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MISSWILLIAMS. 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.

MISSWILLIAMS. 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!

MISSWILLIAMS. 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 tableL, 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?

MISSWILLIAMS. 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.

MISSWILLIAMS. (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.

MISSWILLIAMS. (sadly) I know she did it.

CARLA. Did she tell you she did it?

MISSWILLIAMS. (taking the kettle to the tableL) Of course not. (She refills the teapot)

CARLA. What did she say?

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

CARLA. You didn’t—believe her?

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

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

MISSWILLIAMS. (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?

MISSWILLIAMS. Certainly.

CARLA. On any pretext?

MISSWILLIAMS. On any pretext.

CARLA. (pleading) She might have been innocent.

MISSWILLIAMS. No.

CARLA. (defiantly) She was innocent.

MISSWILLIAMS. 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)

MISSWILLIAMS. (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.

MISSWILLIAMS. (definitely) No.

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

MISSWILLIAMS. 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.)

CARLAlooks distracted and bewildered as—

theLIGHTSdim toBLACK-OUT

Scene V

SCENE—A table in a restaurant.