The Mousetrap and Other Plays (40 page)

VERONICA
. (
Standing at the French window up Centre; imperiously
) John.

JOHN
. (
Turning; startled
) Veronica. (
He rises.
)

VERONICA
. (
Moving down Centre
) I sent you a note asking you to come over at once. Didn't you get it?

JOHN
. (
Pleasantly, but with reserve
) Yes, I got it.

VERONICA
. Well, why didn't you come? I've been waiting.

JOHN
. I'm afraid it wasn't convenient for me to come over this morning.

VERONICA
. (
Crossing to Left of
JOHN
) Can I have a cigarette, please?

JOHN
. Yes, of course. (
He offers her a cigarette from his case.
)

(
Before he can give her a light
,
VERONICA
takes her own lighter from her handbag and lights the cigarette herself.
)

VERONICA
. I sent for you because we've got to talk. We've got to make arrangements. For our future, I mean.

JOHN
. Have we a future?

VERONICA
. Of course we've got a future. We've wasted ten years. There's no need to waste any more time. (
She sits on the sofa, Centre of it, and puts her handbag on the Right end of the sofa.
)

JOHN
. (
Easing to Right of the sofa
) I'm sorry, Veronica. I'm afraid you've got this worked out the wrong way. I've—enjoyed meeting you again very much, but you know we don't really belong together—we're worlds apart.

VERONICA
. Nonsense, John. I love you and you love me. We've always loved each other. You were very obstinate in the past. But never mind that now.

(
JOHN
crosses above the sofa to Left of it.
)

Look, our lives needn't clash. I don't mean to go back to the States for quite a while. When I've finished the picture I'm working on now, I'm going to play a straight part on the London stage. I've got a new play—Elderton's written it for me. It'll be a terrific success.

JOHN
. (
Politely
) I'm sure it will.

VERONICA
. (
Condescendingly
) And you can go on being a doctor. You're quite well-known, they tell me.

JOHN
. (
Moving down Left Centre; irritably
) I am a fairly well-known consultant on certain diseases—if it interests you—but I imagine it doesn't.

VERONICA
. What I mean is we can both get on with our own jobs. It couldn't have worked out better.

JOHN
. (
Surveying her dispassionately
) You really are the most interesting character. Don't you realize that I'm a married man—I have children?

VERONICA
. (
Rising and crossing to Right of
JOHN
) Well, I'm married myself at the moment. But these things are easily arranged. A good lawyer can fix anything. (
Softly
) I always did mean to marry you, darling. I can't think why I have this terrible passion for you—(
She puts her arms around
JOHN
's neck
) but there it is.

JOHN
. (
Shaking her off; brusquely
) I'm sorry, Veronica. (
He moves to the fireplace.
) It's out of the question.

VERONICA
. But I tell you a good lawyer can easily fix . . .

JOHN
. No good lawyer is going to fix anything. Your life and mine have nothing in common.

VERONICA
. (
Moving to Right of
JOHN
and facing him
) Not after last night?

JOHN
. You're not a child, Veronica. You've had two husbands and, I've no doubt, a good many lovers. What does “last night” mean exactly? Nothing at all, and you know it.

VERONICA
. If you'd seen your face, yesterday evening—when I came through that window—we might have been back in the South of France all those years ago.

JOHN
. I was back in the South of France. (
Gently
) Try to understand, Veronica. You came to me last night straight out of the past. I'd been thinking about you. Wondering whether I'd been as wise a young man as I'd thought myself—or whether I'd simply been a coward. And suddenly—there you were—like a dream come to life. But you were a dream. Today I'm back in the present, a man ten years older. (
He crosses to Left of the sofa.
) A man you don't know and probably wouldn't like very much if you did know him.

VERONICA
. Are you telling me that you prefer your wife to
me
?

JOHN
. Yes—yes, I am. (
He sits on the sofa at the Left end of it.
) I've suddenly realized how very much fonder I am of her than I knew. When I got back to this house last night—or in the early hours of the morning—I suddenly saw how stupidly I'd risked losing everything in the world I need. Fortunately, Gerda was asleep. She'd no idea what time I got back. She believes I left you quite early.

VERONICA
. Your wife must be a very credulous woman.

JOHN
. She loves me—and she trusts me.

VERONICA
. She's a fool! (
She crosses to Left of the sofa.
) And anyway, I don't believe a word of what you say. You love me.

JOHN
. I'm sorry, Veronica.

VERONICA
. (
Breaking down Centre; incredulously
) You
don't love
me?

JOHN
. I've been perfectly frank with you. You are a very beautiful and very seductive woman, Veronica—(
He rises and moves up Right of the sofa
) but I don't love you.

VERONICA
. (
Furiously
) You
belong
to me, John. (
She moves below the sofa.
) You always have. Ever since I got to England, I've been thinking about you, planning how best to meet you again. (
She kneels on the sofa.
) Why do you think I took this idiotic cottage down here? Simply because I found out that you often came down for weekends with the Angkatells.

JOHN
. So it
was
all planned last night. (
He crosses above the sofa to Right of the armchair Left Centre.
) I noticed your lighter was working this morning.

VERONICA
. (
Rising and turning
) You belong to me.

JOHN
. (
Coldly angry
) I don't belong to anyone. Where do you get this idea that you can own another human being? I loved you once and I wanted you to marry me and share my life. (
He moves to the fireplace and stands with his back to it.
) You wouldn't.

VERONICA
. My life and my career were much more important than yours. Anyone can be a doctor. (
She stubs out her cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table.
)

JOHN
. Are you really quite as important as you think?

VERONICA
. (
Crossing to Right of
JOHN
) If I'm not right at the top yet, I will be.

JOHN
. I wonder. I rather doubt it. There's something lacking in you, Veronica—what is it? Warmth—generosity—you give nothing. You take—take—take all the time.

VERONICA
. (
Speaking in a low voice convulsed with rage
) You turned me down ten years ago. You've turned me down today. My God, I'll make you suffer for it!

JOHN
. I'm sorry if I've hurt you, Veronica. You're very lovely, my dear, and I once cared for you very much. Can't we leave it at that?

VERONICA
. No. (
She crosses to the French windows up Centre, turns and stands in the window.
) You be careful of yourself, John Cristow. I hate you more than I ever thought it possible to hate anyone.

JOHN
. (
Annoyed
) Oh!

VERONICA
. And don't fool yourself that I believe you're turning me down because of your
wife.
It's that other woman.

JOHN
. What other woman?

VERONICA
. The one who came through that door last night and stood looking at you. If I can't have you, nobody else shall have you, John. Understand that.

(
She exits angrily up Centre to Left, leaving her handbag on the sofa.
JOHN
stands looking after her for a moment, then crosses to the writing table, picks up the letter he has been writing, tears it up and puts it in the wastepaper basket.
GUDGEON
enters Right, crosses to Left of the sofa, turns and sees
JOHN
.)

GUDGEON
. I beg your pardon, sir, do you know where her ladyship is?

JOHN
. They're all down in the target alley, I believe.

GUDGEON
. They finished shooting some time ago, sir.

(
JOHN
takes
VERONICA
's note from his pocket, screws it up, drops it in the direction of the wastepaper basket, but it misses and falls alongside.
)

JOHN
. (
Moving to the bookshelves above the drinks table
) Then they must be in the garden somewhere.

(
GUDGEON
crosses below the sofa, picks up the crumpled note, puts it in the wastepaper basket, then picks up the wastepaper basket, crosses and exits Left.
JOHN
selects a book from the bookshelves, moves above the sofa and glances at the opening pages. There is a noise off from the Left end of the terrace up Centre.
JOHN
drops the book on the sofa, goes on to the terrace faces Left, and gives a sudden start of alarm.

Why! What are you doing? Put that down. Why you . . .

(
The sound of a revolver SHOT is heard up Centre.
JOHN
staggers down the steps, tries to cross to the door Left, then collapses on the floor down Left Centre. A revolver is tossed on to the terrace up from Left. There is a pause, then
GERDA
enters quickly down Left. She carries her leathercraft bag. She runs to Left of
JOHN
.)

GERDA
. John—oh, John! (
She crosses up Centre, goes on to the terrace, picks up the revolver, looks off Left, then stands at the top of the steps, facing front.
)

(
GUDGEON
enters hurriedly Left. A moment later
SIR
HENRY
enters Right. He is followed on by
MIDGE
.)

SIR
HENRY
. (
Crossing to Right of
JOHN
) What's happened?

(
GUDGEON
moves to Left of
JOHN
.)

Cristow! Cristow! Good God, what's happened? (
He kneels beside
JOHN
.)

MIDGE
. (
Moving above the sofa
) Gerda—John—what is it?

GUDGEON
. (
Kneeling Left of
JOHN
) Doctor Cristow, sir—what is it?

SIR
HENRY
. (
Raising
JOHN
's head and shoulders
) He's been wounded. (
He feels
JOHN
's heart.
)

(
JOHN
is still breathing.
GUDGEON
rises and eases Left.
)

GUDGEON
. Wounded? How did it happen?

SIR
HENRY
. Ring for a doctor, Gudgeon.

(
GUDGEON
crosses to the writing table and lifts the telephone receiver.
)

MIDGE
. Is he dead?

SIR
HENRY
. No.

(
LADY
ANGKATELL
enters Left.
HENRIETTA
enters Right.
)

HENRIETTA
. I heard—a shot. (
She kneels down Right of
JOHN
.) John—John.

(
EDWARD
enters up Centre from Left and stands Right of the French windows.
JOHN
opens his eyes and looks at
HENRIETTA
.)

JOHN
. (
Trying to raise himself; in a loud urgent voice
) Henrietta—Henrietta . . . (
He collapses.
)

(
SIR
HENRY
feels
JOHN
's heart, then looks at
HENRIETTA
and
GERDA
.)

GERDA
. (
Moving below the armchair Left Centre, hysterically
) He's dead—he's dead. John's dead.

(
HENRIETTA
moves to Right of
GERDA
and takes the revolver from her.
LADY
ANGKATELL
moves to Left of
GERDA
and puts her arms around her.
)

John's dead.

(
The Curtain begins to fall.
)

GUDGEON
. (
Into the telephone
) Get me Doctor Murdock.