The Mousetrap and Other Plays

ACT TWO

SCENE—Alderbury, a house in the West of England.

The scene shows a section of the house, with the Garden Room R and the terrace L with communicating french windows between them. The room is at an angle, so that the terrace extends and tapers off below it to R. Doors back C, in the room, and at the upstage end of the terrace, lead to the house. An exit, at the upstage end of a vine-covered pergola L, leads to the garden. There is another door down R in the room. Above this door is a small alcove with shelves for decorative plates and ornaments. A console table stands under the shelves. There is a table L of the door C, on which there is a telephone and a carved wooden head. On the wall above the table is the portrait of Elsa, painted by Amyas. There is a sofa R of the door C, with a long stool in front of it. Armchairs stand R and L, and there is an occasional table L of the armchair R. There is a stone bench C of the terrace.

When the CURTAIN rises, the stage is in darkness, then the LIGHTS come up to show the house shrouded in darkness and the terrace bathed in moonlight. The long stool is on the sofa and both are covered with a dust sheet. The armchairs are also covered with dust sheets. The window curtains are closed. After a few moments, voices are heard off up C.

CARLA. (off) Which way do we go?

MEREDITH. (off) This way, mind that little step. (He is heard to stumble) I always used to fall over it.

JUSTIN. (off; stumbling) Good heavens! Shall I leave the door?

MEREDITH. (off) Few things as depressing as an unlived-in house. I do apologize.

(MEREDITH enters up C and the LIGHTS on the room snap up. He wears an overcoat, and has an old fishing hat, pulled down. He moves down R. CARLA follows Meredith on. She wears a loose coat and a head scarf. She moves L. JUSTIN enters last. He carries his bowler hat. He moves down C, turns and looks around the room)

This is what we call the garden room. Cold as a morgue. Looks like a morgue, too, doesn’t it? (He laughs and rubs his hands) Not that I’ve ever seen the inside of a—hum . . . I’ll just remove these. (He goes to the sofa and removes the dust sheet)

JUSTIN. Let me help you. (He moves to L of the sofa and takes the dust sheet from Meredith)

(CARLA moves to the armchair L and removes the dust sheet which she gives to Justin)

MEREDITH. This bit of the house has been shut up, you see, ever since . . . (He indicates the long stool on the sofa) Ah, that’s an old friend. (He takes the stool from the sofa) Let me see, I think it went somewhere there. (He places the stool RC) It’s sad, somehow. It was so alive, once, and now it’s dead.

(CARLA sits on the left end of the stool and looks at the portrait)

CARLA. Is that the picture?

MEREDITH. What? Yes. Girl in a yellow shirt.

CARLA. You left it here?

MEREDITH. Yes. I—somehow couldn’t bear to look at it. It reminded me too much . . . (He recollects himself, crosses to the french windows and opens the curtains)

CARLA. How she’s changed.

MEREDITH. (turning) You’ve seen her?

CARLA. Yes.

MEREDITH. (crossing to the armchair R and removing the dust sheet) I haven’t seen her for years.

CARLA. She’s beautiful still. But not like that. So alive and triumphant—and young. (She draws a breath and faces front) It’s a wonderful portrait.

MEREDITH. Yes—(he points L) and that is where he painted her—out there on the terrace. Well, I’ll just dispose of these—(he takes the dust sheets from Justin) in the next room, I think.

(MEREDITH exits R. CARLA rises, goes to the french windows, unlocks them and moves onto the terrace. JUSTIN looks at her, then follows and stands on the step just outside the windows)

CARLA. Justin—do you think this scheme of mine is quite crazy? Jeff thinks I’m mad.

JUSTIN. (crossing to the exit above the pergola and looking off) I shouldn’t let that worry you.

(MEREDITH enters down R and crosses to the french windows)

CARLA. (sitting on the bench) I don’t.

MEREDITH. I’ll just go and meet the others.

(MEREDITH exits up C)

CARLA. You understand, don’t you, just what I want done?

JUSTIN. (crossing to R) You want to reconstruct in your mind’s eye what happened here sixteen years ago. You want each witness in turn to describe the scene in which they participated. Much of it may be trivial and irrelevant, but you want it in full. (He moves to her) Their recollections, of course, will not be exact. In a scene where more than one witness was present, the two accounts may not agree.

CARLA. That might be helpful.

JUSTIN. (doubtfully) It might—but you must not build too much on it. People do recollect things differently. (He moves upstage and looks around)

CARLA. What I’m going to do is to make believe I see it all happening. I shall imagine my mother and my father . . . (She suddenly breaks (off) You know, I think my father must have been great fun.

JUSTIN. (moving behind Carla) What?

CARLA. I think I should have liked him a lot.

JUSTIN. (turning and peering off down L; dryly) Women usually did.

CARLA. It’s odd—I feel sorry for Elsa. In that picture in there she looks so young and alive—and now—there’s no life left in her. I think it died when my father died.

JUSTIN. (sitting below Carla on the bench) Are you casting her as Juliet?

CARLA. You don’t?

JUSTIN. No. (He smiles) I’m your mother’s man.

CARLA. You’re very faithful, aren’t you? Too faithful, maybe.

(JUSTIN looks at Carla)

JUSTIN. (after a pause) I don’t really quite know what we’re talking about.

CARLA. (rising; matter-of-fact) Let’s get back to business. Your part is to look hard for discrepancies—flaws—you’ve got to be very legal and astute.

JUSTIN. Yes, ma’am.

(Voices of the others arriving can be heard off up C, with MEREDITH greeting them)

(He rises) Here they are.

(CARLA. I’ll go and meet them.

(CARLA goes into the room and exits C. The lights slowly dim to BLACK-OUT, JUSTIN moves down L, then a spotlight comes up revealing his face. He acts as compere)

JUSTIN. Now, are we all ready? I will just impress on you once more why we are all here. We want to reconstruct, as far as we can, the happenings of sixteen years ago. We shall endeavour to do this, by asking each person or persons to recount in turn their own part in what went on, and what they saw, or overheard. This should make an almost continuous picture. Sixteen years ago. We shall start on the afternoon of the sixteenth of August, the day before the tragedy took place, with a conversation that Mr. Meredith Blake had with Caroline Crale in the garden room. Out here on the terrace, Elsa Greer was posing for Amyas Crale who was painting her. From that we shall go on to Elsa Greer’s narrative, to the arrival of Philip Blake, and so on. Mr. Meredith Blake, will you begin?

(The spotlight fades. MEREDITH’S voice can be heard in the darkness)

MEREDITH. It was the afternoon of the sixteenth of August, did you say? Yes, yes, it was. I came over to Alderbury. Stopped in on my way to Framley Abbott. Really to see if I could pick any of them up later to give them a lift—they were coming over to me for tea. Caroline had been cutting roses, and when I opened the door into the garden room . . .

(The LIGHTS come up. It is a glorious, hot summer’s day. CAROLINE CRALE is standing in the french windows looking on to the terrace. She carries a trug with roses, etc., and wears gardening gloves. On the terrace, ELSA poses on the bench, facing C. She wears a yellow shirt and black shorts. AMYAS CRALE is seated on a stool C, facing L, before his easel, painting Elsa. His paintbox is on the ground below him. He is a big, handsome man, wearing an old shirt and paint-stained slacks. There is a trolley L of the terrace with various bottles and glasses, including a bottle of beer in an ice-bucket. In the room, a landscape now hangs in place of the portrait. MEREDITH enters up C)

Hullo, Caroline.

CAROLINE. (turning) Merry! (She crosses to the stool, puts the trug on it, removes her gloves and puts them in the trug)

MEREDITH. (closing the door) How’s the picture going? (He crosses to the french windows and looks out) It’s a nice pose. (He moves to L of the stool and takes a rose from the trug) What have we here? “Ena Harkness.” (He smells the rose) My word, what a beauty.

CAROLINE. Merry, do you think Amyas really cares for that girl?

MEREDITH. No, no, he’s just interested in painting her. You know what Amyas is.

CAROLINE. (sitting in the armchair R) This time I’m afraid, Merry. I’m nearly thirty, you know. We’ve been married over six years, and in looks, I can’t hold a candle to Elsa.

MEREDITH. (replacing the rose in the trug and moving above the stool to L of Caroline) That’s absurd, Caroline. You know that Amyas is really devoted to you and always will be.

CAROLINE. Does one ever know with men?

MEREDITH. (close to her and bending over her) I’m still devoted to you, Caroline.

CAROLINE. (affectionately) Dear Merry. (She touches his cheek) You’re so sweet.

(There is a pause)

I long to take a hatchet to that girl. She’s just helping herself to my husband in the coolest manner in the world.

MEREDITH. My dear Caroline, the child probably doesn’t realize in the least what she’s doing. She’s got an enormous admiration and hero worship for Amyas and she probably doesn’t understand at all that he’s maybe falling in love with her.

(CAROLINE looks pityingly at him)

CAROLINE. So there really are people who can believe six impossible things before breakfast.

MEREDITH. I don’t understand.

CAROLINE. (rising and crossing to L of the stool) You live in a nice world all your own, Merry, where everybody is just as nice as you are. (She looks at the roses. Cheerfully) My “Erythina Christo Galli” is in wonderful bloom this year. (She crosses to the french windows and goes on to the terrace)

(MEREDITH follows Caroline on to the terrace)

Come and see it before you go into Framley Abbott. (She crosses to the upstage end of the pergola)

MEREDITH. Just you wait till you see my “Tecoma Grandiflora”. (He moves to Caroline) It’s magnificent.

(CAROLINE puts her fingers to her lips to quieten Meredith)

CAROLINE. Ssh!

MEREDITH. What? (He looks through one of the arches of the pergola at Elsa and Amyas) Oh, man at work.

(CAROLINE and MEREDITH exit by the upstage end of the pergola)

ELSA. (stretching herself) I must have a break.

AMYAS. No—no, wait. There—oh, well, if you must.

(ELSA rises)

(He takes a cigarette from a packet in the paintbox, and lights it) Can’t you stay still for more than five minutes?

ELSA. Five minutes! Half an hour. (She moves down L) Anyway, I’ve got to change.

AMYAS. Change? Change what?

ELSA. Change out of this. (She crosses above Amyas and stands behind him) We’re going out to tea, don’t you remember? With Meredith Blake.

AMYAS. (irritably) What a damned nuisance. Always something.

ELSA. (leaning over Amyas and putting her arms around his neck) Aren’t you sociable!

AMYAS. (looking up at her) My tastes are simple. (As though quoting) A pot of paint, a brush and thou beside me, not able to sit still for five minutes . . .

(They both laugh. ELSA snatches Amyas’ cigarette and straightens up)

ELSA. (drawing on the cigarette) Have you thought about what I said?

AMYAS. (resuming painting) What did you say?

ELSA. About Caroline. Telling her about us.

AMYAS. (easily) Oh, I shouldn’t worry your head about that just yet.

ELSA. But, Amyas . . .

(CAROLINE enters down L.)

CAROLINE. Merry’s gone into Framley Abbott for something, but he’s coming back here. (She crosses below the bench towards the french windows) I must change.

AMYAS. (without looking at her) You look all right.

CAROLINE. I must do something about my hands, they’re filthy. I’ve been gardening. Are you going to change, Elsa?

(ELSA returns the cigarette to Amyas)

ELSA. (insolently) Yes. (She moves to the french windows)

(PHILIP enters up C)

CAROLINE. (moving into the room) Philip! The train must have been on time for once.

(ELSA comes into the room)

This is Meredith’s brother Philip—Miss Greer.

ELSA. Hullo. I’m off to change.

(ELSA crosses and exits up C)

CAROLINE. Well, Philip, good journey? (She kisses him)

PHILIP. Not too bad. How are you all?

CAROLINE. Oh—fine. (She gestures towards the terrace) Amyas is out there on the terrace. I must clean up, forgive me. We’re going over to Merry’s to tea.

(CAROLINE smiles and exits up C. PHILIP closes the door after her, then wanders on to the terrace and stands in front of the bench)

AMYAS. (looking up and smiling) Hullo, Phil. Good to see you. What a summer. Best we’ve had for years.

PHILIP. (crossing below Amyas to R) Can I look?

AMYAS. Yes. I’m on the last lap.

PHILIP. (looking at the painting) Wow!

AMYAS. (stubbing out his cigarette) Like it? Not that you’re any judge, you old Philistine.

PHILIP. I buy pictures quite often.

AMYAS. (looking up at him) As an investment? To get in on the ground floor? Because somebody tells you So-and-so is an up-and-coming man? (He grins) I know you, you old money hog. Anyway, you can’t buy this. It’s not for sale.

PHILIP. She’s quite something.

AMYAS. (looking at the portrait) She certainly is. (Suddenly serious) Sometimes I wish I’d never seen her.

PHILIP. (taking a cigarette from his case) D’you remember when you first told me you were painting her? “No personal interest in her,” you said. Remember what I said? (He grins) “Tell that to the Marines.”

AMYAS. (overlapping) “Tell that to the Marines.” All right—all right. So you were clever, you cold-blooded old fish. (He rises, crosses to the trolley, takes the bottle of beer from the ice-bucket, and opens it) Why don’t you get yourself a woman? (He pours the beer)

PHILIP. No time for ’em. (He lights his cigarette) And if I were you, Amyas, I wouldn’t get tied up with any more.

AMYAS. It’s all very well for you to talk. I just can’t leave women alone. (He grins suddenly)

PHILIP. How about Caroline? Is she cutting up rough?

AMYAS. What do you think? (He takes his glass, crosses to the bench and sits on the downstage end) Thank the Lord you’ve turned up, Phil. Living in this house with four women on your neck is enough to drive any man to the loony bin.

PHILIP. Four?

AMYAS. There’s Caroline being bloody to Elsa in a well-bred, polite sort of way. Elsa, being just plain bloody to Caroline.

(PHILIP sits on the easel stool)

There’s Angela, hating my guts because at last I’ve persuaded Caroline to send her to boarding-school. She ought to have gone years ago. She’s a nice kid, really, but Caroline spoils her, and she’s inclined to run wild. She put a hedgehog in my bed last week.

(PHILIP laughs)

Oh, yes, very funny—but you wait till you ram your feet down on a lot of ruddy prickles. And then lastly, but not leastly, there’s the governess. Hates me like poison. Sits there at meals with her lips set together, oozing disapproval.

MISS WILLIAMS. (off; down L.) Angela, you must get changed.

ANGELA. (off) Oh, I’m all right.

PHILIP. They seem to have got you down a bit.

MISS WILLIAMS. (off) You’re not all right. You can’t go out to tea with Mr. Blake in those jeans.

AMYAS. Nil desperandum! (He drinks)

(ANGELA enters down L.)

ANGELA. (as she enters) Merry wouldn’t mind. (She crosses to Philip and pulls him to his feet) Hullo, Philip.

(MISS WILLIAMS enters down L and crosses above the bench to the french windows)

MISS WILLIAMS. Good afternoon, Mr. Blake. I hope you had a good journey down from London?

PHILIP. Quite good, thank you.

(MISS WILLIAMS goes into the room, sees the trug on the stool, picks it up, returns to the terrace and exits by the garden door up L)

ANGELA. (crossing to L of Amyas) You’ve got paint on your ear.

AMYAS. (rubbing a painty hand on his other ear) Eh?

ANGELA. (delighted) Now you’ve got paint on both ears. He can’t go out to tea like that, can he?

AMYAS. I’ll go out to tea with ass’s ears if I like.

ANGELA. (putting her arms around Amyas’ neck from behind and mocking him) Amyas is an ass! Amyas is an ass!

AMYAS. (chanting) Amyas is an ass.

(MISS WILLIAMS enters up L and moves to the french windows)

MISS WILLIAMS. Come along, Angela.

(ANGELA jumps over the bench and runs to the easel)

ANGELA. You and your stupid painting. (Vindictively) I’m going to write “Amyas is an ass” all over your picture in scarlet paint. (She bends down, grabs a brush and proceeds to rub it in the red paint on the palette)

(AMYAS rises quickly, puts his glass downstage of the bench, crosses to ANGELA and grabs her hand before she has time to damage the picture)

AMYAS. If you ever tamper with any picture of mine—(seriously) I’ll kill you. Remember that. (He picks up a piece of rag and cleans the brush)

ANGELA. You’re just like Caroline—she’s always saying, “I’ll kill you” to people—but she never does, why, she won’t even kill wasps. (Sulkily) I wish you’d hurry up and finish painting Elsa—then she’d go away.

PHILIP. Don’t you like her?

ANGELA. (snappily) No. I think she’s a terrible bore. (She crosses to L and turns) I can’t imagine why Amyas has her here.

(PHILIP and AMYAS exchange looks. AMYAS crosses to Angela)

I suppose she’s paying you a terrible lot of money for painting her, is she, Amyas?

AMYAS. (putting his arm around Angela’s shoulders and guiding her towards the french windows) Go and finish your packing. Four-fifteen train tomorrow, and good riddance. (He gives her a playful shove and turns downstage)

(ANGELA hits AMYAS on the back. He turns and collapses on the bench, and she pommels his chest)

ANGELA. I hate you—I hate you. Caroline would never have sent me away to school if it wasn’t for you.

PHILIP. Mind the beer. (He crosses to the bench, picks up the glass and puts it on the trolley)

ANGELA. You just want to get rid of me. You wait—I’ll get even with you—I’ll—I’ll . . .

MISS WILLIAMS. (with sharp authority) Angela! Angela, come along.

ANGELA. (near to tears; sulkily) Oh, all right. (She runs into the room)

(MISS WILLIAMS follows Angela into the room. ELSA enters up C. She has changed into a dress and looks ravishing. ANGELA gives Elsa a venomous look and runs out up C. MISS WILLIAMS follows Angela off, and closes the door)

AMYAS. (sitting up) Wham! Why didn’t you stand up for me? I’m black and blue.

PHILIP. (leaning against the downstage end of the pergola) Black and blue? You’re all the colours of the rainbow.

(ELSA wanders on to the terrace and moves down C, beside the easel)

You’ve got enough paint on you to . . . (He breaks off as he sees Elsa)

AMYAS. Hullo, Elsa. All dolled up? You’ll knock poor old Merry all of a heap.

PHILIP. (dryly) Yes—I—I’ve been admiring the picture. (He crosses below the easel to R of it and looks at the portrait)

ELSA. I shall be glad when it’s finished. I loathe having to sit still. Amyas grunts and sweats and bites his brushes and doesn’t hear you when you speak to him.

AMYAS. (playfully) All models should have their tongues cut out.

(ELSA crosses and sits below Amyas on the bench)

(He looks appraisingly at her) Anyway, you can’t walk across the fields to Merry’s in those shoes.

ELSA. (turning her foot this way and that; demurely) I shan’t need to. He’s coming to fetch me in his car.

AMYAS. Preferential treatment, eh? (He grins) You’ve certainly got old Merry going. How do you do it, you little devil?

ELSA. (playfully) I don’t know what you mean.

(AMYAS and ELSA are immersed in each other. PHILIP crosses to the french windows)

PHILIP. (as he passes them) I’ll go and have a wash.

AMYAS. (not hearing Philip; to Elsa) Yes, you do. You know damn well what I mean. (He moves to kiss Elsa’s ear, realizes Philip has said something and turns to him) What?

PHILIP. (quietly) A wash.

(PHILIP goes into the room and exits up C, closing the door behind him)

AMYAS. (laughing) Good old Phil.

ELSA. (rising and crossing below the easel to R) You’re very fond of him, aren’t you?

AMYAS. Known him all my life. He’s a great guy.

ELSA. (turning and looking at the portrait) I don’t think it’s a bit like me.

AMYAS. Don’t pretend you’ve any artistic judgement, Elsa. (He rises) You know nothing at all.

ELSA. (quite pleased) How rude you are. Are you going out to tea with all that paint on your face?

(AMYAS crosses to the paintbox, takes up a piece of rag and moves to Elsa)

AMYAS. Here, clean me off a bit.

(ELSA takes the rag and rubs his face)

Don’t put the turps in my eye.

ELSA. Well, hold still. (After a second she puts both her arms around his waist) Who do you love?

AMYAS. (not moving; quietly) Caroline’s room faces this way—so does Angela’s.

ELSA. I want to talk to you about Caroline.

AMYAS. (taking the rag and sitting on the stool) Not now. I’m not in the mood.

ELSA. It’s no good putting it off. She’s got to know sometime, hasn’t she?

AMYAS. (grinning) We could go off Victorian fashion and leave a note on her pin-cushion.

ELSA. (moving between Amyas and the easel) I believe that’s just what you’d like to do. But we’ve got to be absolutely fair and aboveboard about the whole thing.

AMYAS. Hoity-toity!

ELSA. Oh, do be serious.

AMYAS. I am serious. I don’t want a lot of fuss and scenes and hysterics. Now, mind yourself. (He pushes her gently aside)

ELSA. (moving R) I don’t see why there should be scenes and hysterics. Caroline should have too much dignity and pride for that. (She pivots around)

AMYAS. (absorbed in painting) Should she? You don’t know Caroline.

ELSA. When a marriage has gone wrong, it’s only sensible to face the fact calmly.AMYAS. (turning to look at her) Advice from our marriage counsellor. Caroline loves me and she’ll kick up the hell of a row.

ELSA. (moving down R) If she really loved you, she’d want you to be happy.

AMYAS. (grinning) With somebody else? She’ll probably poison you and stick a knife into me.

ELSA. Don’t be ridiculous!

AMYAS. (wiping his hands and nodding at the picture) Well, that’s that. Nothing doing until tomorrow morning. (He drops the rag, rises and moves to Elsa) Lovely, lovely Elsa. (He takes her face in his hands) What a lot of bloody nonsense you talk. (He kisses her)

(ANGELA rushes in up C, runs on to the terrace and exits down L. ELSA and AMYAS break apart. MISS WILLIAMS enters up C, goes on to the terrace and looks off L)

MISS WILLIAMS. (calling) Angela!

AMYAS. (crossing down L) She went this-a-way. Shall I catch her for you?

MISS WILLIAMS. (moving down LC) No, it’s all right. She’ll come back of her own accord as soon as she sees nobody is paying any attention to her.

(ELSA goes into the room, picks up a magazine from the sofa and sits in the armchair R)

AMYAS. There’s something in that.

MISS WILLIAMS. She’s young for her age, you know. Growing up is a difficult business. Angela is at the prickly stage.

AMYAS. (moving up L) Don’t talk to me of prickles. Reminds me too much of that ruddy hedgehog.

MISS WILLIAMS. That was very naughty of Angela.

AMYAS. (moving to the french windows) Sometimes I wonder how you can stick her.

MISS WILLIAMS. (turning to face Amyas) I can see ahead. Angela will be a fine woman one day, and a distinguished one.

AMYAS. I still say Caroline spoils her. (He goes into the room and crosses to C of it)

(MISS WILLIAMS moves to the french windows and listens)

ELSA. (in a whisper) Did she see us?

AMYAS. Who can say? I suppose I’ve got lipstick on my face now as well as paint.

(AMYAS glances off L and exits quickly up C. MISS WILLIAMS comes into the room and moves above the stool, uncertain whether to go or not. She decides to stay)

MISS WILLIAMS. You haven’t been over to Mr. Blake’s house yet, have you, Miss Greer?

ELSA. (flatly) No.

MISS WILLIAMS. It’s a delightful walk there. You can go by the shore or through the woods.

(CAROLINE and PHILIP enter up C. CAROLINE glances around the room, then goes to the french windows and looks on to the terrace. PHILIP closes the door and looks at the carved head on the table up LC)

CAROLINE. Are we all ready? Amyas has gone to clean the paint off himself.

ELSA. He needn’t. Artists aren’t like other people.

(CAROLINE pays no attention to Elsa)

CAROLINE. (moving to the armchair L; to Philip) You haven’t been down here since Merry started on his lily pond, have you, Phil? (She sits)

PHILIP. Don’t think so.

ELSA. People in the country talk of nothing but their gardens.

(There is a pause. CAROLINE takes her spectacles from her handbag and puts them on. PHILIP looks at Elsa, and then sits on the stool facing the head)

CAROLINE. (to Miss Williams) Did you ring up the vet about Toby?

MISS WILLIAMS. Yes, Mrs. Crale. He’ll come first thing tomorrow.

CAROLINE. (to Philip) Do you like that head, Phil? Amyas bought it last month.

PHILIP. Yes. It’s good.

CAROLINE. (searching in her handbag for her cigarettes) It’s the work of a young Norwegian sculptor, Amyas thinks very highly of him. We’re thinking of going over to Norway next year to visit him.

ELSA. That doesn’t seem to me very likely.

CAROLINE. Doesn’t it, Elsa? Why?

ELSA. You know very well.

CAROLINE. (lightly) How very cryptic. Miss Williams, would you mind—my cigarette case—(she indicates the table RC) it’s on that little table.

(MISS WILLIAMS goes to the table RC, picks up the cigarette case, opens it and offers a cigarette to Caroline. PHILIP takes out his cigarettes, rises and offers them to Caroline)

(She takes a cigarette from her own case) I prefer these—do you mind?

(MISS WILLIAMS moves to the table up LC and puts the case on it. PHILIP lights Caroline’s cigarette, then takes one of his own and lights it)

ELSA. (rising and moving below the stool) This would be quite a good room if it was properly fixed. All this litter of old-fashioned stuff cleared out.

(There is a pause. PHILIP looks at Elsa)

CAROLINE. We like it as it is. It holds a lot of memories.

ELSA. (loudly and aggressively) When I’m living here I shall throw all this rubbish out.

(PHILIP crosses to Elsa and offers her a cigarette)

No, thank you.

(PHILIP crosses to R)

Flame-coloured curtains, I think—and one of those French wallpapers. (To Philip) Don’t you think that would be rather striking?

CAROLINE. (evenly) Are you thinking of buying Alderbury, Elsa?

ELSA. It won’t be necessary for me to buy it.

CAROLINE. What do you mean?

ELSA. Must we pretend? (She moves C) Come now, Caroline, you know perfectly well what I mean.

CAROLINE. I assure you I’ve no idea.

ELSA. (aggressively) Oh, don’t be such an ostrich, burying your head in the sand and pretending you don’t know all about it. (She turns, moves to R of the stool, tosses the magazine on to the armchair R and moves up R) Amyas and I love each other. It’s his house, not yours.

(ANGELA runs on down L, crosses to the french windows, stops outside and listens. PHILIP and MISS WILLIAMS are frozen)

And after we’re married I shall live here with him.

CAROLINE. (angrily) I think you must be crazy.

ELSA. Oh, no, I’m not. (She sits on the sofa at the left end) It will be much simpler if we’re honest about it. There’s only one decent thing for you to do—give him his freedom.

CAROLINE. Don’t talk nonsense!

ELSA. Nonsense, is it? Ask him.

(AMYAS enters up C. ANGELA, unseen, exits by the door up L)

CAROLINE. I will. Amyas, Elsa says you want to marry her. Is it true?

AMYAS. (after a slight pause; to Elsa) Why the devil couldn’t you hold your tongue?

CAROLINE. Is it true?

(AMYAS, leaving the door open, crosses to the armchair R, picks up the magazine and sits)

AMYAS. We don’t have to talk about it now. (He looks at the magazine)

CAROLINE. But we are going to talk about it now.

ELSA. It’s only fair to Caroline to tell her the truth.

CAROLINE. (icily) I don’t think you need bother about being fair to me. (She rises and crosses to Amyas) Is it true, Amyas?

(AMYAS looks hunted and glances from Elsa to Caroline)

AMYAS. (to Philip) Women.

CAROLINE. (furiously) Is it true?

AMYAS. (defiantly) All right. It’s true enough.

(ELSA rises, triumphant)

But I don’t want to talk about it now.

ELSA. You see? It’s no good your adopting a dog-in-the-manger attitude. These things happen. It’s nobody’s fault. One just has to be rational about it. (She sits on the stool, facing upstage) You and Amyas will always be good friends, I hope.

CAROLINE. (crossing to the door up C) Good friends! Over his dead body.

ELSA. What do you mean?

CAROLINE. (turning in the open doorway) I mean that I’d kill Amyas before I’d give him up to you.

(CAROLINE exits up C. There is a frozen silence. MISS WILLIAMS sees Caroline’s bag on the armchair L, picks it up and exits hurriedly up C)

AMYAS. (rising and crossing to the french windows) Now you’ve done it. We’ll have scenes and ructions and God knows what.

ELSA. (rising) She had to know some time.

AMYAS. (moving on to the terrace) She needn’t have known till the picture was finished.

(ELSA moves to the french windows)

(He stands behind the bench) How the hell can a man paint with a lot of women buzzing about his ears like wasps.

ELSA. You think nothing’s important but your painting.

AMYAS. (shouting) Nothing is to me.

ELSA. Well, I think it matters to be honest about things.

(ELSA rushes angrily out up C. AMYAS comes into the room)

AMYAS. Give me a cigarette, Phil.

(PHILIP offers his cigarettes and AMYAS takes one)

(He sits astride the stool) Women are all alike. Revel in scenes. Why the devil couldn’t she hold her tongue? I’ve got to finish that picture, Phil. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. And a couple of damn women want to muck it up between them. (He takes out his matches and lights his cigarette)

PHILIP. Suppose she refuses to give you a divorce?

AMYAS. (abstracted) What?

PHILIP. I said—suppose Caroline refuses to divorce you. Suppose she digs her toes in.

AMYAS. Oh, that. Caroline would never be vindictive. (He tosses the spent match out of the french windows) You don’t understand, old boy.

PHILIP. And the child. There’s the child to consider.

AMYAS. Look, Phil, I know you mean well, but don’t go on croaking like a raven, I can manage my own affairs. Everything will turn out all right, you’ll see.

PHILIP. Optimist!

(MEREDITH enters up C, closing the door behind him)

MEREDITH. (cheerily) Hullo, Phil. Just got down from London? (To Amyas) Hope you haven’t forgotten you’re all coming over to me this afternoon. I’ve got the car here. I thought Caroline and Elsa might prefer it to walking this hot weather. (He crosses to LC)

AMYAS. (rising) Not Caroline and Elsa. If Caroline drives Elsa will walk, and if Elsa rides, Caroline will walk. Take your pick. (He goes on to the terrace, sits on the stool and busies himself with painting)

MEREDITH. (startled) What’s the matter with him? Something happened?

PHILIP. It’s just come out.

MEREDITH. What?

PHILIP. Elsa broke the news to Caroline that she and Amyas planned to marry. (Maliciously) Quite a shock for Caroline.

MEREDITH. No! You’re joking!

(PHILIP shrugs, moves to the armchair R, picks up the magazine, sits and reads)

(He goes on to the terrace and turns to Amyas) Amyas! You—this—it can’t be true?

AMYAS. I don’t know yet what you’re talking about. What can’t be true?

MEREDITH. You and Elsa. Caroline . . .

AMYAS. (cleaning his brush) Oh, that.

MEREDITH. Look here, Amyas, you can’t just for the sake of a sudden infatuation, break up your whole married life. I know Elsa’s very attractive . . .

AMYAS. (grinning) So you’ve noticed that, have you?

MEREDITH. (crossing below Amyas to R; much concerned) I can quite understand a girl like Elsa bowling any man over, yes, but think of her—she’s very young, you know. She might regret it bitterly later on. Can’t you pull yourself together? For little Carla’s sake? Make a clean break here and now, and go back to your wife.

(AMYAS looks up thoughtfully)

(He crosses to the bench and turns) Believe me, it’s the right thing. I know it.

AMYAS. (after a pause; quietly) You’re a good chap, Merry. But you’re too sentimental.

MEREDITH. Look at the position you’ve put Caroline in by having the girl down here.

AMYAS. Well, I wanted to paint her.

MEREDITH. (angrily) Oh, damn your pictures!

AMYAS. (hotly) All the neurotic women in England can’t do that.

MEREDITH. (sitting on the bench) It’s disgraceful the way you’ve always treated Caroline. She’s had a miserable life with you.

AMYAS. I know—I know. I’ve given Caroline one hell of a life—and she’s been a saint about it. (He rises and moves down R) But she always knew what she was letting herself in for. Right from the start I told her what an egotistic loose-living bastard I was. (He turns) But this is different.

MEREDITH. (quickly) This is the first time you’ve brought a woman into the house and flaunted her in Caroline’s face.

AMYAS. (crossing to the trolley) What you don’t seem to understand, Meredith, is that when I’m painting, nothing else matters—least of all a pair of jealous, quarrelling women. (He turns to the trolley and picks up the glass of beer)

(ANGELA enters by the door up L and moves slowly to easel. She is now clean and tidy, in a cotton frock)

Don’t worry, Merry, everything’s going to be all right, you’ll see. (He sips the beer) Oh, it’s warm. (He turns and sees Angela) Hullo, Angy, you’re looking remarkably clean and tidy.

ANGELA. (abstracted) Oh—yes. (She crosses to Amyas) Amyas, why does Elsa say she’s going to marry you? She couldn’t. People can’t have two wives. It’s bigamy. (Confidentially) You can go to prison for it.

(AMYAS glances at Meredith, puts his glass on the trolley, puts an arm around Angela’s shoulder and leads her to RC)

AMYAS. Now, where did you hear that?

ANGELA. I was out here. I heard it through the window.

AMYAS. (sitting on the stool by the easel) Then it’s time you got out of the habit of eavesdropping.

(ELSA enters up C with her bag and gloves, which she puts on the table up LC)

ANGELA. (hurt and indignant) I wasn’t—I couldn’t help hearing. Why did Elsa say that?

AMYAS. It was a kind of joke, darling.

(CAROLINE enters by the door up L and moves down L)

CAROLINE. It’s time we started. Those of us who are going to walk.

MEREDITH. (rising) I’ll drive you.

CAROLINE. I’d rather walk.

(ELSA comes on to the terrace)

Take Elsa in the car. (She crosses below Amyas to Angela)

ELSA. (moving to R of Meredith) Don’t you grow herbs and all sorts of exciting things?

CAROLINE. (to Angela) That’s better. You won’t be able to wear jeans at school, you know.

ANGELA. (crossing angrily down L) School! I wish you wouldn’t keep on about school.

MEREDITH. (continuing to Elsa) I make cordials and potions. I have my own little laboratory.

ELSA. It sounds fascinating. You must show me.

(CAROLINE crosses to Angela, looking at Elsa on the way. She straightens Angela’s pig-tails)

MEREDITH. I shall probably deliver a lecture. I’m terribly enthusiastic about my hobby.

ELSA. Doesn’t one pick certain herbs by the light of the moon?

CAROLINE. (to Angela) You’ll like school, you know, once you get there.

MEREDITH. (to Elsa) That was the old-fashioned superstition.

ELSA. You don’t go as far as that?

MEREDITH. No.

ELSA. Are they dangerous?

MEREDITH. Some of them are.

CAROLINE. (turning) Sudden death in a little bottle. Bella-donna. Hemlock.

(ANGELA runs between Elsa and Meredith and puts her arms around his waist)

ANGELA. You read us something once—about Socrates—and how he died.

MEREDITH. Yes, conine—the active principle of hemlock.

ANGELA. It was wonderful. It made me want to learn Greek.

(They all laugh. AMYAS rises and picks up his paintbox)

AMYAS. We’ve talked enough. Let’s get started. (He moves towards the door up L) Where’s Phil? (He glances in the french windows and calls) Phil.

PHILIP. Coming.

(AMYAS exits by the door up L. PHILIP rises and puts down the magazine. ELSA goes into the room and collects her gloves and bag)

ANGELA. (moving to R of Caroline) Caroline—(she whispers anxiously) it isn’t possible, is it, for Elsa to marry Amyas?

(CAROLINE replies calmly, overheard only by MEREDITH)

CAROLINE. Amyas will only marry Elsa after I am dead.

ANGELA. Good. It was a joke.

(ANGELA runs off down L)

MEREDITH. (moving to R of Caroline) Caroline—my dear—I can’t tell you . . .

CAROLINE. Don’t . . . Everything’s finished—I’m finished . . .

(PHILIP comes on to the terrace)

PHILIP. The lady’s waiting to be driven.

MEREDITH. (slightly at a loss) Oh.

(MEREDITH goes into the room and escorts ELSA off up C. MISS WILLIAMS enters up C and looks off after Meredith and Elsa. She stands in the room, uncertain for a moment, then goes to the french windows and overhears the last of the conversation between Philip and Caroline)

CAROLINE. (to Philip; brightly) We’ll go by the wood path, shall we?

PHILIP. (moving to R of CAROLINE) Caroline—is it in order for me to offer my condolences?

CAROLINE. Don’t.

PHILIP. Perhaps you realize, now, that you made a mistake.

CAROLINE. When I married him?

PHILIP. Yes.

CAROLINE. (looking Philip straight in the eye) However it may turn out—I made no mistake. (She resumes her light manner) Let’s go.

(CAROLINE exits down L. PHILIP follows her off. MISS WILLIAMS comes on to the terrace)

MISS WILLIAMS. (calling) Mrs. Crale. (She moves below the bench) Mrs. Crale.

(CAROLINE re-enters down L)

CAROLINE. Yes, Miss Williams?

MISS WILLIAMS. I’m going into the village. Shall I post the letters that are on your desk?

CAROLINE. (turning to go) Oh, yes, please. I forgot them.

MISS WILLIAMS. Mrs. Crale——

(CAROLINE turns)

—if I could do anything—anything at all to help . . .

CAROLINE. (quickly) Please. We must go on as usual—just behave as usual.

MISS WILLIAMS. (fervently) I think you’re wonderful.

CAROLINE. Oh, no, I’m not. (She moves to L. of Miss Williams) Dear Miss Williams. (She kisses her) You’ve been such a comfort to me.

(CAROLINE exits quickly down L. MISS WILLIAMS looks after her, then sees the empty beer bottle and glass on the trolley. She picks up the bottle, looks at it for a moment, and then looks off after Caroline. She puts the bottle in the ice-bucket, picks up the ice-bucket and glass and crosses below the bench to the french windows. As she does so, the lights slowly dim to BLACK-OUT. A spotlight comes up on Justin down L)

JUSTIN. We come now to the next morning, the morning of the seventeenth. Miss Williams?

(The spotlight fades, MISS WILLIAMS’ voice can be heard in the darkness)

MISS WILLIAMS. I’d been going through Angela’s school list with Mrs. Crale. She looked tired and unhappy but she was very composed. The telephone rang, and I went into the garden room to answer it.

(The LIGHTS come up. A clean glass and a fresh bottle of beer, not in an ice-bucket, is on the trolley. PHILIP is seated on the bench on the terrace reading a Sunday paper. The telephone rings. MISS WILLIAMS enters up C, goes to the telephone and lifts the receiver. She carries a school list. CAROLINE follows Miss Williams on, with her spectacles in her hand. She looks towards the telephone, then crosses wearily above the stool to the armchair R and sits)

(Into the telephone) Yes? . . . Oh, good morning, Mr. Blake . . . Yes, he’s here. (She looks through the french windows to Philip and calls) Mr. Blake, it’s your brother, he’d like to have a word with you. (She holds out the receiver)

(PHILIP rises, folds his paper, tucks it under his arm, comes into the room and takes the receiver)

PHILIP. (into the telephone) Hullo, Philip here . . .

MISS WILLIAMS. (crossing above the stool to R of it; to Caroline) That completes the school list, Mrs. Crale. I wonder if you would like to give it a final check? (She sits on the right end of the stool)

CAROLINE. (taking the list) Let me see. (She puts on her spectacles and studies the list)

PHILIP. (into the telephone) What? . . . What do you say? . . . Good Lord—are you sure? . . . (He looks round at Caroline and Miss Williams) Well, I can’t talk now . . . Yes, better come along here. I’ll meet you . . . Yes—we’ll talk it over—discuss what’s best to be done . . .

CAROLINE. (to Miss Williams) What about these?

MISS WILLIAMS. (looking at the list) Those items are optional.

PHILIP. (into the telephone) No, I can’t, now—it’s difficult . . . You are sure? Yes, but you’re a bit vague sometimes. It could have got mislaid . . . All right—if you’re sure . . . Be seeing you. (He replaces the receiver, gives a worried look at the others, goes on to the terrace and paces up and down)

CAROLINE. (giving the list to Miss Williams) I do hope I’m doing the right thing about Angela. (She removes her spectacles)

MISS WILLIAMS. I think you can be quite certain of that, Mrs. Crale.

CAROLINE. I want so terribly to do what’s best for her. You know why.

MISS WILLIAMS. Believe me, you have nothing to reproach yourself with where Angela is concerned.

CAROLINE. I—disfigured her for life. She’ll always have that scar.

(PHILIP looks off L through the pergola)

MISS WILLIAMS. One cannot alter the past.

(PHILIP exits up L, above the pergola)

CAROLINE. No. It taught me what a wicked temper I have. I’ve been on my guard ever since. But you do see, don’t you, why I’ve always spoilt her a little?

MISS WILLIAMS. School life will suit her. She needs the contacts of other minds—minds of her own age. (She rises) You’re doing the right thing—I’m sure of that. (In a business-like way) I’d better get on with her packing—I don’t know whether she wants to take any books with her.

(MISS WILLIAMS exits up C, closing the door behind her. CAROLINE sinks wearily back into her chair. PHILIP enters down L and stands looking off L. AMYAS enters by the door up L, carrying his paintbox)

AMYAS. (to Philip; irritably) Where is that girl? (He moves to his stool) Why can’t she get up in the morning?

(PHILIP, looking off L, does not answer)

(He sits, puts his paintbox on the ground beside him and arranges his gear) Have you seen her, Phil? What’s the matter with you? Has nobody given you any breakfast?

PHILIP. (turning) Eh? Oh, yes, of course. I—I’m waiting for Merry. He’s coming over. (He looks at his watch) I wonder which way he’ll come—I forgot to ask him. Upper or lower path. I could go along and meet him.

AMYAS. Lower path’s the shorter one. (He rises and goes into the room) Where the devil is that girl? (To Caroline) Have you seen Elsa? (He goes to the door up C)

CAROLINE. I don’t think she’s up yet.

(AMYAS is about to open the door)

Amyas, come here, I want to talk to you.

AMYAS. (opening the door) Not now.

CAROLINE. (firmly) Yes, now.

(AMYAS looks sheepish, but closes the door. PHILIP moves below the bench. ELSA enters down L, dressed in shorts and shirt)

PHILIP. (to Elsa) You’re late on parade. You look on top of the world this morning.

ELSA. (radiant) Do I? I feel it.

(PHILIP exits down L. ELSA goes to the bench and sits facing the pergola, basking in the sun)

AMYAS. (moving above the stool) Caroline, I’ve told you I don’t want to discuss this. I’m sorry Elsa blew her top. I told her not to.

CAROLINE. You didn’t want a scene until you’d finished your picture, is that it?

AMYAS. (moving to Caroline) Thank the Lord you understand.

CAROLINE. I understand you very well.

(ELSA swings her legs over the bench and faces front. After a moment she hears raised voices, rises and goes to the french windows to listen)

AMYAS. Good. (He bends down to kiss Caroline)

(CAROLINE ducks aside, rises and crosses below Amyas to the stool)

CAROLINE. I may understand, but that doesn’t mean that I’m taking this lying down. (She turns to him) Do you really mean you want to marry this girl?

AMYAS. (moving to her) Darling, I’m very fond of you—and of the child. You know that. I always shall be. (Roughly) But you’ve got to understand this. I’m damned well going to marry Elsa and nothing shall stop me.

CAROLINE. (facing front) I wonder.

AMYAS. (moving up R of the stool) If you won’t divorce me, we’ll live together and she can take the name of Crale by deed poll.

(PHILIP enters down L, sees ELSA listening, and unseen, lounges against the downstage pillar of the pergola)

CAROLINE. You’ve thought it all out, haven’t you?

AMYAS. (moving R) I love Elsa—and I mean to have her.

CAROLINE. (trembling) Do as you please—I’m warning you.

AMYAS. (turning) What do you mean by that?

CAROLINE. (turning suddenly on him) I mean you’re mine—and I don’t mean to let you go.

(AMYAS moves to Caroline)

Sooner than let you go to that girl, I’ll . . .

AMYAS. Caroline, don’t be a fool.

CAROLINE. (near to tears) You and your women! You don’t deserve to live.

AMYAS. (trying to embrace her) Caroline . . .

CAROLINE. I mean it. (She pushes him away) Don’t touch me. (She crosses to the door down R in tears) It’s too cruel—it’s too cruel.

AMYAS. Caroline . . .

(CAROLINE exits down R. AMYAS gives a hopeless gesture, turns and crosses towards the french windows. ELSA turns quickly away, sees Philip and quickly looks nonchalant)

(He goes on the terrace) Oh, there you are at last. (He moves to his stool and sits) What do you mean by wasting half the morning? Get into the pose.

ELSA. (looking at Amyas over the top of the easel) I’ll have to get a pullover. It’s quite a chilly wind.

AMYAS. Oh, no, you don’t. It’ll change all the tones of the skin.

ELSA. I’ve got a yellow one like this shirt—and, anyway, you’re painting my hands this morning, you said so.

(ELSA pouts and runs off by the door up L)

AMYAS. (shouting after Elsa) You don’t know what I’m painting. Only I know that. Oh, hell! (He squeezes paint from a tube on to his palette and mixes the paint)

PHILIP. Trouble with Caroline?

AMYAS. (looking up) Heard some of it, did you?

(PHILIP crosses below Amyas to R)

I knew just what would happen. Elsa had to open her big mouth. Caroline gets hysterical and won’t listen to reason.

PHILIP. (turning) Poor Caroline! (He does not say it with pity, instead there is a trace of satisfaction in his tone)

(AMYAS looks sharply at Philip)

AMYAS. Caroline is all right. Don’t waste your pity on her.

PHILIP. (crossing to LC) Amyas, you’re incredible. I don’t know that I’d really blame Caroline if she took a hatchet to you.

AMYAS. (irritably) Do stop pacing, Phil. You’re putting me off. I thought you were going to meet Merry.

PHILIP. (moving to the upstage end of the pergola) I was afraid of missing him.

AMYAS. What’s the big hurry? You saw him yesterday.

PHILIP. (crossly) Since I seem to annoy you, I’ll take myself off.

(PHILIP exits up L, above the pergola. ELSA enters by the door up L, with a pullover draped over her arm)

AMYAS. (looking up) At last! Now, get me some beer, will you. I’m thirsty. What on earth you want with a pullover on a day like this I don’t know. I’m boiling. You’ll be wanting snow boots next, and a hot-water bottle to sit on.

(ELSA drops her pullover on the bench, goes to the trolley and pours a glass of beer)

(He rises, goes down R, turns and looks at his painting) This is the best thing I’ve ever done. (He moves to the painting and bends down to it) Do you think Da Vinci knew what he’d done when he’d finished La Giaconda?

(ELSA crosses with the glass of beer and holds it out over the easel)

ELSA. La—what?

AMYAS. (taking the glass) La Gia—the Mona Lisa, you ignorant bitch—oh, never mind. (He drinks) Pah! It’s warm. Isn’t there a bucket of ice?

ELSA. (sitting on the bench) No. (She takes up her pose)

AMYAS. Somebody’s always forgetting something. (He crosses above the bench and looks off L) I loathe hot beer. (He calls) Hi, Angela!

ANGELA. (off L; calling) What?

AMYAS. Go and get me a bottle of beer from the refrigerator.

(ANGELA enters down L)

ANGELA. Why should I?

AMYAS. Common humanity. (He crosses to his stool) Come on, now, be a sport.

ANGELA. Oh, all right.

(ANGELA sticks her tongue out at Amyas and runs off by the door up L)

AMYAS. Charming little girl. (He sits on his stool) Your left hand’s wrong—up a bit.

(ELSA moves her left hand)

That’s better. (He sips some beer)

(MISS WILLIAMS enters up C and goes on to the terrace)

MISS WILLIAMS. (to Amyas) Have you seen Angela?

AMYAS. She’s just gone into the house to get me some beer. (He paints)

MISS WILLIAMS. Oh.

(MISS WILLIAMS seems surprised. She turns and exits quickly by the door up L. AMYAS whistles as he works)

ELSA. (after a few moments) Must you whistle?

AMYAS. Why not?

ELSA. That particular tune?

AMYAS. (not understanding) What? (He sings) “When we are married, why what shall we do?” (He grins) Not very tactful.

(CAROLINE enters by the door up L, carrying a bottle of beer)

CAROLINE. (moving down C; coldly) Here’s your beer. I’m sorry the ice was forgotten.

AMYAS. Oh, thank you, Caroline. Open it for me, will you? (He holds out his glass)

(CAROLINE takes the glass, crosses to the trolley, and with her back to the audience, opens the bottle and pours the beer. AMYAS begins to whistle the same tune, realizes this, and checks himself. CAROLINE takes the bottle and the glass of beer to AMYAS)

CAROLINE. Here’s your beer.

AMYAS. (taking the glass) And you hope it chokes me. (He grins) Here’s to hoping! (He drinks) Phew, this tastes worse than the other. Still, it is cold.

(CAROLINE places the bottle beside the paintbox, goes into the room and exits up C. AMYAS resumes painting. MEREDITH enters breathlessly down L)

MEREDITH. Is Phil about?

AMYAS. He went to meet you.

MEREDITH. Which path?

AMYAS. Lower one.

MEREDITH. I came by the other.

AMYAS. Well, you can’t go on chasing each other. Better hang on and wait.

MEREDITH. (taking out his handkerchief and wiping his brow) I’m hot. I’ll go inside. It’s cooler. (He crosses to the french windows)

AMYAS. Get yourself a cold drink. Get one of the women to get it for you.

(MEREDITH goes into the room, and hesitates, uncertain what to do)

(He looks at Elsa) You’ve wonderful eyes, Elsa. (He pauses) I’ll leave the hands—concentrate on the eyes. I haven’t quite got them.

(MEREDITH moves to the french windows and looks out to the terrace)

Move your hands as much as you like—I’m getting it. Now for God’s sake don’t move or talk.

(MEREDITH turns and crosses in the room to RC)

ELSA. I don’t want to talk.

AMYAS. That’s a change.

(ANGELA enters up C, carrying a tray with a jug of iced lemonade and two glasses, which she places on the table R)

ANGELA. Refreshments!

MEREDITH. Oh, thank you, Angela. (He moves to the tray and pours a glass of lemonade)

ANGELA. (crossing to the french windows) We aim to please. (She goes on to the terrace. To Amyas) Did you get your beer all right?

AMYAS. Sure I did. You’re a great gal.

ANGELA. (laughing) Very kind, aren’t I? Ha, ha. You wait and see.

(ANGELA runs into the room and exits up C, closing the door behind her. MEREDITH sips his lemonade)

AMYAS. (suspicious) That kid’s up to something. (He rubs his right shoulder) That’s funny.

ELSA. What’s the matter?

AMYAS. I’m very stiff this morning. Rheumatism, I suppose.

ELSA. (mocking) Poor creaking old man.

(PHILIP enters down L)

AMYAS. (chuckling) Creaking with age. Hullo, Phil. Merry’s inside waiting for you.

PHILIP. Good (He crosses and goes into the room)

(MEREDITH puts his glass on the tray and meets PHILIP at C. AMYAS resumes painting)

MEREDITH. Thank goodness you’ve come. I didn’t know what to do.

PHILIP. What is all this? Caroline and the governess were in the room when you rang up.

MEREDITH. (in a low voice) There’s a bottle missing from my lab.

PHILIP. So you told me. But what’s in it?

MEREDITH. Conine.

PHILIP. Hemlock?

MEREDITH. Yes, conine’s the pure alkaloid.

PHILIP. Dangerous?

MEREDITH. Very.

PHILIP. And you’ve no idea whatsoever who could have taken it?

MEREDITH. No. I always keep the door locked.

PHILIP. You locked it yesterday?

MEREDITH. You know I did. You saw me.

PHILIP. You’re sure about this—you haven’t just mislaid the bottle—shoved it away somewhere? (He crosses to R)

MEREDITH. I showed it them all yesterday. And then I put it back in its place on the shelf.

PHILIP. (turning; sharply) Who came out of the room last?

MEREDITH. (unwillingly) Caroline—I waited for her.

PHILIP. But you weren’t watching her?

MEREDITH. No.

PHILIP. (with decision) Well, then Caroline took it.

MEREDITH. You really think so?

PHILIP. (crossing above Meredith to L) So do you, or you wouldn’t be in such a state.

MEREDITH. That’s what she had in mind yesterday—when she said everything was finished for her. She meant to do away with herself. (He sinks on to the stool, and faces upstage)

PHILIP. Well, cheer up, she hasn’t done any with herself yet.

MEREDITH. You’ve seen her this morning. Is she all right?

PHILIP. Seems just the same as usual to me.

MEREDITH. What are we going to do?

PHILIP. You’d better tackle her.

MEREDITH. I don’t know—how shall I go about it?

PHILIP. I should just stay straight out—“You pinched my conine yesterday. Hand it back, please.”

MEREDITH. (doubtfully) Like that?

PHILIP. (crossing above Meredith to R) Well, what do you want to say?

MEREDITH. I don’t know. (He brightens) We’ve got plenty of time, I imagine. She wouldn’t take the stuff until she goes to bed, would she?

PHILIP. (dryly) Probably not. If she means to take it at all.

MEREDITH. You think she doesn’t?

PHILIP. (crossing below Meredith to L) She may want it to make a theatrical scene with Amyas. Give up that girl or I’ll swallow this and kill myself.

MEREDITH. That wouldn’t be like Caroline.

PHILIP. Well—you know her best. (He moves up LC)

MEREDITH. You’re always bitter about Caroline. You used to be crazy about her once—don’t you remember? (He rises)

PHILIP. (turning; annoyed) A brief attack of calf love. It wasn’t serious.

MEREDITH. And then—you turned against her.

PHILIP. (exasperated) Let’s stick to the present, shall we?

MEREDITH. Yes. Yes, of course.

(CAROLINE enters up C)

CAROLINE. Hullo, Merry, stay to lunch, won’t you? It’ll be ready in a moment. (She moves to the french windows)

MEREDITH. Well, thanks.

(CAROLINE goes on to the terrace and stands by the easel, looking at Amyas)

ELSA. (to Amyas; as Caroline comes out) I shall have a break.

AMYAS. (rather indistinctly) Stop where you are, damn you.

MEREDITH. (to Philip) After lunch, I’ll take Caroline out in the garden and tackle her. All right?

(PHILIP nods, closes the door up C and moves to the french windows. ELSA rises and stretches. MEREDITH moves to the table R and picks up his half-finished lemonade)

CAROLINE. (urgently) Amyas . . .

PHILIP. (moving on to the terrace) You seem very preoccupied this morning, Caroline.

CAROLINE. (to Philip; over her shoulder) I? Oh, yes, I’m very busy getting Angela off. (To Amyas. Very urgently) You will do it, Amyas. You must. This afternoon.

(PHILIP moves above the bench. AMYAS passes his hand over his forehead. He has lost control of clear speech)

AMYAS. All ri-right. I’ll see—her packing . . .

CAROLINE. (turning to the french windows) We—we do want Angela to get off without too much fuss. (She goes into the room and stands above the stool)

(PHILIP crosses to the french windows. ELSA sits on the bench. AMYAS shakes his head to try and clear his brain)

PHILIP. (to Caroline) You spoil that brat.

CAROLINE. (plumping cushions on the sofa) We shall miss her terribly when she’s gone.

PHILIP. (stepping into the room) Where’s little Carla?

(MEREDITH crosses to the armchair L with his drink, and sits)

CAROLINE. She’s gone to stay with her godmother for a week. She’ll be home the day after tomorrow.

MEREDITH. What’s Miss Williams going to do with herself when Angela’s gone?

CAROLINE. She’s got a post at the Belgian Embassy. I shall miss her.

(A dinner gong sounds off in the hall)

Lunch.

(ANGELA bursts in up C)

ANGELA. (as she enters) I’m starving. (She runs on to the terrace. To Elsa and Amyas) Lunch, you two.

(MISS WILLIAMS appears in the doorway up C. CAROLINE crosses to the table RC and picks up her cigarette case)

ELSA. (rising and picking up her pullover) Coming.

(ANGELA goes into the room)

(To Amyas) Lunch?

AMYAS. I—ah!

MISS WILLIAMS. Do try not to shout so, Angela, it really isn’t necessary.

ANGELA. I’m not shouting.

(ANGELA exits up C. MISS WILLIAMS follows her off)

CAROLINE. (moving to the door up C; to Meredith) I should bring that in with you.

(MEREDITH rises)

PHILIP. (looking at Meredith) What—lemonade?

CAROLINE. (to Philip) For you, we’ve got a lovely bottle of . . .

PHILIP. Château Neuf du Pape? Good! Hasn’t Amyas finished it yet?

CAROLINE. (to Meredith) What a nice surprise to see you.

MEREDITH. I really came over to see Philip, but I’m always happy to stay to lunch.

(CAROLINE and PHILIP exit up C. ELSA comes into the room)

(He turns to Elsa) Amyas?

ELSA. (crossing to the door up C) There’s something he wants to finish.

(ELSA exits up C. MEREDITH follows her off)

ANGELA. (off) He hates stopping for lunch.

(The paintbrush drops from AMYAS’ hand. The LIGHTS slowly dim to BLACK-OUT. A spotlight comes up on Justin down L)

JUSTIN. They all went in to lunch, leaving Amyas painting on the terrace. After lunch, Miss Williams and Mrs. Crale went out with coffee. Miss Williams?

(The spotlight fades. MISS WILLIAMS’ voice can be heard in the darkness)

MISS WILLIAMS. Mr. Crale often refused lunch and went on painting. It was nothing out of the ordinary. He liked a cup of coffee brought to him, though. I poured it and Mrs. Crale took it out to him, and I followed. At the trial I told what we found. But there was something else—something I have not told anyone. I think it right that I should tell it now.

(The LIGHTS come up. AMYAS lies prostate on the ground below the easel. CAROLINE and MISS WILLIAMS are in the room, standing at the stool, on which there is a tray of coffee. MISS WILLIAMS is R of the stool, pouring out a cup of coffee, which she gives to Caroline. CAROLINE takes the coffee on to the terrace)

CAROLINE. (as she goes on to the terrace) Amyas. (She sees Amyas on the ground. Horrified) Amyas! (She stands for a moment, puts the coffee-cup on the bench, rushes to Amyas, kneels beside him and picks up his hand)

(MISS WILLIAMS comes quickly on to the terrace and moves to L of Caroline)

He’s—I think he’s dead. (She is distracted) Well, go on. Quick. Telephone for a doctor or something.

(MISS WILLIAMS goes quickly into the room. As soon as Miss Williams reaches the french windows, CAROLINE gives a furtive look round, takes out her handkerchief, picks up the beer bottle, wipes it, then presses Amyas’ hand round it. MEREDITH enters up C)

MISS WILLIAMS. (to Meredith) Get Dr. Fawcett, quickly. It’s Mr. Crale. He’s been taken ill.

(MEREDITH stares at Miss Williams for a moment, then moves to the telephone and lifts the receiver. MISS WILLIAMS goes on to the terrace in time to see Caroline pressing Amyas’ fingers round the bottle. MISS WILLIAMS freezes. CAROLINE rises, crosses quickly to the trolley, puts the bottle on it, then stands facing L. MISS WILLIAMS turns slowly and goes into the room)

MEREDITH. (into the telephone) Four-two, please . . . Dr. Fawcett? . . . This is Alderbury . . . Can you come at once? Mr. Crale has been taken seriously ill . . .

MISS WILLIAMS. He’s . . .

MEREDITH. (to Miss Williams) What? (Into the telephone) Just a moment. (To Miss Williams) What did you say?

(ELSA enters up C. PHILIP follows her on. They are laughing and joking)

MISS WILLIAMS. (in a clear voice) I said he’s dead.

(MEREDITH replaces the receiver)

ELSA. (staring at Miss Williams) What did you say? Dead? Amyas? (She rushes on to the terrace and stares down at Amyas) Amyas! (She draws in her breath, runs and kneels above Amyas and touches his head)

(CAROLINE turns. The others are motionless)

Quietly Amyas!

(There is a pause. PHILIP runs on to the terrace and stands below the bench. MISS WILLIAMS comes on to the terrace and stands below the french windows. MEREDITH follows her on and stands up L of the bench)

(She looks up at Caroline) You’ve killed him. You said you’d kill him, and you’ve done it. Sooner than let me have him, you’ve killed him. (She jumps up and goes to throw herself at Caroline)

(PHILIP moves quickly, stops Elsa and propels her round to Miss Williams. ELSA is hysterical and screams. ANGELA enters up C and stands beside the sofa)

MISS WILLIAMS. Be quiet. Control yourself.

ELSA. (in a frenzy) She killed him. She killed him.

PHILIP. Take her inside—get her to lie down.

(MEREDITH takes Elsa into the room)

CAROLINE. Miss Williams, don’t let Angela come—don’t let her see.

(MEREDITH takes ELSA off up C. MISS WILLIAMS looks at Caroline for a moment, then sets her lips firmly and goes into the room. PHILIP kneels beside Amyas and feels his pulse)

ANGELA. Miss Williams, what is it? What’s happened?

MISS WILLIAMS. Come to your room, Angela. There’s been an accident.

(MISS WILLIAMS and ANGELA exit up C)

PHILIP. (looking up at Caroline) It’s murder.

CAROLINE. (shrinking back; suddenly indecisive) No. No—he did it himself.

PHILIP. (quietly) You can tell that story—to the police.

(The LIGHTS slowly dim to BLACK-OUT. A spotlight comes up on Justin down L)

JUSTIN. In due course the police arrived. They found the missing phial of conine in a drawer in Caroline’s room. It was empty. She admitted taking it—but denied using it and swore she had no idea why it should be empty. No fingerprints but Meredith’s and her own were found on it. On the terrace, a small eye-dropper was found crushed underfoot. It contained traces of conine and shows how the poison was introduced into the beer. Angela Warren told how she got a fresh bottle of beer from the refrigerator. Miss Williams took it from her and Caroline took it from Miss Williams, opened it and gave it to Amyas, as you have just heard. Neither Meredith nor Philip Blake touched it or went near it. A week later Caroline Crale was arrested on a charge of murder.

(The spotlight fades. After a moment, the LIGHTS come up showing the scene as it was at the beginning of the Act. The coffee, lemonade, trolley, easel, etc., have been removed. The picture on the wall is again that of Elsa. PHILIP stands R of the sofa. MEREDITH is seated on the sofa at the left end. ANGELA is seated on the left arm of the sofa. ELSA stands in front of the door up C. MISS WILLIAMS is seated on the right end of the stool. CARLA is seated in the armchair R. JUSTIN is just inside the french windows with a notebook in his hand. They are all dressed for outdoors with coats and hats. ELSA is in mink. She appears excited. MEREDITH is crushed and miserable. PHILIP is aggressive. MISS WILLIAMS sits with lips set firm. ANGELA is upright, interested and thoughtful)

PHILIP. (irritably) Well, we’ve been through this extraordinary performance which must have been most painful to some of us. (He crosses above the stool to R of Justin) And what have we learnt? Nothing that we did not know before. (He glares at Justin)

(JUSTIN smiles. PHILIP goes on to the terrace, stands by the bench and lights a cigarette. MISS WILLIAMS rises and moves R)

JUSTIN. (thoughtfully) I wouldn’t say that.

MEREDITH. It’s brought it all back—just as though it happened yesterday. Most painful.

ELSA. (crossing to the sofa and sitting on it, R of Meredith) Yes, it brought it all back. It brought him back.

ANGELA. (to Justin) What have you learned that you did not know before?

JUSTIN. We shall go into that.

(PHILIP comes into the room and crosses to C)

PHILIP. May I point out something that does not seem to be recognized by anybody? (He moves to R of Justin) What we have been listening to—and supplying—can only be recollections, and probably faulty ones at that.

JUSTIN. As you say.

PHILIP. And therefore quite useless as evidence. (He turns away up LC) We haven’t heard facts at all, only people’s vague recollections of facts.

JUSTIN. (moving to L of Philip) What we have heard has no evidential value as such—but it has a value, you know.

PHILIP. In what way?

JUSTIN. Shall we say, in what people choose to remember? Or, alternatively, choose to forget.

PHILIP. Very clever—but fanciful.

ANGELA. (to Philip) I don’t agree. I . . .

PHILIP. (overriding Angela) And I will point out something else. (He crosses below the stool and stands between Miss Williams and Elsa) It’s not just a question of what people remember, or do not remember. It might be a question of deliberate lying.

JUSTIN. Of course.

ANGELA. That’s just the point, I rather imagine. (She rises and moves C) Or am I wrong?

JUSTIN. You are thinking on the right lines, Miss Warren.

(ANGELA crosses to the armchair L)

PHILIP. (exasperated) Look here, what is all this? If somebody is deliberately lying—why then . . .

ANGELA. (sitting in the armchair L) Exactly.

PHILIP. (crossing to Justin; angrily) Do you mean you have got us here with the idea—the preposterous idea, that one of us could be guilty of murder?

ANGELA. Of course he has. Have you only just realized it?

PHILIP. I never heard such offensive nonsense in my life.

ANGELA. If Amyas didn’t kill himself, and if his wife didn’t murder him, then one of us must have done so.

PHILIP. But it has already been made perfectly clear, in the course of what we’ve heard, that nobody but Caroline could have killed him.

JUSTIN. I don’t think we can be as certain as all that.

PHILIP. (crossing below the stool to R) Oh, God!

JUSTIN. (not heeding) There is the question you yourself raised, the question of lying.

(There is a slight pause. PHILIP sits on the right end of the stool, with his back to the audience)

When one person’s evidence is corroborated or acquiesced in by another person—(he moves down C) then it can be regarded as checked. But some of what we have heard is vouched for by only one person. (He crosses below the stool and moves up C) For instance, at the very beginning, we had to rely solely on Mr. Meredith Blake here for what passed between him and Caroline Crale.

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.

(MISS WILLIAMS exits up C. PHILIP re-enters up C)

PHILIP. (to Justin) I’m not so sure you’re right about that. I’ll get my fellow on to it in the morning.

(PHILIP exits up C)

MEREDITH. (moving to the door up C) Elsa of all people, it seems absolutely impossible. Caroline’s dead, Amyas is dead, there’s no one to bear witness—(he turns in the doorway) is there?

(MEREDITH shakes his head and exits up C. The babel dies down. CARLA sits on the upstage end of the bench. JUSTIN looks out of the french windows for a moment at Carla, then goes on to the terrace.)

JUSTIN. What do you want done, Carla?

CARLA. (quietly) Nothing. She’s been sentenced already, hasn’t she?

JUSTIN. (puzzled) Sentenced?

CARLA. To life imprisonment—inside herself. (She looks at him) Thank you.

JUSTIN. (crossing above the bench to L; embarrassed) You’ll go back to Canada, now, and get married. There’s no legal proof, of course, but we can satisfy your Jeff. (He crosses below Carla to C and looks at his notes)

CARLA. We don’t need to satisfy him. I’m not going to marry him. I’ve already told him so.

JUSTIN. (looking up) But—why?

CARLA. (thoughtfully) I think I’ve—well—grown out of him. And I’m not going back to Canada. After all, I do belong here.

JUSTIN. You may be—lonely.

CARLA. (with a mischievous smile) Not if I marry an English husband. (Gravely) Now, if I could induce you to fall in love with me . . .

JUSTIN. (turning to her) Induce me? Why the devil do you think I’ve done all this?

CARLA. (rising) You’ve been mixing me up with my mother. But I’m Amyas’ daughter, too. I’ve got a lot of the devil in me. I want you to be in love with me.

JUSTIN. Don’t worry. (He smiles, moves to her and takes her in his arms)

CARLA. (laughing) I don’t.

(They kiss. MEREDITH enters up C)

MEREDITH. (as he enters) May I suggest a drink at my house before . . . (He realizes the room is empty, goes to the french windows and looks out) Oh! (He smiles) My word!

MEREDITH exits up C and the LIGHTS dim to BLACK-OUT as—

the CURTAIN falls