The Mousetrap and Other Plays

  NEVILE. (Sitting on the chaise, thickly.) All—a tissue of lies.

  BATTLE. (Crossing to L. of Nevile.) Is it? I’ve met people like you before—people with a mental kink. Your vanity was hurt when Audrey Strange left you, wasn’t it? You loved her and she had the colossal impertinence to prefer another man. (Nevile’s face shows momentary agreement. He watches Nevile narrowly.) You wanted to think of something special—something clever, something quite out of the way. The fact that it entailed the killing of a woman who had been almost a mother to you didn’t worry you.

  NEVILE. (With resentment.) She shouldn’t have ticked me off like a child. But it’s lies—all lies. And I haven’t got a mental kink.

  BATTLE. (Watching Nevile.) Oh, yes, you have. Your wife flicked you on the raw, didn’t she, when she left you? You—the wonderful Nevile Strange. You saved your pride by pretending that you’d left her—and you married another girl just to bolster up that story.

  KAY. Oh. (She turns to Mary. Mary puts her arm around Kay.)

  BATTLE. But all the time you were planning what you’d do to Audrey. Pity you didn’t have the brains to carry it out better.

  NEVILE. (Almost whimpering.) It’s not true.

  BATTLE. (Inexorably breaking him down.) Audrey’s been laughing at you—while you’ve been preening yourself and thinking how clever you were. (He raises his voice and calls.) Come in, Mrs. Strange. (Audrey enters L. Nevile gives a strangled cry and rises. Royde moves to Audrey and puts an arm around her.) She’s never been really under arrest, you know. We just wanted to keep her out of your crazy reach. There was no knowing what you might do if you thought your silly childish plan was going wrong. (Benson appears at the French windows. Leach moves above the chaise.)

  NEVILE. (Breaking down and screaming with rage.) It wasn’t silly. It was clever—it was clever. I thought out every detail. How was I to know that Royde knew the truth about Audrey and Adrian? Audrey and Adrian . . .(He suddenly loses control and screams at Audrey.) How dare you prefer Adrian to me? God damn and blast your soul, you shall hang. They’ve got to hang you. They’ve got to. (He makes a dash towards Audrey. Battle makes a sign to Leach and Benson, who move one each side of Nevile. Audrey clings to Royde. Half sobbing.) Leave me alone. I want her to die afraid—to die afraid. I hate her. (Audrey and Royde turn away from Nevile and move up L.)

  MARY. (Moving to the chaise and sitting, almost inaudibly.) Oh, God!

  BATTLE. Take him away, Jim. (Leach and Benson close in on Nevile.)

  NEVILE. (Suddenly quite calm.) You’re making a great mistake, you know. I can . . .(Leach and Benson lead Nevile to the door L. Nevile suddenly kicks Benson on the shin, pushes him into Leach, and dashes off L. Leach and Benson dash off after Nevile.)

  BATTLE. (In alarm.) Look out! Stop him. (Battle dashes off L. Off. Shouting.) After him—don’t let him get away. (Treves and Royde run out L. Audrey moves slowly to C. of rostrum.)

  ROYDE. (Off; shouting.) He’s locked himself in the dining room.

  BATTLE. (Off; shouting.) Break the door open. (The sound of heavy blows on wood is heard off. Kay rises.)

  KAY. (Burying her face in Latimer’s shoulder.) Ted—oh, Ted . . .(She sobs. There is a crash of breaking glass off, followed by the sound of the door breaking open.)

  BATTLE. (Off; shouting.) Jim—you go down by the road. I’ll take the cliff path. (Battle enters quickly L., and crosses quickly to the French windows. He looks worried. Breathlessly.) He flung himself through the dining room window. It’s a sheer drop to the rocks below. I shouldn’t think there was a chance. (Battle exits by the French windows. Benson enters L., crosses, exits by the French windows, and is heard to give three shrill blasts on his whistle.)

  KAY. (Hysterically.) I want to get away. I can’t . . .

  MARY. (Rising and moving C.) Why don’t you take her back to the hotel with you, Mr. Latimer?

  KAY. (Eagerly.) Yes. Ted, please—anything to get away from here.

  MARY. Take her. I’ll have her things packed and sent over.

  LATIMER. (Gently.) Come along. (Kay exits with Latimer by the French windows. Mary nods and exits L. Audrey moves to the chaise, sits on it, with her back to the bay window, and sobs. There is a slight pause, then the curtains of the bay window are parted a little. Nevile enters quietly over the sill of the bay window. His hair is dishevelled and there are streaks of dirt on his face and hands. There is a cruel and devilish smile on his face as he looks at Audrey. He moves silently towards her.)

  NEVILE. Audrey! (Audrey turns quickly and sees Nevile. In a low, tense voice.) You didn’t think I’d come back, did you? I was too clever for them, Audrey. While they were breaking open the door I flung a stool through the window and climbed out on to the stone ledge. Only a man who is used to mountain climbing could have done it—a man with strong fingers—like mine. (He moves slowly nearer and nearer to Audrey.) Strong fingers, Audrey—and a soft throat. They wouldn’t hang you as I wanted them to, would they? But you’re going to die just the same. (His fingers close on her throat.) You’ll never belong to anyone but me. (Leach dashes in L. Benson dashes in by the French windows. Leach and Benson drag Nevile from Audrey and exit with him by the French windows. Audrey is left gasping for breath on the chaise. Royde enters L. He stares in a puzzled way towards the French windows and crosses towards them. He has almost passed the upstage end of the chaise when he realizes Audrey is there.)

  ROYDE. (Stopping and turning to Audrey.) I say, are you all right?

  AUDREY. Am I all right? Oh, Thomas! (She laughs. Royde, with his arms outstretched, moves towards Audrey as—)

  THE CURTAIN FALLS

  Verdict

  CAST

  (In order of their appearance)

  LESTER COLE

  MRS. ROPER

  LISA KOLETZKY

  PROFESSOR KARL HENDRYK

  DR. STONER

  ANYA HENDRYK

  HELEN ROLLANDER

  SIR WILLIAM ROLLANDER

  DETECTIVE INSPECTOR OGDEN

  POLICE SERGEANT PEARCE

  SYNOPSIS OF SCENES

  ACT I

  SCENE 1 An afternoon in early spring.

  SCENE 2 A fortnight later. Afternoon.

  ACT II

  SCENE 1 Four days later. About midday.

  SCENE 2 Six hours later. Evening.

  SCENE 3 Two months later. Late afternoon.

  TIME: The Present.

  ACT ONE

  Scene I

  SCENE: The living room of PROFESSOR HENDRYK’s flat in Bloomsbury. An afternoon in early spring.

  The flat is the upper floor of one of the old houses in Bloomsbury. It is a well-proportioned room with comfortable, old-fashioned furniture. The main feature that strikes the eye is books; books everywhere, in shelves against the wall, lying on tables, on chairs, on the sofa and piled up in heaps on the floor. Double doors up C lead to an entrance door is R and a passage leads off L to the kitchen. In the room the door to ANYA’s bedroom is down R and there is a sash window L leading on to a small balcony with ivy-covered railings, overlooking the street below and a row of houses opposite. KARL’s desk is in front of the window with a chair in front of it. The desk is filled with books as well as the telephone, blotter, calendar, etc. Below the desk is a record cabinet, filled with records, more books and odd lecture papers. There is a record player on top. Built into the walls either side of the double doors are bookcases. Below the left one is ANYA’s small work-table. Between the doors and the bookcase L of it there is a three-tiered, round table with books in each tier and a plant on the top one. Against the wall below the door R is a small console table with a plant on top and books piled below. Hanging on the wall above the door down R is a small set of shelves with more books and ANYA’s medicine in one corner. Under the shelves is a small cupboard with further books. The cupboards underneath. In front of these shelves, there is a library ladder. A sofa is RC with a circular table behind it. Chairs stand above and L of the table. All three pieces of furnitur
e have books on them. A large red armchair is LC, with still more books on it. At night the room is lit by wall-bracket each side of the window and table-lamps on the desk, on the table RC and on the cupboard R. There are switches L of the double doors. In the hall there is a chair R of the bedroom door.

  When the CURTAIN rises, the double doors are open. The stage is in darkness. When the lights come up LESTER COLE is precariously balanced on the library ladder. He is a clumsy but likeable young man of about twenty-four, with a tousled head of hair. He is shabbily dressed. There is a pile of books on the top of the ladder. LESTER reaches up to the top shelf, selects a book now and again, pauses to read a passage and either adds it to the pile on the ladder or replaces it on the shelf.

  MRS. ROPER. (off L in the Hall) All right, Miss Koletzky, I’ll see to it before I go home.

  MRS. ROPER enters the hall from L. She is a rather shifty and unpleasant cleaning woman. She is carrying her outdoor clothes and a shopping bag. She crosses to R of the hall then returns with great stealth, entering the room with her back against the right-hand door. She obviously does not see LESTER who is engrossed in a book. She creeps towards the downstage end of the desk where there is a packet of cigarettes. She is just about to pocket them when LESTER shuts his book with a bang. MRS. ROPER, startled out of her wits, spins round.

  Oh, Mr. Cole—I didn’t know you were still here.

  LESTER goes to return the book to the top shelf and nearly overbalances.

  Do be careful. (She crosses above the armchair LC to R of it and puts her bag on the floor) That thing’s not safe, really it isn’t. (She puts on her hat) Come to pieces any minute, it might, and where would you be then, I’d like to know? (She puts on her coat)

  LESTER. Where indeed?

  The lights begin to fade slowly for sunset.

  MRS. ROPER. Only yesterday I read in the papers of a gentleman as fell off a pair of steps in his library. Thought nothing of it at the time—but later he was took bad and they rushed him to hospital. (She puts her scarf around her neck) Broken rib what had peneterated the lung. (With satisfaction) And the next day he was—(She gives her scarf a final pull round her throat) dead.

  LESTER. What jolly papers you read, Mrs. Roper. (He becomes engrossed in a book and ignores MRS. ROPER)

  MRS. ROPER. And the same will happen to you if you go stretching over like that. (She glances at the desk where the cigarettes are, then back at LESTER again. Seeing that he is taking no notice of her she starts to sidle over to the desk, humming quietly to herself and keeping an eye on LESTER. She empties the cigarettes from the packet into her pocket then moves C holding the empty packet) Oh, look! The professor’s run out of cigarettes again.

  A clock strikes five somewhere outside the window.

  I’d better slip out and get him another twenty before they shut. Tell Miss Koletzky I won’t be long fetching back that washing. (She picks up her bag, goes into the hall and calls) ’Bye!

  MRS. ROPER exits in the hall to R. The front door is heard opening and closing.

  LESTER. (without taking his nose out of the book) I’ll tell her.

  A door is heard to slam off L in the hall. LESTER jumps, knocking the pile of books off the top of the steps. LISA KOLETZKY enters up C from L. She is a tall, handsome, dark woman of thirty-five, with a strong and rather enigmatic personality. She is carrying a hot-water bottle.

  Sorry, Miss Koletzky, I’ll pick ’em up. (He comes down the ladder and picks up the books)

  LISA. (moving C) It does not matter. A few more books here and there are of no consequence.

  LESTER. (placing the books on the table RC) You startled me, you see. How is Mrs. Hendryk?

  LISA. (tightening the stopper on the bottle) The same as usual. She feels the cold. I have a fresh bottle here for her.

  LESTER. (moving to R of the sofa) Has she been ill for a very long time?

  LISA. (sitting on the left arm of the sofa) Five years.

  LESTER. Will she ever get any better?

  LISA. She has her bad and her good days.

  LESTER. Oh, yes, but I mean really better. I say, that’s tough going, isn’t it?

  LISA. (rather foreign) As you say, it is “tough going.”

  LESTER. (climbing up the ladder and falling up before reaching the top) Can’t the doctors do anything?

  LISA. No. She has one of these diseases for which at present there is no known cure. Some day perhaps they will discover one. In the meantime—(She shrugs her shoulders) she can never get any better. Every month, every year, she gets a little weaker. She may go on like that for many, many years.

  LESTER. Yes, that is tough. It’s tough on him. (He comes down the ladder)

  LISA. As you say, it is tough on him.

  LESTER. (moving to R of the sofa) He’s awfully good to her, isn’t he?

  LISA. He cares for her very much.

  LESTER. (sitting on the right arm of the sofa) What was she like when she was young?

  LISA. She was very pretty. Yes, a very pretty girl, fair-haired and blue-eyed and always laughing.

  LESTER. (bewildered by life) You know, it gets me. I mean, time—what it does to you. How people change. I mean, it’s hard to know what’s real and what isn’t—or if anything is real.

  LISA. (rising and crossing to the door down R) This bottle seems to be real.

  LISA exits down R leaving the door open. LESTER rises, collects his satchel from the table RC, crosses to the armchair LC and puts some books from the chair into the satchel. LISA can be heard talking to ANYA, but the words are indistinguishable. LISA reenters down R.

  LESTER. (guiltily) The professor said it would be all right to take anything I wanted.

  LISA. (moving to R of the table RC and glancing at the books) Of course, if he said so.

  LESTER. He’s rather wonderful, isn’t he?

  LISA. (absorbed in a book) Hmm?

  LESTER. The Prof., he’s wonderful. We all think so, you know. Everybody’s terrifically keen. The way he puts things. All the past seems to come alive. (He pauses) I mean, when he talks about it you see what everything means. He’s pretty unusual, isn’t he?

  LISA. He has a very fine brain.

  LESTER. (sitting on the right arm of the armchair) Bit of luck for us that he had to leave his own country and came here. But it isn’t only his brain, you know, it’s something else.

  LISA selects a “Walter Savage Landor,” moves and sits on the sofa at the left end.

  LISA. I know what you mean. (She reads)

  LESTER. You just feel that he knows all about you. I mean, that he knows just how difficult everything is. Because you can’t get away from it—life is difficult, isn’t it?

  LISA. (still reading) I do not see why it should be so.

  LESTER. (startled) I beg your pardon?

  LISA. I don’t see why you say—and so many people say—that life is difficult. I think life is very simple.

  LESTER. Oh, come now—hardly simple.

  LISA. But, yes. It has a pattern, the sharp edges, very easy to see.

  LESTER. Well, I think it’s just one unholy mess. (Doubtfully, but hoping he is right) Perhaps you’re a kind of Christian Scientist?

  LISA. (laughing) No, I’m not a Christian Scientist.

  LESTER. But you really think life’s easy and happy?

  LISA. I did not say it was easy or happy. I said it was simple.

  LESTER. (rising and crossing to L of the sofa) I know you’re awfully good—(Embarrassed) I mean, the way you look after Mrs. Hendryk and everything.

  LISA. I look after her because I want to do so, not because it is good.

  LESTER. I mean, you could get a well-paid job if you tried.

  LISA. Oh, yes, I could get a job quite easily. I am a trained physicist.

  LESTER. (impressed) I’d no idea of that. But then, surely you ought to get a job, oughtn’t you?

  LISA. How do you mean—ought?

  LESTER. Well, I mean it’s rather a waste, isn’t it, if yo
u don’t? Of your ability, I mean.

  LISA. A waste of my training, perhaps, yes. But ability—I think what I am doing now I do well, and I like doing it.

  LESTER. Yes, but . . .

  The front door is heard opening and closing. KARL HENDRYK enters up C from R. He is a virile and good-looking man of forty-five. He is carrying a brief-case and a small bunch of spring flowers. He switches on the wall-brackets, the table-lamp R and the table-lamp RC by the switches L. of the door. He smiles at LISA who rises as he moves C, and his face lights up with pleasure to see LESTER.

  KARL. Hello, Lisa.

  LISA. Hello, Karl.

  KARL. Look—spring. (He hands her the flowers)

  LISA. How lovely. (She moves round below the sofa, puts the flowers on the table RC, then continues round the table and takes KARL’s coat and hat.)

  LISA exits of C to L with the hat and coat.

  KARL. So you have come for more books? Good. Let me see what you are taking.

  They look over the books together.

  Yes, Loshen is good—very sound. And the Verthmer. Salzen—I warn you—he is very unsound.

  LESTER. Then, perhaps, sir, I’d better not . . .

  KARL. No. No, take it. Read it. I warn you out of my own experience, but you must make your own judgements.

  LESTER. Thank you, sir. I’ll remember what you say. (He crosses above KARL to the table RC and picks up a book) I brought the Loftus back. It is just as you said—he really makes one think. (He replaces the book on the table)

  KARL crosses above the armchair to the desk, takes some books from his brief-case and puts them on the desk.

  KARL. Why not stay and have some supper with us? (He switches on the desk lamp)

  LESTER. (putting books in his satchel) Thank you so much, sir, but I’ve got a date.

  KARL. I see. Well, good-bye till Monday, then. Take care of the books.

  LISA enters up C from L and crosses to R of the table RC.

  LESTER. (flushing guiltily) Oh, I will, sir. I’m awfully sorry—more sorry than I can tell you—about losing that other one.