The Mousetrap and Other Plays (128 page)

MEREDITH
. (
indignantly
) But, really . . .

JUSTIN
. (
quickly
) Oh, I'm not disputing the authenticity of what you told us. I only point out that the conversation
could
have been an entirely different one.

MEREDITH
. (
rising
) It was as accurate as anything could be after a lapse of sixteen years.

JUSTIN
. Quite. (
He crosses to the french windows and goes on to the terrace
) But remember the fine weather and the open windows. This means that most of the conversations, even those that were apparently
tête-a-têtes,
could be and probably were, overheard from either inside or outside the room. (
He comes into the room and stands up
LC
) But that is not so for all of them.

MEREDITH
. (
moving
L
) Are you getting at me?

(
There is a pause.
JUSTIN
looks at his notebook
)

JUSTIN
. Not necessarily. I singled you out because you started the ball rolling.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
moving to
R
of the stool
) I would like to state here and now that any account I have given of
my
part in the affair is true. There is no witness who saw what I saw—Caroline Crale wiping fingerprints off that bottle, but I solemnly swear that is exactly what I saw her do. (
She turns to Carla
) I am sorry, for Carla's sake, I have to tell you this, but Carla is, I hope, courageous enough to face the truth.

ANGELA
. Truth is what she asked for.

JUSTIN
. And truth is what will help her. (
He crosses below the stool to Miss Williams
) What you don't realize, Miss Williams, is that what you have told us goes a long way towards proving Caroline Crale's
innocence
, not her guilt.

(
There are general exclamations from the others.
PHILIP
rises and moves to
L
of the stool
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. What do you mean?

JUSTIN
. You say you saw Caroline Crale take a handkerchief, wipe the beer bottle, and then press her husband's fingers on it?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Yes.

JUSTIN
. (
after a pause; quietly
) The beer
bottle?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Certainly. The bottle.

JUSTIN
. But the poison, Miss Williams, was not found in the bottle—not a trace of it. The conine was in the
glass.

(
There are general exclamations from the others
)

ANGELA
. You mean . . . ?

JUSTIN
. (
moving up
C
) I mean that if Caroline wiped the bottle, she thought the conine had been in the bottle. But if she had been the poisoner, she would have
known
where the conine was. (
He turns to Carla
)

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
moves to the sofa.
MEREDITH
,
bewildered, moves
R
)

CARLA
. (
on a very soft sigh
) Of course.

(
There is a pause
)

JUSTIN
. (
moving to Carla
) We all came here today to satisfy one person. Amyas Crale's daughter. Are you satisfied, Carla?

(
There is a pause.
CARLA
rises and moves above the stool.
JUSTIN
sits in the armchair
R
)

CARLA
. Yes. I'm satisfied. I know now—oh, I know now such a lot of things.

PHILIP
. What things?

CARLA
. (
moving
LC
) I know that you, Philip Blake, fell violently in love with my mother, and that when she turned you down and married Amyas, you never forgave her. (
To Meredith
) You thought you still loved my mother—but really it was Elsa you loved.

(
MEREDITH
looks at
ELSA
,
who smiles triumphantly
)

But all that doesn't matter—what does matter is that I know now what made my mother behave so oddly at her trial.

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
sits on the sofa at the left end
)

I know what she was trying to hide. (
She crosses above the stool to Justin
) And I know just why she wiped those fingerprints off the bottle. Justin, do you know what I mean?

JUSTIN
. I'm not quite sure.

CARLA
. There's only one person Caroline would have tried to shield—(
she turns to Angela
) you.

ANGELA
. (
sitting up
) Me?

CARLA
. (
crossing to Angela
) Yes. It's all so clear. You'd played tricks on Amyas, you were angry with him—vindictive because you blamed him for sending you to school.

ANGELA
. He was quite right.

CARLA
. But you didn't think so at the time. You were angry. It was you who went and fetched a bottle of beer for him, although it was my mother who took it to him. And, remember, you'd tampered with his beer once before. (
She moves above the stool and kneels upon it
) When Caroline found him dead with the beer bottle and glass beside him, all that flashed into her mind.

ANGELA
. She thought I'd murdered him?

CARLA
. She didn't think you meant to. She thought you'd just played a trick, that you meant to make him sick, but that you had miscalculated the dose. Whatever you'd done, you'd killed him and she had to save you from the consequences. Oh, don't you see, it all fits in? The way she got you hustled off to Switzerland, the pains she took to keep you from hearing about the arrest and the trial.

ANGELA
. She must have been mad.

CARLA
. She had a guilt complex about you, because of what she'd done to you as a child. So, in her way, she paid her debt.

ELSA
. (
rising and crossing below the stool to Angela
) So, it was you.

ANGELA
. Don't be absurd. Of course it wasn't. Do you mean to say you believe this ridiculous story?

CARLA
. Caroline believed it.

JUSTIN
. Yes, Caroline believed it. It explains so much.

ANGELA
. (
rising and crossing below the stool to Carla
) And you, Carla? Do you believe it?

CARLA
. (
after a pause
) No.

ANGELA
. Ah! (
She moves to the sofa and sits on it at the right end
)

CARLA
. But then, there's no other solution.

(
ELSA
sits in the armchair
L
)

JUSTIN
. Oh, yes, I think there might be. (
He rises and crosses to
LC
) Tell me, Miss Williams, would it be natural or likely for Amyas Crale to have helped Angela by packing her clothes for her?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Certainly not. He'd never dream of doing such a thing.

JUSTIN
. And yet you, Mr. Philip Blake, overheard Amyas Crale say, “I'll see to her packing.” I think you were wrong.

PHILIP
. Now look here, Fogg, have you got the nerve to insinuate that I was lying?

(
The
LIGHTS
dim to
BLACK
-
OUT
)

JUSTIN
. I'm not insinuating anything. But let me remind you that the picture we now have is built up from remembered conversations.

(
The spotlight comes up on Justin down
L
)

Memory is the only thread that hangs this picture together—it is a fragile thread and uncertain. I suggest one conversation we've heard about went quite differently. Let's suppose it went something like this.

(
The spotlight fades and after a moment the
LIGHTS
come up to reveal the house and terrace as it was sixteen years previously.
CAROLINE
is seated in the armchair
R
,
and
AMYAS
is about to open the door up
C
to go out. Instead he turns towards Caroline
)

AMYAS
. I've told you, Caroline, I don't want to discuss this.

CAROLINE
. You didn't want a scene until you'd finished your picture. That's it, isn't it?

(
AMYAS
crosses and leans over Caroline
)

Oh, I understand you very well.

(
AMYAS
is about to kiss her
)

(
She rises quickly and crosses to
L
) And what you're doing is monstrous. You're going to treat this girl the same way as you've treated all the others. You were in love with her, but you're not now. All you want is to string her along so that you can finish that picture.

AMYAS
. (
smiling
) All right, then. That picture matters.

CAROLINE
. So does she.

AMYAS
. She'll get over it.

CAROLINE
. (
partly pleading
) Oh, you! You've got to tell her. Now—today. You can't go on like this, it's too cruel.

AMYAS
. (
crossing to Caroline
) All right, I'll send her packing. But the picture . . .

CAROLINE
. Damn the picture! You and your women. You don't deserve to live.

AMYAS
. Caroline. (
He tries to embrace her
)

CAROLINE
. I mean it. No, don't touch me. (
She crosses down
R
) It's too cruel—it's too cruel.

AMYAS
. Caroline!

(
CAROLINE
exits down
R
.
The
LIGHTS
dim to
black-out.
The spotlight comes up on Justin down
L
)

JUSTIN
. Yes, that's how that conversation went. Caroline pleaded, but not for herself. Philip Blake didn't hear Amyas say, “I'll see to her packing”—what he in fact heard was the voice of a dying man struggling to say, “I'll
send
her packing.”

(
The spotlight fades on Justin. The
LIGHTS
come up. Everyone is back in the same positions as they were before the
BLACK
-
OUT
)

A phrase he'd no doubt used before of other mistresses, but this time he spoke of you—(
he turns to Elsa
) didn't he, Lady Melksham? The shock of that conversation was terrific, wasn't it? And straight away you acted. You'd seen Caroline take that phial of conine the day before. You found it at once when you went upstairs for a pullover. You handled it carefully, filled an eye-dropper from it, came down again, and when Amyas asked you for beer, you poured it into the glass, added the conine, and brought the beer to him. You resumed your pose. You watched him as he drank. Watched him feel the first twinges, the stiffness of the limbs, and the slow paralysis of the speech. You sat there and watched him die. (
He gestures to the portrait
) That's the portrait of a woman who watched the man she loved die.

(
ELSA
rises quickly and stands looking at the portrait
)

And the man who painted it didn't know what was happening to him. But it's there, you know—in the eyes.

ELSA
. (
in a hard voice
) He deserved to die. (
She looks at Justin
) You're a clever man, Mr. Fogg. (
She moves to the door up
C
and opens it
) But there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.

(
ELSA
exits up
C
.
There is a stunned silence, then gradually everyone starts to speak together.
CARLA
goes on to the terrace and stands below the bench
)

PHILIP
. There—there must be
something
we can do.

MEREDITH
. I can't believe it, I simply can't believe it.

ANGELA
. (
rising
) It stares one in the face—how blind we've been.

PHILIP
. What can we do, Fogg—what the hell can we do?

JUSTIN
. In law, I'm afraid, nothing.

PHILIP
. Nothing—what do you mean—nothing? (
He goes to the door up
C
) Why the woman practically admitted . . . I'm not so sure you're right about that.

(
PHILIP
exits up
C
)

ANGELA
. (
moving to the door up
C
) It's ridiculous, but true.

(
ANGELA
exits up
C
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
moving to the door up
C
) It's incredible, it's incredible! I can't believe it.