The Mousetrap and Other Plays (119 page)

CARLA
. I
do
remember you. It's all coming back. I didn't think I did.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. You were only five years old.

CARLA
. You looked after me?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. No, you were not my responsibility. I was in charge of Angela. Ah, the kettle's boiling. (
She rises, picks up the teapot and makes the tea
) Now, are you going to be happy there, dear?

CARLA
. I'm fine, thanks.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
pointing to the album
) That's Angela—you were only a baby when that was taken.

CARLA
. What was she like?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
putting down the kettle
) One of the most interesting pupils I ever had. Undisciplined, but a first-class brain. She took a first at Somerville and you may have read her book on the rock paintings of the Hazelpa?

CARLA
. Um?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. It was very well reviewed. Yes, I'm very proud of Angela. (
She puts the teapot on the tray
L
) Now, we'll just let that stand a minute, shall we?

CARLA
. (
putting the album on the upstage end of the divan
) Miss Williams, you know why I've come?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Roughly, yes. (
She moves to the fireplace
) You have just learnt the facts about the tragedy that ended your father's life, and you want fuller information about the whole matter. (
She switches off the kettle
)

CARLA
. And, I suppose, like everybody else, you think I ought to forget the whole thing?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Not at all. It appears to be perfectly natural that you should want to understand. Then, and only then, can you forget about it.

CARLA
. Will you tell me everything?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Any questions you like to put to me I will answer to the full extent of my knowledge. Now, where's my little footstool? I have a little footstool somewhere. (
She turns the armchair to face the divan and looks around for the footstool
)

CARLA
. (
rising and drawing the footstool out from under the armchair
) Here we are.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Thank you, dear. (
She seats herself comfortably in the armchair and puts her feet on the footstool
) I like to keep my feet off the ground.

CARLA
. I think—first—that I'd like to know just what my father and mother were like—what
you
thought they were like, I mean. (
She sits on the divan
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Your father, as you know, has been acclaimed as a great painter. I, of course, am not competent to judge. I do not, myself, admire his paintings. The drawing seems to me faulty and the colouring exaggerated. However, that may be, I have never seen why the possession of what is called the artistic temperament should excuse a man from ordinary decent behaviour. Your mother had a great deal to put up with where he was concerned.

CARLA
. And she minded?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. She minded very much. Mr. Crale was not a faithful husband. She put up with his infidelities and forgave him for them—but she did not take them meekly. She remonstrated—and with spirit.

CARLA
. You mean they gave each other hell?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
quietly
) That would not be my description. (
She rises and crosses below the armchair to the table
L
) There were quarrels, yes, but your mother had dignity, and your father was in the wrong. (
She pours the tea
)

CARLA
. Always?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
firmly
) Always. I was—very fond of Mrs. Crale. And very sorry for her. She had a lot to bear. If I had been Mr. Crale's wife, I should have left him. No woman should submit to humiliation at her husband's hands.

CARLA
. You didn't like my father?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
tight-lipped
) I disliked him—very much.

CARLA
. But he was really fond of my mother?

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
picks up a cup of tea and the sugar bowl and crosses to Carla
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. I believe honestly that he cared for her—but men . . . ! (
She sniffs, then hands the cup of tea to Carla
)

CARLA
. (
slightly amused
) You don't think much of men?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
with slight fanaticism
) Men still have the best of this world. I hope it will not always be so. (
She thrusts the sugar bowl at Carla
) Sugar?

CARLA
. I don't take it, thanks. And then Elsa Greer came along?

(
MISS
WILLIAMS
crosses to the table, puts down the sugar bowl and picks up her cup of tea
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
with distaste
) Yes. Ostensibly to have her portrait painted; they made poor progress with the picture. (
She crosses to
C
) Doubtless they had other things to talk about. It was obvious that Mr. Crale was infatuated with the girl and that she was doing nothing to discourage him. (
She sniffs, then sits in the armchair
)

CARLA
. What did
you
think of her?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. I thought she was good-looking, but stupid. She had had, presumably, an adequate education, but she never opened a book, and was quite unable to converse on any intellectual subject. All she ever thought about was her own personal appearance—and men, of course.

CARLA
. Go on.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Miss Greer went back to London, and very pleased we were to see her go. (
She pauses and sips her tea
) Then Mr. Crale went away and I knew, and so did Mrs. Crale, that he had gone after the girl. They reappeared together. The
sittings
were to be continued, and we all knew what that meant. The girl's manner became increasingly insolent, and she finally came out into the open with some outrageous remarks about what
she
would do at Alderbury when she was mistress there.

CARLA
. (
horrified
) Oh, no!

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Yes, yes, yes. (
She pauses and sips her tea
) Mr. Crale came in, and his wife asked him outright if it was true that he planned to marry Elsa. There he stood, a great giant of a man, looking like a naughty schoolboy. (
She rises, goes to the table
L
,
puts down her cup, picks up a plate of biscuits and crosses to Carla
) My blood boiled. I really could have killed him. Do have one of these biscuits, they're Peek Frean's.

CARLA
. (
taking a biscuit
) Thank you. What did my mother do?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. I think she just went out of the room. I know I—I tried to say something to her of what I felt, but she stopped me. “We must all behave as usual,” she said. (
She crosses and puts the plate on the table
L
) They were all going over to tea with Mr. Meredith Blake that afternoon. Just as she was going, I remember she came back and kissed me. She said, “You're such a comfort to me.” (
Her voice breaks a little
)

CARLA
. (
sweetly
) I'm sure you were.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
crossing to the fireplace, picking up the kettle and unplugging it
) Never blame her for what she did, Carla. It is for you, her daughter to understand and forgive.

CARLA
. (
slowly
) So even you think she did it.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
sadly
) I
know
she did it.

CARLA
. Did she
tell
you she did it?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
taking the kettle to the table
L
) Of course not. (
She refills the teapot
)

CARLA
. What
did
she say?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. She took pains to impress upon me that it must be suicide.

CARLA
. You didn't—believe her?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. I said, “Certainly, Mrs. Crale, it
must
have been suicide.”

CARLA
. But you didn't believe what you were saying.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
crossing to the fireplace and replacing the kettle
) You have got to understand, Carla, that I was entirely on your mother's side. My sympathies were with
her
—not with the police. (
She sits in the armchair
)

CARLA
. But murder . . . (
She pauses
) When she was charged, you wanted her acquitted?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. Certainly.

CARLA
. On any pretext?

MISS
WILLIAMS
. On any pretext.

CARLA
. (
pleading
) She
might
have been innocent.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. No.

CARLA
. (
defiantly
) She
was
innocent.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. No, my dear.

CARLA
. She was—she
was.
She wrote it to me. In a letter she wrote when she was dying. She said I could be
sure
of that.

(
There is a stunned silence
)

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
in a low voice
) That was wrong—very wrong of her. To write a lie—and at such a solemn moment. I should not have thought that Caroline Crale would have done a thing like that. She was a truthful woman.

CARLA
. (
rising
) It could be the truth.

MISS
WILLIAMS
. (
definitely
) No.

CARLA
. You can't be positive. You
can't!

MISS
WILLIAMS
. I
can
be positive. Of all the people connected with the case, I
alone
can be
sure
that Caroline Crale was guilty. Because of something I saw. I withheld it from the police—I have never told anyone. (
She rises
) But you must take it from me, Carla, quite definitely, that your mother
was
guilty. Now, can I get you some more tea, dear? We'll both have some, shall we? It sometimes gets rather chilly in this room. (
She takes Carla's cup and crosses to the table
L
.)

CARLA
looks distracted and bewildered as
—

the
LIGHTS
dim to
BLACK
-
OUT

Scene V

SCENE
—
A table in a restaurant.

The table is in an alcove decorated in delicate Oriental style, equipped with three banquettes.

When the
LIGHTS
come up
,
CARLA
is seated
R
of the table and
ANGELA
WARREN
is seated above and
C
of it. They are just finishing lunch.
CARLA
is wearing a mink-trimmed coat.
ANGELA
is a tall woman of thirty, of distinguished appearance, well-dressed in a plain suit with a mannish hat. There is a not too noticeable scar on her left cheek.

ANGELA
. (
putting down her brandy glass
) Well, now that we've finished our meal, Carla, I'm prepared to talk. I should have been sorry if you'd gone back to Canada without our being able to meet. (
She offers Carla a cigarette from a leather case
)

(
CARLA
declines and takes a cigarette from an American pack on the table
)

(
She takes one of her own cigarettes
) I wanted to fix it before, but I've had a hundred and one things to do before leaving tomorrow. (
She lights Carla's cigarette and then her own with a lighter which matches her case
)

CARLA
. I know how it is. You're going by sea?

ANGELA
. Yes, much easier when you're carting out a lot of equipment.

CARLA
. I told you I saw Miss Williams?

ANGELA
. (
smiling
) Dear Miss Williams. What a life I used to lead her. Climbing trees and playing truant, and plaguing the life out of everyone all round me. I was jealous, of course.

CARLA
. (
startled
) Jealous?