Chapter 9 Chapter nine

Lombard said slowly: "So we were mistaken—from the beginning to the end! A nightmare of superstition and hallucination, all because of the coincidence of two deaths!" Armstrong still said solemnly: "But, you know, our arguments are valid. After all, I'm a doctor. I know something about suicide. Doesn't Anthony Marston look like a suicidal man?" Lombard doubted again: "Then I see, could it be an accident?" Blore snorted, in disbelief. "There's no such hell of an accident," he muttered. Everyone is silent.Then Blore said: "As for the woman—" He stopped again.

"Mrs. Rogers?" "Yes. Maybe it was an accident?" Philip Lombard says: "An accident? What kind of accident?" Blore was a little embarrassed.The color of the brick-red face was even redder.He almost blurted out: "Listen, doctor, you gave her some medicine or something, you know." The doctor stared at him: "Medicine or something? What do you mean?" "Last night, you said yourself that you had to give her something to put her to sleep." "Oh, well, yes, that's a perfectly harmless sedative." "To be more specific, what was given?"

"What I gave her was an extremely mild tribromine mixture without any side effects." Blore's face flushed even more.He said: "Listen—no need to be vague—you overdosed, didn't you?" Dr. Armstrong lost his temper: "I do not understand what you mean." Blore said: "Isn't it impossible? What if you're mistaken? That sort of thing happens sometimes." Armstrong said hastily: "That's not the case at all. It's just absurd." He paused and then added in a stinging tone: "Or, you want to say I overdosed her on purpose?"

Philip Lombard interrupted hastily and said: "I said, you both have to keep calm. Don't tell me, let me tell you." Blore said sullenly: "I'm just saying that maybe the doctor made a mistake or something." Dr. Armstrong bared his teeth in an forced smile, but said without a smile: "A doctor cannot afford such a mistake, my friend." Blore deliberately said: "If the record is right—it's not the first time you've made a mistake like this." Armstrong's face turned pale.Philip Lombard cut in hastily again, speaking angrily to Blore:

"What do you mean by biting like this? We're all in the same boat. We've got to stick together. And what about your own bloody scandal of false proof?" Blore took a step forward, hands clenched into fists.Even the voice of speaking is rough. "Fucking perjury! Talking nonsense! You try to arrest me! Mr. Lombard, I have some things I want to know--one of which is about you!" Lombard frowned: "About me?" "About you! I wonder, on such a polite social visit, why did you come with a pistol?" Lombard replied: "You want to know? Do you want to know?"

"Yes, I should like to know, Mr. Lombard." Lombard said unexpectedly: "Come on, Blore, you're not quite the fool you seem to be." "Maybe I am. What about the gun?" Lombard smiled slightly: "I carry a gun because I know I'm going to the wrong place." Blore said suspiciously: "Didn't you tell us last night?" Lombard shook his head. "Are you keeping it from us?" Blore asked firmly. "In some respects, yes," said Lombard. "Okay, come on, tell it all!" Lombard said word for word: "I let you all think that I was invited, like most of you, and that wasn't quite true. It was actually a Jewish kid—a Maurice named—who came to me and gave me A hundred guineas for me to come here and take care of--say I've heard I'm good at tricky situations."

"Anything else?" Blore urged impatiently. Lombard grinned: "It's over." Dr. Armstrong said: "However, he must have said more to you than that." "No, that's all, that's all he said. Then shut your mouth like a clam. Do it, or don't do it—that's his exact words. I was tight at the time, so I said do it." Blore looked disbelieving and said: "These, why didn't you tell everyone last night?" "My dear chap—" said Lombard, shrugging his expressive shoulders, "how can I find out whether what happened last night was the contingency I came here to deal with? I have to hide The starting point, so I told a story made out of nothing.”

Armstrong said seriously: "And now—you don't think so, do you?" Lombard changed his countenance, and said angrily and sullenly: "Of course not. I now believe I'm in the same boat as everybody else. That hundred guineas was really Mr. Owen's bait to lure me into his trap with everybody." He said one word at a time: "Know we're in a trap--I'll swear it is! Mrs. Rogers' death, Anthony Marston's death, and the disappearance of the little Indian at the dinner table! Yes, yes, Mr. Owen It's all too well to be seen—but where is this Mr. Irving himself?"

Downstairs the bell rang solemnly for lunch. Rogers stood leaning against the dining room door.When the three of them came down the stairs, he took two steps forward and whispered anxiously: "I hope the meal will please you all. There's cold ham, cold strips, and I've boiled some potatoes. The rest is cheese, biscuits, and tinned fruit." Lombard said: "Sounds okay, are you running out of food storage?" "There's plenty of food, sir—canned food of all kinds. The stock is very well stocked. I may say, sir, that if anyone were cut off from the land on this island, there would be enough to last a long time." .”

Lombard nodded. Rogers followed the three into the restaurant, whispering: "Fred Narracott's absence today worries me a lot. It's the worst of luck, as you say." "That's right," said Lombard. "It's just that, the bad luck." Miss Brent came in.She had just accidentally loosened a ball of yarn and was rewinding it backwards. She took her place at the table and said: "The weather has changed. The wind is strong, and the sea is white-capped." Judge Wargrave also came in.He came in at a leisurely pace.From under his bushy brows, he glanced quickly at the others in the restaurant one by one and said:

"You're all very active this morning." There was a slight schadenfreude in his voice. Vera Claythorne hurried in, a little out of breath. She said hastily: "I hope I haven't kept you all waiting. Am I late?" Emily Brent says: "You're not the last. The general hasn't come yet!" They sat down around the table. Rogers said to Miss Brent: "Should you just eat, ma'am, or wait?" Vera said: "General MacArthur is sitting on the edge of the beach below. I don't think I can hear the bell there—" She hesitated as she spoke, "—he's a little distracted today, I think it's a little bit .” Rogers went on to say: "I'll run down and let him know that lunch is ready." Dr. Armstrong jumped to his feet. "I'll go," said he, "you can eat your food." He walked out of the house and heard Rogers saying behind him: "Would you like a cold ham or a cold strip, ma'am?" The five people sitting around the dining table couldn't seem to find anything to say.Outside, a gust of wind came and went. Vera shivered for a while and said: "The storm is coming." Blore opened up the chatterbox, and he gushed: "There was an old fellow on that Plymouth train yesterday. He kept nagging about a storm coming. I don't know how they learned to read the weather, thanks to the old sailors!" Rogers walked around the table clearing the dishes. With the plate in his hand, he stopped suddenly. He said in a rare frightened voice: "Someone is running..." They could all hear it—footsteps running on the platform. At this moment, needless to say, they—they all understood... As if they had agreed with each other, they all stood up.Standing and looking towards the door. Dr. Armstrong ran in and said breathlessly: "General MacArthur—" "Dead!" Vera burst out these two words. Armstrong said: "Yes, he died..." Immediately there was silence—a silence for a while. Seven people look at me and I look at you, but no one knows what to say. As soon as the old man's body was carried through the door, the storm came. The rest stood in the hall. In an instant, the heavy rain poured down, and there was a sound of shabu shabu shabu. Blore and Armstrong carried the body upstairs, and Vera Claythorne turned sharply into the empty dining room. Just like when they walked out just now, the dessert was still on the cabinet without moving their chopsticks. Vera went to the table and stood there for a minute or two when Rogers entered softly. Rogers was taken aback when he saw Vera.His eyes seemed to be full of doubts and he said: "Oh, ma'am, I—I just came in to see..." Vera exclaimed in a rough voice that surprised even herself: "You're right, Rogers. See for yourself, there's only seven..." They put General MacArthur in his own bed. After one last check, Armstrong left the room and went downstairs.Everyone gathered in the lounge. Miss Brent was still knitting.Vera Claythorne stood at the window looking out at the swishing rain.Blore sat upright in a chair, his hands on his knees.Lombard kept walking up and down.Mr Justice Wargrave sat at the far end of the hall in an easy-chair with half-closed eyes.When the doctor entered the hall, he suddenly opened his eyes and said in a clear and forceful voice: "How is it, doctor?" Armstrong said very palely: "It wasn't a heart attack or anything like that at all. MacArthur got hit in the back of the head with a buoy or something like that." This erupted in a chattering discussion.The judge spoke again in a loud voice: "Have you found the actual murder weapon?" "No." "And you can be sure of your judgment?" "I'm absolutely sure." Then Judge Wargrave said quietly: "Now we know exactly where we stand." Who is in charge of all this is now unquestionable.All morning Wargrave had been huddled in the chair on the platform, refraining from any public activity.Now, with his long-accustomed air of giving orders, he resumed his command.He presided over the interrogation without hesitation. He cleared his throat and spoke again: "Sitting on this platform this morning, gentlemen, I am an observer of all your movements. Your intentions are clear. You are searching the whole island for a murderer who knows no one." "Exactly, sir," said Philip Lombard. The judge went on: "Don't ask, you have come to the same conclusions as I have--in particular, that the deaths of Anthony Marston and Mrs. Rogers were neither accidental nor suicide. There can be no doubt that Mr. Irving has deceived us into You have come to some kind of conclusion about the purpose of coming to this island.” Blore said gruffly: "He's a psycho! A big madman." The judge coughed and said: "There's little doubt about that. But it doesn't help the problem. Our main concern is - saving our own lives." Armstrong's voice trembled, and he said: "There's not a soul on the island, I'll tell you the truth. There isn't a soul!" The judge stroked his chin and said calmly: "According to you, no one. I came to this conclusion early this morning. I could have told you in advance that any search would be futile. However, I am strongly inclined to this realization: Mr. Owen (just Call him the name he gave himself) is indeed on this island. It must be so. As for his plan to punish certain people who have committed various crimes that cannot be punished by law, only There is only one way to do it. That is to say, there is only one way for Mr. Owen to get to the island. Then the problem is completely clear. Mr. Owen is among us..." "Oh, no, no, no..." This is Vera.She burst into fits, almost whimpering.The judge gave her a sharp look and said: "My dear lady, this is not the time to keep your eyes open. We are all in dire danger. One of us is U.N. Owen. Just don't know which of us is him. Come to the island Three out of ten of us are definitely dead. Anthony Marston, Mrs. Rogers, and General MacArthur are all dead. There is no doubt about it. Only seven of us are left, and of these seven, if There was, if I may state my opinion, a false little Indian boy." He stopped talking.Looking at everyone around. "May I take it that you all agree?" Armstrong said: "That's queer—but I think you're right." Blore said: "There's nothing to doubt about it. If you want to hear my thoughts, I've got a brilliant idea—" Mr Justice Wargrave stopped him hastily with a gesture.Still, the judge said calmly: "Let's talk about that now. All I want to know so far is whether we all agree on the facts that lie before us." Emily Brent was still knitting.She said: "Your statement sounds quite reasonable. I agree that one of us is on the devil's errand." Vera said softly: "I can't believe...I can't..." Wargrave said: "Lombard, what about you?" "I agree, sir, completely." The judge seemed quite satisfied, he nodded and said: "Well, now let's present the evidence and present the facts. First, is there any reason to doubt who it is? Mr. Blore, it seems to me that you want to say something? " Blore gasped nervously and said: "Lombard carried a revolver. He didn't tell the truth--last night. He admitted it." Philip Lombard grinned and said with a sneer: "I see, I must explain again." He explained it again, succinctly. Blore asked unrelentingly: "What to prove? There is nothing to prove what you said is true?" The judge coughed. "Unfortunately," he said, "we are all the same, and we can only rely on our own words." He leaned forward and said: "I bet none of you really realize how rare and exceptional this is. I have only one step on my mind that I can take, and that is to see if the materials we have are enough to get any of us out of it for good. relation?" Armstrong immediately said: "I'm a familiar professional. So the only reason to doubt me is—" The judge raised his hand again and interrupted the speaker.Mr Justice Wargrave continued in his thin but clear voice: "I'm also a well-known figure! So, my dear sir, it's better not to talk about it! These days, there are some outlaws among the doctors, and some outlaws among the judges, and the police—" He looked at the cloth. Lol, added: "No exception!" Lombard said: "Anyway, I think you have to exclude the women." The judge raised his eyebrows, and said, in his famous bitterness long familiar to the legal profession: "In that case, I should take you to mean that there are no murderers among women?" Lombard said angrily: "Of course not. Anyway, it just seems impossible—" He paused.Mr Justice Wargrave, still in his soft, sour voice, said to Armstrong: "Doctor Armstrong, may I think that a woman is strong enough to kill poor MacArthur?" The doctor said calmly: "Absolutely doable—if the guy using it is comfortable. Like a rubber stick or a rubber lead stick or something." "Don't you need to make extra effort?" "Not at all." Mr Justice Wargrave wriggled his tortoise-like neck, and said: "The other two deaths were caused by drugs. In this one, no one has anything to say, even the weakest person can do it." Vera said angrily: "I think you are crazy!" The judge's eyes slowly turned to rest on her face, with a look of indifference, which showed that the man had long been accustomed to discerning words and feelings, and his own expressions were silent.Vera thought: "He's looking at me like that, as if I were—a specimen, and"—she couldn't help being a little startled at the thought—"he hates me!" The judge is saying in a serious way: "My dear lady, restrain your emotions! Try it. I'm not talking about you." He bowed again to Miss Brent. "I hope you don't take offense. I must say that all of us are suspects, without exception." Emily Brent was knitting herself, without raising her head, and said coldly: "Anyone who knows me as a person would, needless to say, find it extremely absurd to hear that I've taken someone's life—let alone three lives at once. But I fully understand that we are all Don't know who, and in this case, if there is no good evidence, no one can get away with it. I still say this: there is a devil among us." The judge said: "In this way, we are all in agreement, and there is no question of excluding anyone just because of their character or status." Lombard said: "What do you think of Rogers?" The judge looked at him intently: "What do you think?" Lombard said: "This, in my opinion, Rogers can be completely ruled out." Mr Justice Wargrave said: "Really? On what basis?" Lombard said: "For one thing, he doesn't have the heart. Besides, his wife is also a victim." The judge raised his bushy eyebrows again, and said: "Young man, I have interrogated some men accused of murdering their wives before, and the charges proved true." "I agree with that. Wife murder is too probable--almost too commonplace! But in this particular case, it must not be! I can believe that Rogers killed his wife. Said he was afraid of her being overwhelmed, afraid of her It's okay to betray him, it's okay to say he hates her, it's okay to say he wants to fuck a much younger chick, and make a new love. But I can't believe that he is that crazy Mr. Owen, what the fuck is the law Ah, you still took your own wife first, in fact, the two of them did it together." Mr Justice Wargrave said: "You're taking hearsay for evidence. We don't know whether Rogers and his wife conspired to kill their employer. It's entirely possible that it was a false accusation, designed to make Rogers equal to our situation. There were also reasons for Mrs. Rogers' fear last night. It may be that she has detected her husband's insanity." Lombard said: "Well, you can say what you want. Anyway, U.N. Owen is one of us. Anyone can do it, and neither one can escape." Mr Justice Wargrave said: "My contention is not to exclude anyone on the grounds of merit, status, or possibility. Rather, it is to exclude the possibility of one or more people on the basis of various factual examinations. Do it now. Simply put, who among us Or who would have absolutely no chance of using cyanide on Anthony Marston, of overdosing on Mrs. Rogers' sleeping pills, or of giving MacArthur a fatal blow?" Blore's always sullen face brightened.He leaned forward. "That's right, sir!" said he. "That's the way! Let's try it. I don't see much to look up about the Marston boy. It's been said before Marston filled his glass for the last time." Well, someone outside the window probably sneaked something into the leftovers. It was even easier for someone who was actually in the room. I can't remember if Rogers was in the room at the time, and as for the rest of us, anyone did it possibility of this." After a pause he went on: "Now take the Rogers woman. It was her doctor and the doctor who ran out. Either of them could have easily done—" Armstrong jumped to his feet, shaking all over. "I protest—it's just inexplicable! I swear the potion I gave that woman was nothing—" "Doctor Armstrong." This thin, sour voice does the trick.The doctor had just spoken half a sentence, then suddenly stopped. "Your indignation is very natural. But, nevertheless, you have to admit that you have to face the facts. Either you or Rodgers, you both could have administered a lethal dose without difficulty. Now, let's look at the other people present. Your situation. Is there any chance of me, Inspector Blore, Miss Brent, Miss Claythorne, and Mr. Lombard being poisoned? Who among these people may be completely excluded?" He paused. Dun, "I don't think it's possible to have one." Vera was angry and said: "I'm not around this woman at all! You can all testify." Mr Justice Wargrave hesitated for a minute before speaking: "As far as I can remember, it is true--please correct me if I am wrong. After Anthony Marston and Mr. Lombard had lifted Mrs. Rogers onto the sofa, Dr. Armstrong ran over. He told Rogers to go Brandy was fetched. Afterwards the question was raised as to where the accusations we had heard had come from. We all went into the next room except Miss Brent who remained in the same place--alone With the unconscious woman." Emily Brent's cheeks suddenly changed color.She put down the fabric and said: "This is simply intolerable!" But the ruthless and thin voice still said: "And when we got back into the room, you, Miss Brent, were bending over the woman on the sofa." Emily Brent says: "Is normal compassion a criminal offense?" Mr Justice Wargrave said: "I'm just presenting the facts. Rogers then brought brandy into the house, which, of course, he could have drugged before entering the house. The brandy got the woman to drink it. After a while, her husband and Dr. Armstrong helped her She got into bed. Dr. Armstrong sedated her on the spot." Blore said: "That's how it happened. Exactly. It's no business of the Judge, Mr. Lombard, myself, and Miss Claythorne." He spoke loudly and seemed very happy.Mr Justice Wargrave cast him a cold look, and said in a low voice: "Ah? Is it all right? We must take every possible situation into account." Blore's eyes widened again, and he said: "I do not understand what you mean." Mr Justice Wargrave said: "Mrs. Rogers was lying upstairs in her own room. The sedative the doctor had given her was beginning to take effect, and she fell into a dazed drowsiness. Suppose there was a knock on the door at that moment, and she came out." Entering the room, handing her a pill or a drop of medicine, for example, with a message from the doctor saying that it was what the doctor ordered her to take. You can never imagine that Mrs. Rogers would think twice about not obeying the order and swallowing the medicine immediately. of." After a moment's silence, Blore moved his feet restlessly, frowning.Philip Lombard says: "I don't believe that at all. Besides, none of us left the room for a long time after it happened, and then Marston's death, and so on and so on." The judge said: "What if someone later went to Mrs. Rogers from his or her own bedroom? I mean later." Lombard disagrees: "Rodgers was in the room then." Dr. Armstrong spoke. "No," he said. "Rodgers went downstairs to tidy up the dining room and kitchenette. It's just that someone might have been there without anyone noticing." Emily Brent says: "Doctor, can you say for sure that the woman must have slept soundly after taking your medicine?" "Nine times out of ten this is true, but there is no certainty. It is only after several prescriptions for any particular patient that we can know how he reacts differently to different drugs. Sometimes, it takes a long time before the sedatives start. Effect. It all depends on how each person's physique responds to specific drugs." Lombard said: "Of course, it's your old way, doctor. It's scripted, eh?" Armstrong was angered again, and his face suddenly darkened. But the judge's indifferent whisper stopped him once more from what was on his lips. "Rebuttals can't solve any problems. What we need to find out is the truth. I think it is tenable that the situation I just presented may happen. I also admit that this possibility is not very big. But that also has to be done. It depends on who might go. If this kind of drug delivery falls on Miss Brent or Miss Claythorne, patients will have no doubts when they see them go. If I go, or Mr. Blore, Mr. Lombard, was, to say the least, unusual, but I still think it would not arouse suspicion in her heart." Blore said: "What does that mean to us?" Mr. Judge Wargrave tapped his fingers lightly on his lips, and said with a face of indifference and impersonality: "We're talking about a second homicide, and the facts show that neither of us is entirely clear of suspicion." He paused and said: "Let's talk now about the death of General MacArthur. It happened this morning. Anyone who has anything to talk about, to excuse him or herself, I ask them to say the same thing. As for myself, I say on the spot, I don't have sufficient proof of my alibi. I've sat on the platform all morning thinking about the situation that includes each of us. "I just sat in that chair on the platform all morning until the bell rang. But I should say, I remember several times during which there was absolutely no one around, and it's entirely possible that I went to the seaside and killed the general Go back to the chair and sit. To prove that I have never left the platform, I have to listen to myself. And in this case, it is not enough. There must be proof." Blore said: "I've been with Lombard and Dr. Armstrong all morning. They can testify against me." Dr. Armstrong said: "You went into the house to get the rope." Blore said: "Yes, I have been. Go straight back, you should know that." Armstrong said: "You've been away for a long time..." Blore blushed and said: "What do you mean by that, Doctor Armstrong?" Armstrong said it again: "I just said you've been away for a long time." "Don't you need to spend time looking for it? How can you just reach out and get a big roll of rope?" Mr Justice Wargrave said: "Were you two together when Inspector Blore walked away?" Armstrong was furious: "Never mind. Lombard walked away for only a few minutes, and I stayed where I was." Lombard said with a smile: "I'm trying to see if I can use the reflection of the sun to signal the shore. I'll have to find a suitable place. I only walked away for a minute or two." Armstrong nodded in agreement: "That's right. I assure you, it's only for a short while, there's no time to kill someone." The judge said: "Which of you has looked at the watch?" "have not seen." Philip Lombard says: "I don't have a watch." The judge said calmly: "One or two minutes, this statement is too vague." Then he turned his head to the master sitting upright with the wool in his arms: "Miss Brent?" Emily Brent says: "I walked around the top of the island with Miss Claythorne. Afterwards I sat on the terrace in the sun." The judge said: "I don't remember you being there." "No, I'm on the corner of the house facing east. It's sheltered from the wind." "You sat there until lunch?" "yes." "Miss Claythorne?" Vera answered loudly with confidence: "Early this morning, I was with Miss Brent; after that, I wandered around, and after that, I went to the seaside and talked with General MacArthur." Mr Justice Wargrave interposed: "When was that?" Vera was a little dazed, and she said: "I don't know. About an hour before dinner, I suppose—probably not." Blore asked: "After we talked to him, or before?" Vera said: "I don't know. He—he's really very strange." She shivered a little. "Why is the law so strange?" The judge wanted to ask clearly. Vera said in a low voice: "He said we were all dying—he said he was waiting for his end. He—he scared me..." The judge nodded and said: "And what did you do next?" "I went back to the house. I didn't come out until dinner time, and I walked around the back of the house. I've been restless all day anyway." Mr Justice Wargrave stroked his chin and said: "There's one Rogers left. Actually, I doubt how much his testimony adds to our case." Rogers, who had been summoned to the interrogation bench, could not really say much.He was busy with housework and preparing lunch all morning.He also delivered cocktails on the terrace before dinner, and then went upstairs to move his belongings from the attic to another room.I didn't even look out the window all morning, and I didn't even see any clues about the death of General MacArthur.He dared to swear that when he set the table at noon, there were indeed eight little china figurines on the table. As soon as Rogers' testimony ended, the room fell silent again. Mr Justice Wargrave cleared his throat. Lombard whispered to Vera Claythorne: "Now listen to him read the conclusion!" The judge said: "We have questioned the three deaths to the best of our ability. Some of the persons involved were in some respects innocent, but so far we have not been able to say with certainty that any individual was completely innocent. I reiterate my absolute belief that the present One of the seven people in the chamber was a dangerous and possibly insane criminal. However, we have no evidence before us which one he is. All we can do now is to think of some way of getting in touch with the shore to help, and to think what must be done to keep us safe should help from shore not come (and in nine cases out of ten, depending on the weather). "I ask everyone to consider the situation carefully and to offer whatever advice comes to mind. In the meantime, I also warn everyone to be vigilant. The murderers are free because we, the victims, are unsuspecting. From now on, we should take it as our duty to examine every single one of us. Forewarning is forewarning, that is, being prepared and avoiding danger. Don’t be careless and beware of danger. It’s over.” Philip Lombard murmured silently: "Retire now..."