all if I were to be mixed up in anything of that sort.

LISA
. I don't see that you are mixed up in it in any way, Mrs. Roper.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
moving eagerly towards
LISA
) Well, they asked me questions, didn't they, as to whether she was low in her spirits and whether she'd ever talked about anything of the kind. (
She moves to
R
of
KARL
.
Rather significantly
) Oh, quite a lot of questions they asked me.

KARL
. Well, that is all over now, Mrs. Roper. I don't think you need worry any further.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
rather squashed
) No, sir, thank you, sir.

MRS
.
ROPER
exits up
C
, closing the doors behind her.

DOCTOR
. All ghouls, you know, these women. Nothing they like better than illnesses, deaths, and funerals. An inquest, I expect, is an added joy.

LISA
. Lester—coffee?

LESTER
. Thanks so much. (
He crosses to the chair
R
of the table
RC
, sits, helps himself to coffee, then becomes engrossed in a book
)

LISA
crosses to the desk.

KARL
. It must have been some kind of accident, it must.

DOCTOR
. I don't know. (
He sips his coffee
) Not quite the same as your coffee, Lisa, my dear.

LISA
. (
crossing below the armchair and sofa and standing down
R
) I expect it's been boiling hard for half an hour.

KARL
. It was kindly meant.

LISA
. (
turning to the door down
R
;
over her shoulder
) I wonder.

LISA
exits down
R
, leaving the door open. The
DOCTOR
rises, takes the plate of sandwiches from the tray and crosses to
KARL
.

DOCTOR
. Have a sandwich?

KARL
. No, thank you.

DOCTOR
. (
moving to the table
RC
and putting the sandwiches in front of
LESTER
) Finish them up, my boy. Always hungry at your age.

LESTER
, by now deep in the book, does not look up but automatically helps himself to a sandwich.

LESTER
. Well, thanks. I don't mind if I do.

LISA
. (
off; calling
) Karl.

KARL
. (
rising and putting his cup on the work-table
) Excuse me a moment. (
He calls and crosses to the door down
R
) Yes, I am coming.

KARL
exits down
R
, closing the door behind him.

LESTER
. He's terribly cut-up, isn't he, Doctor?

DOCTOR
. (
taking out his pipe
) Yes.

LESTER
. It seems odd in a way, at least I don't mean odd, because, I suppose—what I mean is, it's so difficult to understand what other people feel like.

DOCTOR
. (
moving down
C
and lighting his pipe
) Just what are you trying to say, my boy?

LESTER
. Well, what I mean is, poor Mrs. Hendryk being an invalid and all that, you'd think, wouldn't you, that he'd get a bit impatient with her or feel himself tied.

The
DOCTOR
puts the matchstick in the ashtray on the table
RC
, then sits on the sofa at the left end.

And you'd think that really, underneath, he'd be glad to be free. Not a bit. He loved her. He really loved her.

DOCTOR
. Love isn't just glamour, desire, sex appeal—all the things you young people are so sure it is. That's nature's start of the whole business. It's the showy flower, if you like. But love's the root. Underground, out of sight, nothing much to look at, but it's where the life is.

LESTER
. I suppose so, yes. But passion doesn't last, sir, does it?

DOCTOR
. (
despairingly
) God give me strength. You young people know nothing about these things. You read in the papers of divorces, of love tangles with a sex angle to everything. Study the columns of deaths sometimes for a change. Plenty of records there of Emily this and John that dying in their seventy-fourth year, beloved wife of So-and-so, beloved husband of someone else. Unassuming records of lives spent together, sustained by the root I've just talked about which still puts out its leaves and its flowers. Not showy flowers, but still flowers.

LESTER
. I suppose you're right. I've never thought about it. (
He rises, moves and sits
R
of the
DOCTOR
on the sofa
) I've always thought that getting married is taking a bit of a chance, unless, of course, you meet a girl who . . .

DOCTOR
. Yes, yes, that's the recognized pattern. You meet a girl—or you've already met a girl—who's different.

LESTER
. (
earnestly
) But really, sir, she is different.

DOCTOR
. (
good-humouredly
) I see. Well, good luck to you, young fellow.

KARL
enters down
R
.
He carries a small pendant. The
DOCTOR
rises.
KARL
crosses to
C
, looking at the pendant.

KARL
. Will you give this to your daughter, Doctor? It was Anya's and I know she would like Margaret to have it. (
He turns and hands the pendant to the
DOCTOR
)

DOCTOR
. (
moved
) Thank you, Karl. I know Margaret will appreciate the gift. (
He puts the pendant in his wallet then moves towards the doors up
C
) Well, I must be off. Can't keep my surgery patients waiting.