The Mousetrap

MARSTON. (ToWARGRAVE) Don’t know about you, sir, but I feel I need another drink.

WARGRAVE. I agree.

MARSTON. I’ll get them. (Goes down Right.)

MACKENZIE. (Muttering angrily) Preposterous—that’s what it is—preposterous. (Sits up Left.)

MARSTON. Whisky for you, Sir Lawrence?

EMILY. (Sits Right sofa) I should like a glass of water, please.

VERA. Yes, I’ll get it. I’ll have a little whisky too. (Crosses down Right.)

(VERA takes glass of water to EMILY, then sits Right Centre with her own drink. They sip drinks without speaking, but they eye each other. ARMSTRONG enters Left 1.)

ARMSTRONG. She’ll be all right. I’ve given her a sedative.

BLORE. (Crosses down Left) Now then, Doctor, you’ll want a drink after all this.

ARMSTRONG. No, thank you. I never touch it. (Sits down Left.)

BLORE. Oh, so you said. You have this one, General? (Up Left toMACKENZIE.)

(MARSTON and LOMBARD refill their glasses. ROGERS stands near door Left 1. He is nervous. EVERYONE focuses attention on him.)

WARGRAVE. (Centre above sofas) Now then, Rogers, we must get to the bottom of this. Tell us what you know about Mr. Owen.

ROGERS. He owns this place, sir.

WARGRAVE. I am aware of that fact. What I want you to tell me is what you yourself know about the man.

ROGERS. I can’t say, sir. You see, I’ve never seen him.

(Faint stir of interest.)

MACKENZIE. What d’you mean, you’ve never seen him?

ROGERS. We’ve only been here just under a week, sir, my wife and I. We were engaged by letter through a registry office. The Regina, in Plymouth.

BLORE. That’s a high-class firm. We can check on that.

WARGRAVE. Have you got the letter?

ROGERS. The letter engaging us? Yes, sir.

(Hunts for it and hands it to WARGRAVE, who runs through it.)

WARGRAVE. Go on with your story.

ROGERS. We arrived here like the letter said, on the 4th. Everything was in order, plenty of food in stock and everything very nice. Just needed dusting and that.

WARGRAVE. What next?

ROGERS. Nothing, sir. That is, we got orders to prepare the room for a house party—eight. Then yesterday, by the morning post, I received another letter saying Mr. and Mrs. Owen might be detained and, if so, we was to do the best we could, and it gave the instructions about dinner and putting on the gramophone record. Here it is, sir. (Crosses to Centre. Hands over letter. Retires up Centre.)

WARGRAVE. H’mm. Headed Ritz Hotel and typewritten.

(BLORE steps up to him and takes letter out of his hands. MARSTON to Left of BLORE. MACKENZIE rises; looks over WARGRAVE’s shoulder.)

BLORE. Coronation machine Number 5. Quite new. No defects. Ensign paper—most common make. We shan’t get much out of this. We might try it for fingerprints, but it’s been handled too much.

LOMBARD. Quite the little detective.

(WARGRAVE turns and looks at him sharply. BLORE’S manner has completely changed, so has his voice. MACKENZIE sits up Left again. LOMBARD sits Left sofa.)

MARSTON. (Taking letter, moving down Right) Got some fancy Christian names, hasn’t he? Ulick Norman Owen. Quite a mouthful.

WARGRAVE. (Takes letter fromMARSTON; crosses Left below sofa) I am obliged to you, Mr. Marston. You have drawn my attention to a curious and suggestive point. (He looks around in his court manner) I think the time has come for all of us to pool our information. It would be well for everybody to come forward with all the information they have regarding our unknown host. We are all his guests. I think it would be profitable if each one of us were to explain exactly how that came about.

(There is a pause.)

EMILY. (Rising) There’s something very peculiar about all this. I received a letter with a signature that was not very easy to read. It purported to be from a woman whom I had met at a certain summer resort two or three years ago. I took the name to be Ogden. I am quite certain that I have never met or become friendly with anyone of the name of Owen.