The Mousetrap

MISSPRYCE. (Crossing and sitting Right of the table) Quite gone now, thank you.

HIGGS. Sorry you ’ad ter come back this afternoon. (He resumes his seat.) But yer didn’t miss mooch—except a bit of an argument with ’er ’oity-toityness and old father Abraham.

MISSPRYCE. Oh—what about?

HIGGS. Everything. And she was always right and he was always wrong.

MISSPRYCE. And do you agree, Mr. Higgs?

HIGGS. Ah doan’t know. Ancient ’Istory isn’t mooch in my line. I started at ten sixty-six and went t’other way.

(SARAH enters Right, crosses and stands above the table.)

SARAH. (Yawning) Ooh—I’ve been asleep.

HIGGS. Pleasant dreams, I ’ope.

SARAH. No dreams at all.

HIGGS. Ah ’ad a peculiar dream once.

MISSPRYCE. Oh, do tell us, Mr. Higgs.

HIGGS. (Chuckling) Ah dreamt there was three of me—and only one glass of beer.

MISSPRYCE. Oh, Mr. Higgs! Well, I really did have a peculiar dream once. I dreamed that I was going to tea with the Archbishop of Canterbury—so I took a ticket to Walham Green, of all places—and then I found I was in my nightdress.

(GERARD comes down from the rock to LENNOX.)

GERARD. Mr. Boynton. I fear I have some very bad news for you. Your mother—(He pauses) is dead.

CURTAIN

ACT THREE

Scene I

SCENE: The same. The following morning.

When Curtain rises, theDRAGOMANis asleep in the chair Right of the table. TheARABBOYenters from the marquee, sweeping a small pile of rubbish before him with a long broom. He is not looking where he is going, and the broom strikes theDRAGOMAN’s feet. TheDRAGOMANwakes with a yell and chases theARABBOYoff Right.SARAHandRAYMONDenter down the slope Left during this and watch with amusement. They move down Centre as theDRAGOMANand theARABBOYexit to the marquee.

RAYMOND. Is it true, Sarah? Is it really true? You do care for me?

SARAH. Idiot!

(RAYMOND takes SARAH in his arms and they kiss.)

RAYMOND. (Crossing below the table) The whole thing is like a dream. It seems rather awful in a way—so soon after last night.

SARAH. (Moving to Right of him) Don’t be morbid. What’s the good of hypocrisy?

RAYMOND. All the same, you know, Sarah, it’s rather dreadful to be glad anyone is dead.

SARAH. Yes, I know. Your stepmother was not only an unpleasant woman, but a dangerous woman. It’s a mercy she died as she did. Frankly, it’s almost too good to be true.

RAYMOND. I know. I feel the same. It’s like coming out of the shadow into sunlight. (In a soft voice) We’re—free.

SARAH. It’s terrible that one human being should have been able to acquire such power over others.

RAYMOND. We shouldn’t have let it happen.

SARAH. My dear, you hadn’t any choice. She started in on you as young children. Believe me, I do know what I’m talking about.

(They lean on the downstage side of the table.)

RAYMOND. My learned physician.

SARAH. (Anxiously) You don’t mind my being a doctor, do you?

RAYMOND. Of course not, darling. Who am I to mind?

SARAH. Well, I rather imagined you were going to be my husband—but, of course, you haven’t really asked me.

RAYMOND. Sarah. (He catches at her.)

(SARAH eludes RAYMOND. NADINE and LENNOX enter Right. They look quietly happy.)

NADINE. Oh, there you are, Sarah. I wanted to see you. I have been talking to Doctor Gerard about Ginevra.

SARAH. Yes?

NADINE. We are arranging for her to go into his clinic near Paris for treatment.

SARAH. Yes, indeed. Doctor Gerard is absolutely at the top of the tree as a psychiatrist. You couldn’t have a better man. He’s absolutely first-class.

NADINE. He tells us that she will be absolutely all right—a perfectly normal girl.

SARAH. I think so, too. There’s nothing fundamentally in the least wrong with Jinny. It was sheer escapism that was driving her into fantasy. But fortunately it’s not too late.

NADINE. No, it’s not too late. (She looks up at the cave mouth.) The shadow’s gone.

LENNOX. It’s like waking up from a dream.