(Briskly) I beg your pardon, sir, I was thinking. The police state that all the trunk lines are down, so you won’t be able to get through to Chequers yet. But it doesn’t signify. I must have a word with Mr Briggs. Will you excuse me?
(Door closes)
JULIUS: Has the man gone mad?
(Sound of door opening)
MRS BARRETT: Oh, Sir Julius, there you are! What a dreadful business this is! Briggs tells me that the roads are all completely blocked, and we may be shut up for days. What could have possessed that poor young man to kill himself, do you think? I do wish my husband was here, he would know what to do. I feel I am in such an—
JULIUS: An awkward position, Mrs Barrett. I know. But what makes you think that Robert killed himself?
MRS BARRETT: But he must have, Sir Julius, mustn’t he? I mean, we all saw him.
JULIUS: Sergeant Rogers thinks that he was murdered.
MRS BARRETT: Murdered? Oh, how shocking!
JULIUS: Where is Lady Camilla?
MRS BARRETT: Oh, but you can’t think that she could have done such a thing, surely, Sir Julius? Of course, I’ve known for some time that he had treated her very badly, but still—a young girl like that! No, if you ask me, if it was anybody, it would be Briggs. After all, he poured out the champagne, and only yesterday I did overhear him speaking to Robert in a most disrespectful way. Oh dear, it frightens me to think of it. I’m sure I shan’t be able to eat any lunch if he waits at table!
JULIUS: Well, if it’s any consolation to you, Mrs Barrett, Rogers seems inclined to think that I am the guilty party.
MRS BARRETT: (with a laugh) Oh, ridiculous, Sir Julius! (Pause) Still—of course—I do see what he means.
(Sound of door opening)
Camilla, dear, have you been with poor Lord Warbeck?
CAMILLA: (in a dead tired voice) Yes.
MRS BARRETT: Sir Julius and I were just saying—what were we saying, exactly?
JULIUS: I don’t know that I was saying anything very much. Mrs Barrett was engaged in distributing suspicion for causing Robert’s death between me, Briggs and yourself.
CAMILLA: I’m afraid I don’t find that very funny. You see, I loved Robert—and yet, up to a few moments before he died I was wishing him dead. Now I just wish I was dead—that’s all.
MRS BARRETT: Oh Camilla, that’s a very dangerous thing to say. Suppose the police were to hear you? That reminds me, Sir Julius, that man Rogers—is he safe? I don’t like his looks at all.
JULIUS: My dear lady, Rogers is a police officer who has undertaken the duty of investigating this crime.
MRS BARRETT: Didn’t you tell me he had been concerned with suppressing this League of Liberty and Justice that Robert was mixed up in? Suppose he thought the best way of suppressing the League was by—
(Sound of door opening)
BRIGGS: May Sergeant Rogers have a word with you, Sir Julius?
JULIUS: Yes, of course, Briggs. I’ll see him in my room.
ROGERS: I would prefer to talk to you here, sir, in the presence of all the others, if you don’t mind. I only want to put a question or two about last night’s occurrences which will be of general interest.
JULIUS: I have no objection at all. Goodness knows, I have nothing to hide.
ROGERS: I am much obliged, sir. First, then, am I right in thinking that Mr Warbeck was in the act of proposing a toast when he died?
JULIUS: Quite right. The toast was ‘Warbeck Hall’, I remember.
ROGERS: That was just on the stroke of midnight, was it not?
JULIUS: I think so, yes.
CAMILLA: Yes. He was in the middle of saying something else when the clock began to strike.
ROGERS: Something else? What was it?
JULIUS: We don’t know, of course. He said something about an announcement.
CAMILLA: Yes, that’s right. He had an announcement to make.
ROGERS: Can you throw any light, sir, on what the announcement was that he was about to make?
JULIUS: I haven’t the slightest idea. How should I?
ROGERS: Can anybody in this room tell me what Mr Warbeck was going to announce when he died?
(A pause)
BRIGGS: Yes, I can.
JULIUS: You, Briggs?
BRIGGS: Yes, Sir Julius.
ROGERS: What was it?
BRIGGS: If you will excuse me for one moment, Sir Julius, I have somebody here who can explain the matter better than I can.
(Sound of door opening)
MRS BARRETT: What in the world is all this about?
BRIGGS: This way, my dear.
(Sound of door closing)
JULIUS: What on earth …?
CAMILLA: Who is this woman?
BRIGGS: My daughter Susan, my lady.
CAMILLA: What right has she to be here?
BRIGGS: The announcement which Mr Robert was about to make, my lady, was that of his marriage to my daughter.
CAMILLA: So that was it! (Fiercely) Married—to you!
SUSAN: (uneducated voice, but with a certain dignity) We were married twelve months ago, my lady, at the Paddington Register Office. I have my marriage certificate here to prove it, if you want to see it.
JULIUS: Is there a child?
SUSAN: Three months old, Sir Julius. He’s in the house now.
JULIUS: (Eagerly) He? It’s a boy, then?
SUSAN: (proudly and with emphasis) Yes, sir—a lovely boy.
JULIUS: Thank heaven for that!
CAMILLA: Robert’s son!
MRS BARRETT: I can’t bear it! Oh, I can’t bear it!
(Sound of running feet)
ROGERS: Stop that woman!
(Sound of door slamming. Then sound of trying to open door)
She’s locked the door! Where does this lead to?
BRIGGS: The gun-room. I’ll go round the other way.
(Sound of door opening and closing)
ROGERS: Open this door!
(Sound of trying to open door)
Open this door!
(A loud explosion from outside. A pause. Then the sound of door being unlocked)
BRIGGS: I was too late, Mr Rogers. Mrs Barrett has shot herself.
JULIUS: I don’t understand. Do you mean that Mrs Barrett—?
ROGERS: Mrs Barrett, sir, was the murderer of Robert Warbeck.
JULIUS: I can’t believe it. Mrs Barrett? She had no grudge against him, surely?
ROGERS: Not against him, sir, but against you.
JULIUS: Against me? I still don’t follow.
ROGERS: Until a few moments ago, sir, you believed yourself to be Lord Warbeck’s heir, did you not?
JULIUS: Yes, I did.
ROGERS: