The Mousetrap

LEONARD. (AsROMAINEpasses him.) Romaine!

USHER. (Rising) Silence!

(ROMAINE exits up L. The POLICEMAN closes the door. The USHER resumes his seat.)

JUDGE. Sir Wilfrid.

SIRWILFRID. (Rising) My lord, members of the Jury, I will not submit to you, as I might, that there is no case for the prisoner to answer. There is a case. A case of very strong circumstantial evidence. You have heard the police and other expert witnesses. They have given fair, impartial evidence as is their duty. Against them I have nothing to say. On the other hand, you have heard Janet MacKenzie and the woman who calls herself Romaine Vole. Can you believe that their testimony is not warped? Janet MacKenzie—cut out of her rich mistress’s will because her position was usurped, quite unwittingly, by this unfortunate boy. (He pauses.) Romaine Vole—Heilger—whatever she calls herself, who trapped him into marriage, whilst concealing from him the fact that she was married already. That woman owes him more than she can ever repay. She used him to save her from political persecution. But she admits no love for him. He has served his purpose. I will ask you to be very careful how you believe her testimony, the testimony of a woman who, for all we know, has been brought up to believe the pernicious doctrine that lying is a weapon to be used to serve one’s own ends. Members of the Jury, I call the prisoner. Leonard Vole.

(The USHER rises and crosses to the witness box. LEONARD rises, crosses and goes into the witness box. The WARDER follows LEONARD and stands behind him. The USHER picks up the Bible, hands it to LEONARD and holds up the oath card.)

LEONARD. I swear by Almighty God that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. (He puts the Bible on the ledge of the witness box.)

(The USHER replaces the oath card on the ledge of the witness box and sits R. of the table.)

SIRWILFRID. Now, Mr. Vole, we have heard of your friendship with Miss Emily French. Now I want you to tell us how often you visited her.

LEONARD. Frequently.

SIRWILFRID. Why was that?

LEONARD. Well, she was awfully nice to me and I got fond of her. She was like my Aunt Betsy.

SIRWILFRID. That was an aunt who brought you up?

LEONARD. Yes. She was a dear. Miss French reminded me of her.

SIRWILFRID. You’ve heard Janet MacKenzie say Miss French thought you were a single man, and that there was some question of marrying you. Is there any truth in this?

LEONARD. Of course not. It’s an absurd idea.

SIRWILFRID. Miss French knew that you were married?

LEONARD. Yes.

SIRWILFRID. So there was no question of marriage between you?

LEONARD. Of course not. I’ve told you, she treated me as though she was an indulgent aunt. Almost like a mother.

SIRWILFRID. And in return you did everything for her that you could.

LEONARD. (Simply.) I was very fond of her.

SIRWILFRID. Will you tell the Jury in your own words exactly what happened on the night of October the fourteenth?

LEONARD. Well, I’d come across a kind of a cat brush—a new thing in that line—and I thought it would please her. So I took it along that evening. I’d nothing else to do.

SIRWILFRID. What time was that?

LEONARD. Just before eight I got there. I gave her the cat brush. She was pleased. We tried it out on one of the cats and it was a success. Then we played a game of Double Demon—Miss French was very fond of Double Demon—and after that I left.

SIRWILFRID. Yes, but did you not . . .

JUDGE. Sir Wilfrid, I don’t understand this piece of evidence at all. What is a cat brush?

LEONARD. It’s a brush for brushing cats.

JUDGE. Oh!

LEONARD. A sort of brush and comb combined. Miss French kept cats—eight of them she had, and the house smelt a bit . . .

SIRWILFRID. Yes, yes.

LEONARD. I thought the brush might be useful.

SIRWILFRID. Did you see Janet MacKenzie?

LEONARD. No. Miss French let me in herself.

SIRWILFRID. Did you know Janet MacKenzie was out?

LEONARD. Well, I didn’t think about it.

SIRWILFRID. At what time did you leave?

LEONARD. Just before nine. I walked home.

SIRWILFRID. How long did that take you?

LEONARD. Oh, I should say about twenty minutes to half an hour.

SIRWILFRID. So that you reached home . . . ?

LEONARD. I reached home at twenty-five minutes past nine.