Десять негритят / And Then There Were None

«I protest – This is absolutely uncalled for! I swear that the dose I gave the woman was perfectly —»

«Dr. Armstrong.»

The small sour voice was compelling. The doctor stopped with a jerk in the middle of his sentence. The small cold voice went on.

«Your indignation is very natural. Nevertheless you must admit that the facts have got to be faced. Either you or Rogers could have administered a fatal dose with the greatest ease. Let us now consider the position of the other people present. What chance had I, had Inspector Blore, had Miss Brent, had Miss Claythorne, had Mr. Lombard of administering poison? Can any one of us be completely and entirely eliminated?» He paused. «I think not.»

Vera said angrily: «I was nowhere near the woman! All of you can swear to that.»

Mr. Justice Wargrave waited a minute, then he said:

«As far as my memory serves me the facts were these – will any one please correct me if I make a misstatement? Mrs. Rogers was lifted onto the sofa by Anthony Marston and Mr. Lombard and Dr. Armstrong went to her. He sent Rogers for brandy. There was then a question raised as to where the voice we had just heard had come from. We all went into the next room with the exception of Miss Brent who remained in this room – alone with the unconscious woman.»

A spot of colour came into Emily Brent’s cheeks. She stopped knitting. She said:

«This is outrageous!»

The remorseless small voice went on.

«When we returned to this room, you, Miss Brent, were bending over the woman on the sofa.»

Emily Brent said: «Is common humanity a criminal offence?»

Mr. Justice Wargrave said: «I am only establishing facts. Rogers then entered the room with the brandy which, of course, he could quite well have doctored before entering the room. The brandy was administered to the woman and shortly afterwards her husband and Dr. Armstrong assisted her up to bed where Dr. Armstrong gave her a sedative.»

Blore said: «That’s what happened. Absolutely. And that lets out the judge, Mr. Lombard, myself and Miss Claythorne.»

His voice was loud and jubilant. Mr. Justice Wargrave, bringing a cold eye to bear upon him, murmured:

«Ah, but does it? We must take into account every possible eventuality.»

Blore stared. He said:

«I don’t get you.»

Mr. Justice Wargrave said: «Upstairs in her room, Mrs. Rogers is lying in bed. The sedative that the doctor has given her begins to take effect. She is vaguely sleepy and acquiescent. Supposing that at that moment there is a tap on the door and some one enters bringing her, shall we say, a tablet, or a draught, with the message that ‘the doctor says you’re to take this.’ Do you imagine for one minute that she would not have swallowed it obediently without thinking twice about it?»

There was a silence. Blore shifted his feet and frowned. Philip Lombard said:

«I don’t believe in that story for a minute. Besides none of us left this room for hours afterwards. There was Marston’s death and all the rest of it.»

The judge said: «Some one could have left his or her bedroom – later.»

Lombard objected: «But then Rogers would have been up there.»

Dr. Armstrong stirred.

«No,» he said. «Rogers went downstairs to clear up in the dining-room and pantry. Any one could have gone up to the woman’s bedroom then without being seen.»

Emily Brent said: «Surely, doctor, the woman would have been fast asleep by then under the influence of the drug you had administered?»

«In all likelihood, yes. But it is not a certainty. Until you have prescribed for a patient more than once you cannot tell their reaction to different drugs. There is, sometimes, a considerable period before a sedative takes effect. It depends on the personal idiosyncrasy of the patient towards that particular drug.»

Lombard said: «Of course you would say that, doctor. Suits your book – eh?»

Again Armstrong’s face darkened with anger. But again that passionless cold little voice stopped the words on his lips.

«No good result can come from recrimination. Facts are what we have to deal with. It is established, I think, that there is a possibility of such a thing as I have outlined occurring. I agree that its probability value is not high; though there again, it depends on who that person might have been. The appearance of Miss Brent or of Miss Claythorne on such an errand would have occasioned no surprise in the patient’s mind. I agree that the appearance of myself, or of Mr. Blore, or of Mr. Lombard could have been, to say the least of it, unusual, but I still think the visit would have been received without the awakening of any real suspicion.»

Blore said: «And that gets us – where?»

VII

Mr. Justice Wargrave, stroking his lip and looking quite passionless and inhuman, said:

«We have now dealt with the second killing, and have established the fact that no one of us can be completely exonerated from suspicion.»

He paused and went on.