The Mousetrap

SIRWILFRID. So your hearing isn’t very good, is that right? (He lowers his voice.) When I say to you, Miss MacKenzie, that you could not possibly recognize a voice through a closed door, what do you answer? (He pauses.) Can you tell me what I said?

JANET. I can no’ hear anyone if they mumble.

SIRWILFRID. In fact you didn’t hear what I said, although I am only a few feet from you in an open court. Yet you say that behind a closed door with two people talking in an ordinary conversational tone, you definitely recognized the voice of Leonard Vole as you swept past that door on two occasions.

JANET. It was him, I tell you. It was him.

SIRWILFRID. What you mean is you want it to be him. You have a preconceived notion.

JANET. Who else could it have been?

SIRWILFRID. Exactly. Who else could it have been? That was the way your mind worked. Now tell me, Miss MacKenzie, was Miss French sometimes lonely all by herself in the evening?

JANET. No, she was not lonely. She had books from the library.

SIRWILFRID. She listened to the wireless, perhaps?

JANET. Aye, she listened to the wireless.

SIRWILFRID. She was fond of a talk on it, perhaps, or of a good play?

JANET. Yes, she liked a good play.

SIRWILFRID. Wasn’t it possible that on that evening when you returned home and passed the door, that what you really heard was the wireless switched on and a man and woman’s voice, and laughter? There was a play called Lover’s Leap on the wireless that night.

JANET. It was not the wireless.

SIRWILFRID. Oh, why not?

JANET. The wireless was away being repaired that week.

SIRWILFRID. (Slightly taken aback.) It must have upset you very much, Miss MacKenzie, if you really thought Miss French intended to marry the prisoner.

JANET. Naturally it would upset me. It was a daft thing to do.

SIRWILFRID. For one thing, if Miss French had married the prisoner it’s quite possible, isn’t it, that he might have persuaded her to dismiss you.

JANET. She’d never have done that, after all these years.

SIRWILFRID. But you never know what anyone will do, do you? Not if they’re strongly influenced by anyone.

JANET. He would have used his influence, oh yes, he would have done his best to make her get rid of me.

SIRWILFRID. I see. You felt the prisoner was a very real menace to your present way of life at the time.

JANET. He’d have changed everything.

SIRWILFRID. Yes, very upsetting. No wonder you feel so bitterly against the prisoner. (He sits.)

MYERS. (Rising) My learned friend has been at great pains to extract from you an admission of vindictiveness towards the prisoner . . .

SIRWILFRID. (Without rising, and audibly for the benefit of the Jury) A painless extraction—quite painless.

MYERS. (Ignoring him) Did you really believe your mistress might have married the prisoner?

JANET. Indeed I did. I’ve just said so.

MYERS. Yes, indeed you have. In your view had the prisoner such an influence over Miss French that he could have persuaded her to dismiss you?

JANET. I’d like to have seen him try. He’d not have succeeded.

MYERS. Had the prisoner ever shown any dislike of you in any way?

JANET. No, he had his manners.

MYERS. Just one more question. You say you recognized Leonard Vole’s voice through that closed door. Will you tell the Jury how you knew it was his?

JANET. You know a person’s voice without hearing exactly what they are saying.

MYERS. Thank you, Miss MacKenzie.

JANET. (To theJUDGE) Good morning. (She stands down and crosses to the door upL.)

MYERS. Call Thomas Clegg.

(The POLICEMAN opens the door.)

USHER. (Rising and crossing toC.) Thomas Clegg.

POLICEMAN. (Calling) Thomas Clegg.

(JANET exits. THOMAS CLEGG enters up L. He carries a notebook. The POLICEMAN closes the door. The USHER moves to the witness box and picks up the Bible and oath card. CLEGG crosses and enters the witness box and takes the Bible from the USHER.)

CLEGG. (Saying the oath by heart) 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.)