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We are delaying the start of our regularly scheduled program.

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We have delayed the start of our regularly scheduled program to bring you this bulletin

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from CBS News.

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Washington.

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Federal Judge Matthew McGuire in Washington has signed a temporary injunction against

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both the coal mine operators and the miners in the soft coal dispute.

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The injunction orders the coal miners to go back to work at once.

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This bulletin has come to you from CBS News.

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We now resume our scheduled program.

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Suspense!

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Radio's outstanding theater of thrills brings you an hour, a full 60 minutes of suspense.

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Tonight the noted stage actor Sam Jaffe is our star in Suspicion by Dorothy Sayers, a

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suspense play produced and directed by Anton M. Lieder.

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It is very quiet in Hammersmith, the western metropolitan borough of London.

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Orderly homes line orderly residential streets.

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And inside these homes quiet people live quiet lives.

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An outsider might notice the changeless security of Hammersmith while the natives regard it

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without comment as part of their peaceful pattern of living.

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It is a point of pride that St. Paul's School, located within the borough's limits, dates

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back to the 12th century, the Godolphin School to the 16th century and the Edward Latimer

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Foundation to the 17th.

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And it's a matter of record that the last disruptive influence exerted itself over the

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town and its people in the year 879 when the Danish invaders occupied it as their winter

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camp.

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It isn't Hammersmith, our story is laid.

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And now with the performance of Sam Jaffe as Edward Mumrey, Laureen Tautel as his wife

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Ethel, Alan Reed as Brooks, and with Suspicion by Dorothy Sayers, we again hope to keep you

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in suspense.

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My name is Edward Mumrey of Hammersmith.

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I'm 48 years of age, fair of complexion, agreeable, I believe, as to disposition.

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I have my business, Reed Estate, in the city, which I run together with my partner, Mr.

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Harold Brooks.

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I have my own home, I occupy my leisure hours with gardening, and I've just been married,

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that is, practically just, six years to be exact.

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My wife Ethel is the most brilliant thing that ever happened to me.

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These are the outward facts.

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I recognize that I'm a very ordinary person, and yet, can a person be considered ordinary

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when into his life there suddenly explodes the extraordinary?

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For this is what happened to me.

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On one single day, like any other day in a quiet, carefully-planned life, I smelled the

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odor of the grave, and I saw with my own eyes the supreme horror of all existence.

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It began in the railway carriage going to London to my office.

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Perhaps it was the thick pall of tobacco smoke in the carriage that first made me aware of

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my nausea.

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I slipped a digestive tablet into my mouth.

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Lately, I'd taken to the habit of carrying them about with me, and I leaned back my head

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and closed my eyes.

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De Vries, who traveled with me every morning, was giving me the benefit of his morning edition.

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Ah, here's something, smack on the front page.

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The question has been asked in the House about government typewriters.

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Now there's the press for you.

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The world going to the devil so fast it makes my head spin, and all they can print in their

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precious newspapers.

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I say, old chevy, you're looking terribly pale this morning.

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Could you just open the window a bit?

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I don't feel very well.

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Why, certainly.

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There you are.

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Just lean your head into it.

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Get some fresh air.

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Yeah, better?

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Yes.

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Thank you.

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Must have been something you had for breakfast.

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I suppose so.

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Sorry to be such a fool about it.

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Not at all, old man, not at all.

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Go ahead.

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Read me some more of this earth-shaking news.

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All right, if you'd like.

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Further split has occurred in the Labor Party.

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Well, let's skip over politics for today.

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Two girls trapped in Burning Factory.

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I can do without the morbid, too.

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The police are still looking for the woman who poisoned a family in Lincoln.

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I took a tram to my office, gritting my teeth against this snorcia that had me dizzy and

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trembling.

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How I got up the stairs I'll never remember.

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The world swam black before my eyes.

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Then I was seated at my desk, breathing a bit hard, but once more in control of myself,

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my heart no longer pounding.

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Morning, Mamrie.

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Cold enough for you?

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Yes, broke quite.

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And pleasantly raw, in fact.

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Beastly, beastly.

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You're truly bulbs all in?

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Not quite all.

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As a matter of fact, I haven't been too well lately.

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Oh, too bad.

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Bulbs ought to go in early.

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You're lucky, you know, living in the country, you want to take advantage of it.

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How's the missus?

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Thank you.

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She's very much better.

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Glad to hear that.

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Very glad.

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I hope we shall have her about again this winter, as usual.

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Can't do without her in the drama society.

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I'm sure you're very kind.

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I mean it.

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By Joe, I shan't forget her acting last year in Romance.

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She and young Welbeck positively brought down the house.

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Yes, she was good, wasn't she?

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Yeah, Welbeck's were asking after her only yesterday.

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She'll be up and around again soon.

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The doctor says she mustn't overdo it.

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No worry, he says.

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That's the important thing.

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She used to go easy and not rush about or undertake too much.

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Quite right.

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Worry is the devil in all.

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I cut out worrying years ago.

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Look at me.

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Fit as a fiddle, but all I shan't see fifty again.

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You're not looking altogether the thing, by the way.

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What touch of dispepture?

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Nothing much.

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A chill on the liver, I suppose.

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That's what it is.

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Is life worth living?

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Depends on the liver.

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Yes.

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Well, we'd better be getting to that lease of herobies.

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I have a good idea.

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By the way, I suppose your wife doesn't know of a good cook, does she?

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I doubt it.

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They aren't so easy to find nowadays.

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In fact, we've only just got suited ourselves.

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Well, I promised the Philipsons I'd look around.

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They're girls getting married.

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That's the worst of bringing young girls into work for you.

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I said to Philipson, you mind what you're doing, I said.

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Get somebody you know something about.

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You may find yourself landed with this poisoning woman.

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What's her name?

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Edrills.

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Don't want to be sending wreaths to your funeral yet, I said.

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He laughed, but it's no laughing matter.

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What we pay the police for, I simply don't know.

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Nearly a month now, they can't seem to lay hands on the woman.

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All they say is, they think she's hanging about the neighbourhood and may seek a situation

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as cook.

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As cook, now, I ask you.

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There was a theory in the papers that she'd committed suicide.

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Don't you believe it, my boy?

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That code found in the river was all eyewash.

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They don't commit suicide.

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That sort don't.

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That sort?

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She's poison maniacs, cutting his weasels.

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That's what they are.

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I only hope they catch her before she tries to handle anybody else.

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As I told Philipson...

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Can you think this Mrs Andrews did it?

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Of course she did it.

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You've been following the case, haven't you?

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Looked after her old father and he died suddenly.

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Left her a bit of money, too.

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Then she keeps house for an elderly gentleman and he dies suddenly.

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Now there's this husband and wife.

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Man dies, woman taken very ill.

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Of arsenic poisoning.

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Cook runs away.

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Then you ask, did she do it?

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I only thought it might be a coincidence.

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I don't mind betting that they dig up the father and the other old bird.

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They'll find them bug full of poison, too.

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Once that sort gets started, they don't stop.

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What is the matter, Mamory?

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I...

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Mamory, let me call you a doctor.

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No, just some water.

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It's all right.

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Give me a minute.

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There you go.

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Slowly now.

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That's all right.

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Now hold your head.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Brooks.

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You sure you're all right?

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Yes.

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All right.

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My dear fellow.

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Don't mind telling you, you gave me a start.

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I thought I was losing you here and now.

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It's only my stomach.

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Nothing serious.

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Hold on a moment.

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What did you have for breakfast?

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I don't know.

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The usual.

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Oh, no, no.

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Now tell me.

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We'll get to the bottom of this.

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Well, then, brown bread, bacon, eggs, just the nicely said kind.

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Coffee made as only Mrs. Sutton can.

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Mrs. Sutton?

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Oh, that's your new cook.

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She's a real find.

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I'm terribly thankful for her.

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Yes, I can imagine.

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Your wife down with a nervous breakdown must be a blessing to have someone capable running

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the house.

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That's right.

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Ethel hasn't been at all fit, poor child.

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I don't want you to mention it to her, Brooks.

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She gets upset so easily.

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I don't want her worrying about me.

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Of course not, my dear.

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Isn't it odd, Brooks?

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What's that?

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This photograph of that Mrs. Andrews.

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Oh, you mean the newspaper?

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She looks like such a sweet, motherly looking woman.

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Take care, Mamary.

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From the way your stomach's acting up, I'd say this poison and your precious Mrs. Sutton

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are one and the same.

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That's hardly a joke, Brooks.

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As a matter of fact, if they were the slightest resemblance, I'd be terrified.

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But this Mrs. Andrews looks so...

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Oh, so angelic.

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She's got a bad mouth.

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Look to the mouth, Mamary, before you trust your fellow man.

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That's where the true story is written.

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Death by poison, fiends and murderers, the darkness of the pit, the unholy face of evil.

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These are things we read about.

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These are horrors we get at second hand through fiction and films.

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But they do not really happen to people like me, a suburban gardener, a real estate broker.

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And that was a comfort.

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If I were to go through life without any great distinction, at least I should avoid any great

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terror.

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So I told myself as I left the office for lunch.

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I was a little nervous to begin with, so I had some boiled fish and a custard pudding.

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The wrenching pain seemed gone entirely and I became positively lightheaded as the bogey

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of illness and doctors' bills ceased to haunt me.

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I bought a bunch of bronze chrysanthemums for Ethel just by way of celebration.

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And I got home at the usual time, seven ten.

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I was a little dashed by not finding Ethel in the sitting room, still holding the flowers.

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I went down the passage, tore the kitchen door and opened it.

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No, sir.

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I seem to have startled you, Mrs. Sutton.

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Yes, yes, you did.

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I didn't hear the front door go.

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Where's Mrs. Bummery?

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Not feeling bad again, is she?

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Well sir, she's got a bit of a headache, poor lamb.

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I made her lay down and took her up a nice cup of tea at half past four.

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I think she's dozing nicely now.

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That was very considerate, Mrs. Sutton.

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Oh, it was turning out the dining room that done it, I think.

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I asked her not to overdo, but you know how she is, sir.

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She gets so restless.

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Can't seem to bear to be doing nothing.

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Yes, I know.

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She's such an active little person.

258
00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:12,480
This illness is very hard on her.

259
00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:14,760
Well, I'll just run up and have a peep.

260
00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:16,840
Shan't disturb her if she's asleep.

261
00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:18,400
Want me to put the flowers in a vase?

262
00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,720
No, I'll take them up to her first.

263
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,000
By the way, what are we having for dinner?

264
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,640
Well, I had made a nice steak and kidney pie.

265
00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,440
Oh, pastry.

266
00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:31,760
I don't know.

267
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:32,280
You see, I...

268
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,120
Oh, you'll find it beautiful and light.

269
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,880
And it's made with butter, sir.

270
00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,720
You haven't said you found lard indigestible.

271
00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,680
I'm sure it'll be most excellent.

272
00:12:42,680 --> 00:12:43,720
It's just...

273
00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,160
Well, you see, Mrs. Sutton, I haven't been too well lately.

274
00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:48,720
Something of a stomach upset.

275
00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:49,760
Is that so?

276
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:51,440
Yes.

277
00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,840
Do you have any idea what it might be?

278
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,440
Oh, I'm sure it's nothing out of my kitchen, Mr. Mammoni.

279
00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,800
No, no, I'm sure it isn't.

280
00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:04,520
Well, I believe I'll live through it.

281
00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,040
Steak and kidney is just fine.

282
00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,760
Now I'll run up and look at my wife.

283
00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,720
I tiptoed up and opened the door carefully.

284
00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:16,000
At first, I thought Ethel was asleep.

285
00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:17,920
She lay snuggled under the eiderdon

286
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,800
and looked very small and fragile in the big double bed.

287
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,600
And she didn't look at all well.

288
00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,360
It drenched my heart to see her face so pale and wasted.

289
00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,600
And the doctors couldn't seem to find her ailment at all.

290
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,080
What could be the insidious disease

291
00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,120
that had done this to her?

292
00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,640
Nervous breakdown, they called it.

293
00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:40,920
But I wasn't satisfied with that.

294
00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:42,880
It must be something more.

295
00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:48,200
I came closer and she stared on the bed and smiled at me.

296
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:49,200
Hello, darling.

297
00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,040
Hello, sweet.

298
00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:51,880
How are you?

299
00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:53,520
I got tired and headachy.

300
00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:56,160
And Mrs. Sutton packed me off to bed.

301
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:58,360
You've been doing too much.

302
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:00,400
You know what the doctor said about resting.

303
00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:01,160
Yes, I know.

304
00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,080
It was foolish of me.

305
00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:06,440
Oh, Edward, such lovely flowers.

306
00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:09,240
I thought it would cheer you up, Ethel.

307
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:10,520
A little spot of color.

308
00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,520
Darling, you are good to me.

309
00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,400
And I can't have been much fun for you lately.

310
00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:16,400
Really, I could cry.

311
00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:17,080
Ethel.

312
00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,480
Don't tire of me, Edward.

313
00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:21,040
I'll get well, I promise you.

314
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,600
Of course you will.

315
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,280
Oh, that's funny.

316
00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:27,320
Me tire of you.

317
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,200
Then hand me my robe and I'll come down with you.

318
00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:30,520
Much better stay in bed, dear.

319
00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:32,360
And let Mrs. Sutton send your dinner up.

320
00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,000
Oh, but I want to be with you tonight.

321
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,480
I've got to be firm with you, Ethel.

322
00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:37,840
If you don't take care of yourself,

323
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,560
you won't be able to go to the Dharma Society meetings.

324
00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,200
You've no idea how anxious everyone is to have you back.

325
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,080
The Welbecks have been asking after you

326
00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,680
and saying that they really couldn't go on without you.

327
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:50,000
Did they?

328
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:51,640
Very sweet of them to want me.

329
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:53,080
Not at all.

330
00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:55,000
You're the best of the lot.

331
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:56,240
They need you.

332
00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,640
Well, perhaps I'll stay in bed after all.

333
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:00,280
Good.

334
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:01,640
Now have you been all day, dear?

335
00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,160
Not too bad, not too bad.

336
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,680
No more bothersome tummies?

337
00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,520
Well, perhaps, just a little one.

338
00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,240
But it's quite gone now.

339
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:10,680
Absolutely nothing to worry about.

340
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:12,560
Darling, you're sure?

341
00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,800
Quite sure, sweet.

342
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:17,760
All gone and forgotten.

343
00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:27,560
I experienced no more distressing symptoms

344
00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:29,720
that night or the next day.

345
00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:32,680
Following the advice of a newspaper expert on the subject,

346
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,160
I took to drinking a great deal of orange juice.

347
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:37,040
The results were wonderful.

348
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:41,040
It was as though I had never known pain in my life.

349
00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,280
The next night, we were retired early.

350
00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:48,720
I fell asleep almost at once and slept the deep and dreamless

351
00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:53,040
sleep of a child until about 3 in the morning.

352
00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:57,440
Then I was awake, for it had come back.

353
00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,200
Ethel, Ethel, wake up.

354
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,240
Please wake up.

355
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,320
Ethel, help me.

356
00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,280
What was that?

357
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:08,680
Edward, darling, what's the matter?

358
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:09,920
What is it?

359
00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:13,720
I think I'm dying.

360
00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:24,160
I suppose it is different for every man when his time comes.

361
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:28,680
For myself, I can only say that it was like sinking,

362
00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,800
as though my body were in an insupportably heavy weight,

363
00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,080
plummeting down into the soft, icy ground,

364
00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:42,080
sinking deep, deep, deep into the black regions of the earth.

365
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:43,880
Here's some hot water to go with it.

366
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:45,920
Now, just swallow this pill.

367
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,400
Come along now. I know it's hard.

368
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,880
But you can swallow just once.

369
00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:51,960
There you are.

370
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:53,920
Goes to work in a jiffy.

371
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,000
I dare say you're feeling better already.

372
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,640
Thank you, Doctor.

373
00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,080
Now then, Mrs. Mumray, just a few questions, please.

374
00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:01,280
What did you have for dinner?

375
00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:02,920
That's what's so baffling.

376
00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:04,680
It couldn't have been the dinner.

377
00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:07,120
I had the same things to eat, and so did Mrs. Sutton.

378
00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:10,280
Nonetheless, we have to be thorough about this, if you will.

379
00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:15,600
Well, then, um, pig's trotters and a milk pudding.

380
00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:16,600
Oh, yes, brown bears.

381
00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:17,760
You're sure about that?

382
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,480
And before we went to bed, Edward had a large glass of orange juice,

383
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:21,440
according to his new regime.

384
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:22,440
Aha.

385
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:24,160
Seems to have been helping him so much.

386
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:25,120
Now, there's your trouble.

387
00:17:25,120 --> 00:17:27,520
Orange juice is an excellent thing, and so are trotters,

388
00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,200
but not in combination.

389
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,120
Pigs and oranges together are extraordinarily bad for the liver.

390
00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:33,120
Oh, dear.

391
00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:34,640
Don't know why they should be, but there's no doubt that they are.

392
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:35,640
I see.

393
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:36,920
Feeling better, Mumray?

394
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:37,920
Yes.

395
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:39,720
It's much easier.

396
00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,440
I'll send you round a prescription.

397
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,280
You stick to slops for a day or two and keep off pork.

398
00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:46,800
Don't you worry about him, Mrs. Mumray.

399
00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,200
He's as sound as a trout.

400
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:49,600
You're the one we've got to look after.

401
00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,880
I was so frightened, I believe my own trouble has been shocked right out.

402
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,200
Oh, no, not yet, it hasn't.

403
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,640
Don't want to see those black rings under your eyes.

404
00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,000
Of course, tonight was disturbed, but you make up for it now.

405
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:02,000
Get plenty of sleep.

406
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:03,440
Been taking your tonic regularly?

407
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:04,440
Oh, oh, yes.

408
00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:05,440
That's right.

409
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,040
Well, don't be alarmed about this hulking brute here.

410
00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:10,840
We'll soon have him out and about again.

411
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:12,920
Now, good night to you.

412
00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:13,920
Doctor.

413
00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:14,920
Yes, Mumray?

414
00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,400
I'm sorry I had to pull you out in the middle of the night.

415
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,160
That's why we're about, old man.

416
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:22,160
It's nothing.

417
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,480
It means a great deal to me.

418
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:39,360
You see, if you hadn't been able to come, I'm sure that tonight I should have died.

419
00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:46,400
My diet was bread, milk and beef tea for the next three days.

420
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:52,000
On Saturday afternoon, though I still felt seedy, I managed to stagger downstairs.

421
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,200
Brooks had sent a few papers down from the office for my signature.

422
00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:00,000
And afterwards, Ethel sat down with me and we ran over the household accounts together.

423
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,360
Then we have the butcher's settles.

424
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:03,360
That's right.

425
00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:04,360
The baker.

426
00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:05,360
Right.

427
00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:06,360
The dairy.

428
00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:07,360
Right.

429
00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:08,360
Coal merchant.

430
00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:09,360
And the coal merchant.

431
00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:10,360
All finished.

432
00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:11,360
Then there's Mrs. Sutton.

433
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:13,360
Oh, I'd almost forgotten.

434
00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,400
This is the end of a month, you know.

435
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:16,400
So it is.

436
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,720
Well, you're quite satisfied with her, aren't you, darling?

437
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:22,560
Yes, Father, aren't you?

438
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,880
She's a good cook and a warm, motherly old thing, too.

439
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:30,080
Don't you think it was a real brainwave of mine engaging her like that on the spot?

440
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:31,080
I do indeed.

441
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,200
It was a perfect providence, her turning up like that, just after that wretched Jane had

442
00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:36,840
gone off without even giving notice.

443
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:38,880
I was in absolute despair.

444
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,840
It was a little bit of a gamble, of course, taking her without any reference.

445
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:44,840
I suppose it was.

446
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:50,280
But if she'd been looking after a widowed mother, you couldn't expect her to give references.

447
00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:51,280
Mmm, no.

448
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:52,280
What is it, darling?

449
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,280
Why do you say, mmm, no, like that?

450
00:19:55,280 --> 00:20:01,760
Well, the truth is, I felt a bit uneasy about it at the time.

451
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,360
I didn't like to say anything because we simply had to have somebody.

452
00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,160
Well, I didn't much like it either, but after all, it has worked out so well.

453
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,160
We're perfectly happy with her now, aren't we?

454
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:11,160
Yes, dear.

455
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,960
But just for the record, it occurs to me that we might write to the clergyman back

456
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:15,960
in the parish.

457
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,720
You should be able to give her a reference.

458
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:23,360
I'm sure he's an excellent clergyman, but he couldn't tell us anything about her cooking.

459
00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:25,880
And cooking, after all, is the chief body.

460
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:27,040
Oh, right.

461
00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:28,760
And we are satisfied with her cooking.

462
00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,440
Then here's a month's wages for our Mrs. Sutton.

463
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,840
I'll tell her she's passed with flying colours.

464
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:39,000
And by the way, dear, you might just mention to Mrs. Sutton that if she must read the morning

465
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,000
paper before I come down, I should be obliged if she would fold it neatly afterwards.

466
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:45,000
Oh, darling, darling.

467
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,600
What an old fussbuck you are.

468
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,200
But she does fuss it up pretty thoroughly.

469
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:58,000
And by the way, the pages that she folds back, and by the way she folds it back, I can tell

470
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:11,720
that Mrs. Sutton is following this poison case as avidly as I am.

471
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,040
On Sunday, I felt very much better.

472
00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,720
Quite my old self, in fact.

473
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:24,360
I had roast sirloin for luncheon with the potatoes under the meat, in Yorkshire, putting

474
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:28,660
a delicious lightness, and an apple tart to follow.

475
00:21:28,660 --> 00:21:34,480
After the three days of my invalid diet, it was a real pleasure to savour the crisp fat

476
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:36,640
and the underdone lean.

477
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:42,460
I ate carefully, moderately, but with an almost sensuous enjoyment.

478
00:21:42,460 --> 00:21:47,920
And then, over coffee, while Ethel was still toying with the food, I took up the newspaper

479
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,560
and turned to the account of the woman poisoner.

480
00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,560
Are you still following those horrible murders?

481
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:54,560
Yes, my dear.

482
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,880
Whatever makes you so morbid, Edward?

483
00:21:56,880 --> 00:22:01,400
I find it very interesting, Ethel, to see what human beings are capable of doing.

484
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,000
I suppose it is interesting.

485
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:08,400
Thrilling, too, because it's so far into the kind of lives we lead here in Hammersmith.

486
00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:09,400
Yes.

487
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:13,880
Just like a fascinating fairy tale.

488
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:14,880
I say...

489
00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:15,880
What is it?

490
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:16,880
Why, Brooks was right.

491
00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:17,880
Right about what?

492
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:22,840
They've gone and dug up Mrs. Andrews' father and her former employer.

493
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:24,560
Oh, Edward, please.

494
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:28,800
And sure enough, they were both found full of it.

495
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:38,560
Bung full of poison.

496
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:43,200
My head was full of conjecture about this sweet motherly murderess, this middle-aged

497
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:49,000
cook who mixed arsenic into her delicious luncheons and dinners, this Mrs. Andrews for

498
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,240
whom the police were looking so desperately.

499
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:57,160
At three o'clock, with the roast beef settling properly, I went out into the garden to put

500
00:22:57,160 --> 00:22:59,040
the tulip bulbs in.

501
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:03,880
I got my bag of tulips and a trowel, and then, remembering I still had on my good trousers,

502
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,440
I decided it would be wise to take a mat to kneel on.

503
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,520
The mat had been left last in the corner under the potting shelf.

504
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:16,320
I stooped down and felt about in the dark among the flower pots.

505
00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,040
Yes, it was there.

506
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,960
But there was something else.

507
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,600
Something in the way.

508
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,280
It looked like a tin.

509
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,360
I lifted it out carefully.

510
00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:31,560
Yes, of course.

511
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,280
It was a tin.

512
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:37,560
What remains of the weed killer I had used the summer before.

513
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:44,480
I looked at the pink label printed in staring letters with the legend, arsenic weed killer.

514
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:45,480
Poison.

515
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,400
The blood suddenly began to pound in my temples.

516
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:54,520
I'd been thinking of Mrs. Andrews so long that it came to me with a nasty shock that

517
00:23:54,520 --> 00:24:01,440
I was holding in my hands the very same brand of stuff she used to destroy so many poor

518
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:02,440
souls.

519
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:09,160
It gave me the distinctly unpleasant impression that by owning some poison myself, I was directly

520
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,640
in touch with important and costly events.

521
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,600
I smiled a little at myself for being so foolish.

522
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:23,560
And then I noticed that the stopper had been put in very loosely.

523
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:29,360
Now how did I ever come to do a thing like that?

524
00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,000
What a stupid fool.

525
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,760
It would just serve me right if all the goodness had gone off it.

526
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:40,680
Besides, it was so very dangerous to leave it loose like that.

527
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,640
I took out the stopper and squinted it into the can.

528
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,960
It seemed to be about half full.

529
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:51,400
Then I rammed the thing home again and gave it a sharp thump with the handle of the towel

530
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,680
for better security.

531
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:59,080
After that, I washed my hands carefully at the scullery.

532
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,720
I am a man who does not believe in taking risks.

533
00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:10,760
Oh, Edward, look who just dropped in.

534
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,920
My son and I were just in the neighborhood, Mr. Mummery.

535
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,720
We thought we'd have a cup of tea with you.

536
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,680
Happy to see you again, Mrs. Weldon.

537
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:17,680
Oh, hello, John.

538
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:18,680
How are you, Mr. Mummery?

539
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,640
We were talking about the Lincoln poisoning case, Mr. Mummery.

540
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,360
That is, I seem to have been doing all the talking.

541
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:25,880
Oh, tea's ready, ma'am.

542
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:26,880
Thank you, Mrs. Sutton.

543
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:28,280
Just put it by me, I'll pour.

544
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,280
Very good, ma'am.

545
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:30,280
Will that be all?

546
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:31,280
That'll be all, Mrs. Sutton.

547
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:32,280
Thank you.

548
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:33,280
Oh, not at all, ma'am.

549
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:34,280
Milk and sugar, Mrs. Welbeck?

550
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:35,280
Only some lemon, please.

551
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:36,280
You'll have milk and sugar, John.

552
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:37,280
Oh, thank you.

553
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:38,280
I say you've remembered.

554
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:39,280
Edward.

555
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:40,280
Thank you, my dear.

556
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:47,280
I can't help prattling on about it, but there's been nothing else in my head ever since the

557
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:48,280
first of these murders.

558
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:49,280
I mean, now just take me.

559
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:50,280
You, Mrs. Welbeck?

560
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:51,280
Yes, I'm about her age, this Mrs. Andrews.

561
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:52,280
Oh, I see.

562
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:53,280
And you, Mr. Wilbeck.

563
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:54,280
Oh, I'm sorry.

564
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:58,280
I'm about her age, this Mrs. Andrews.

565
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,800
And yet, when I look into my own heart and ask myself whether I could take a human life

566
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,880
in cold blood, oh, well, as a matter of fact, I suppose I could.

567
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,520
When it comes down to that, I suppose we all could.

568
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:15,520
Why, if you live long enough, you're bound to run across a few people you'd love to see

569
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,400
dead and underground.

570
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:22,000
And if you're pushed far enough, I suppose you simply up and do it.

571
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:27,200
But that I shouldn't use poison, I'd be up to find some more forthright way of dealing

572
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:28,200
with it.

573
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,200
Mother, you're letting your tea get cold.

574
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:31,200
Oh, so I am, darling.

575
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:32,200
Thank you.

576
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:37,200
You know, I tell myself that I'm a strong-nerd person.

577
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,200
In fact, my husband tells me the same thing all the time.

578
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:45,000
And still, the thought that this poisoner is running around loose in our neighborhood

579
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,000
gives me a chill.

580
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:51,000
I confess it's a rather delicious chill, but nonetheless, I'm an easy-to-all-right-man.

581
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,700
Oh, we've seen her picture, of course, but it's not much of a help.

582
00:26:55,700 --> 00:26:57,200
It could be almost anyone.

583
00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,200
Oh, hello, when you stop to think about it...

584
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,200
Those Thorcyth cuttings, Mrs. Welbeck.

585
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,200
I beg your pardon?

586
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:03,200
I remember you wanted some cuttings.

587
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,200
If you care to come down to the garden, I'll get them for you right now.

588
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,200
Oh, I'd adore to have some.

589
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,200
They'll fill out my garden so beautifully.

590
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:13,200
Do let's go.

591
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:18,200
Ethel had been getting more and white and tremulous as this horrible woman ran on with

592
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,200
her cheerful horrors.

593
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:25,200
As we rose to go, I noticed a relieved glance pass between Ethel and young Welbeck.

594
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:30,200
Evidently, the boy understood the situation and was chafing at his mother's tactlessness.

595
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:34,200
Mrs. Welbeck and I went outside together, and I selected and trimmed the cuttings for

596
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:35,200
her.

597
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:40,200
Oh, Mr. Mammery, if I only had your skill and patience, why, you've made for yourself

598
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,200
a true garden of Eden Hill.

599
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,200
It's so nice of you to say so.

600
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,200
And your gravel paths, they're so thoroughly immaculate.

601
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,200
I simply cannot keep my weeds down.

602
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,200
You need a good weed killer, that's all.

603
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,200
There's an arsenic preparation on the market that does wonders.

604
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:56,200
That stuff?

605
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:57,200
No, thank you, Mr. Mammery.

606
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,200
I wouldn't have it in my place for a thousand pounds.

607
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,200
I'm afraid there's no other way to rid yourself of weeds.

608
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,200
Oh, but it's so foolhardy, so dangerous to have poison around.

609
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:11,200
It seems to me you're simply opening your doors and inviting trouble.

610
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,200
It's not as bad as all that.

611
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,200
We keep it well away from the house.

612
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,200
But the slightest carelessness...

613
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,200
We are not careless people.

614
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:21,200
Except that...

615
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,200
Except that what?

616
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,200
I just remembered.

617
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,200
I have been a bit careless.

618
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,200
I found the stopper to the can loose just this afternoon.

619
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,200
It was unforgivable of me.

620
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,200
There, you see?

621
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:38,200
That's how accidents begin, from something as simple as that.

622
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,200
You're fortunate you don't have any little children poking around.

623
00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:44,200
I suppose we are, Mrs. Welbeck.

624
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,200
I suppose we are.

625
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,200
When we got back to the house, young Welbeck was already on his feet

626
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,200
and holding Ethel's hand in the act of saying goodbye.

627
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:06,200
He was a good boy, anxious to get his mother out of the house with tactful promptness.

628
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,200
I went into the kitchen to clear up the newspapers I'd fished out

629
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,200
in order to wrap Mrs. Welbeck's cuttings.

630
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:18,200
And as I picked them up, something odd struck me about them.

631
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:22,200
Something I had to verify.

632
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:27,200
I turned the papers over carefully, sheet by sheet.

633
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,200
Yes, I had been right.

634
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,200
Every portrait of Mrs. Andrews, every paragraph,

635
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:40,200
every line about the Lincoln poisoning case had been carefully cut out.

636
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:46,200
Someone in my own house had gone to all this trouble.

637
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,200
Why?

638
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:07,200
In tonight's full hour of suspense, Sam Jaffe stars as Edward Murmury

639
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,200
in Suspicion by Dorothy Sayers.

640
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,200
Tonight's study in Suspense.

641
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,200
In just a moment we will return with Act Two of Suspense.

642
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,200
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

643
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:33,200
And now, back to our Hollywood soundstage in Act Two of Suspicion,

644
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:37,200
starring Sam Jaffe with Laureen Tuttle and Alan Reed

645
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,200
in a narrative well calculated to keep you in Suspense.

646
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,200
It hasn't been too long ago in Edward Murmury's consciousness

647
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,200
that Arsenic was only a weed killer

648
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,200
and Mrs. Andrews, the motherly murder suspect,

649
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,200
was simply a name in the newspapers,

650
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:10,200
a fear far removed from him and his quiet home in Hammersmith.

651
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,200
But a sudden terror grips him now,

652
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:16,200
a terror that certainly includes deadly poison

653
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:21,200
and seems also to include the motherly woman who cooks his meals.

654
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,200
Now the thing that had been only a vague and uncomfortable gnawing

655
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,200
at the back of my brain came boiling up and gulping me.

656
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,200
The blood hammered in my head and made me giddy.

657
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,200
There was a curious cold lump in my stomach,

658
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,200
someone in my own household.

659
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,200
That night I couldn't close my eyes.

660
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,200
I had to tell someone about this awful suspicion,

661
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:54,200
but there was no one to tell, not Ethel certainly in her condition.

662
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:58,200
So I kept it within myself until I reached town next day

663
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,200
and could talk to Brooks.

664
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,200
Now take hold of yourself, Murmury.

665
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:04,200
Let's not jump to any conclusions.

666
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:09,200
I'm not Brooks. I'm only asking questions that must be asked.

667
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,200
Very well. Let's examine the facts once again.

668
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:14,200
If only I had a picture of Mrs. Andrews.

669
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,200
You're publishing plenty of them only last week.

670
00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,200
I know. I've tried to recall those pictures.

671
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,200
I've tried so hard.

672
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,200
I don't seem to have a very good visual memory.

673
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,200
I suppose we could get hold of one at the library.

674
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,200
They keep files, you know.

675
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,200
You remember you showed me her picture here at the office one day last week.

676
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,200
Yes, that's right.

677
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,200
And how was it I described her?

678
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,200
Motherly, wasn't it?

679
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,200
Yes, yes, motherly.

680
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,200
That seemed to be about all you could say of her.

681
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:48,200
I've been counting up the time since that poisoner Mrs. Andrews disappeared.

682
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,200
It comes to just a little more than a month.

683
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,200
Yes, that would be my count.

684
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,200
Very well. A month.

685
00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:02,200
And I've just paid our Mrs. Sutton a month's wages.

686
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:03,200
Mrs. Sutton?

687
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,200
How can I spare her from any shock or anxiety?

688
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,200
That's the thing that keeps eating away at me.

689
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,200
You know how ill she is.

690
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,200
Then you simply must do it on your own, Murmury.

691
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,200
You must cope with this monstrous suspicion by yourself.

692
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,200
And I must be sure of my ground.

693
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:24,200
Simply to dismiss the only decent cook we've ever had out of sheer blind panic.

694
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:28,200
Why, it would be wanton cruelty to both women.

695
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,200
If it's to be done at all, it must be done quickly and arbitrarily.

696
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,200
Without suggesting any of these horrors to Ethel.

697
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,200
And then, don't you see, there's something else.

698
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,200
If there's anything at all to these terrible suspicions,

699
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,200
it means Ethel is being exposed every minute that the woman is in the house.

700
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:45,200
Good Lord.

701
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,200
Think of that family in Lincoln.

702
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,200
Think of the husband dead.

703
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,200
And the old father dead.

704
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,200
You must move fast, old boy.

705
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,200
She's been here so long for, darling.

706
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,200
I've seen her wasting away before my eyes.

707
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,200
Why, Brooks, why?

708
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:04,200
A nervous breakdown?

709
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,200
Why should Ethel be having a nervous breakdown?

710
00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:11,200
Or is it something else?

711
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:15,200
Is this woman doing it to Ethel?

712
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,200
Slowly, day by day.

713
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,200
Is that what it means?

714
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,200
Perhaps you should see the police.

715
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,200
But it's nothing but the wildest of suspicions.

716
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:31,200
And besides, I feel so very lonely.

717
00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:34,200
And so tired.

718
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:40,200
It's almost as if I didn't care what happened anymore.

719
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:42,200
Your illness has taken it out of you.

720
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:43,200
Yes.

721
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:45,200
Too bad you can't discuss it with Ethel.

722
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,200
I don't want her to be afraid.

723
00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,200
But perhaps I will.

724
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:50,200
Perhaps she should know.

725
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,200
I say, Mamrie.

726
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:53,200
What?

727
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,200
These illnesses of yours, when do they begin?

728
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,200
I don't know.

729
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,200
I think I've always been subject to business attacks, as long as I can remember.

730
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,200
No, no, no, I mean the other ones.

731
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:04,200
The severe attacks.

732
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:09,200
Well, they began about three weeks ago.

733
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,200
Three weeks ago, Mamrie?

734
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,200
That's right.

735
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:19,200
About three weeks ago.

736
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,200
The train seemed forever getting home that night.

737
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:33,200
I came softly into the house, listening to the sound of my own footsteps.

738
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,200
It was dusk, and yet none of the lights in the house were on.

739
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,200
I moved through heavy, enveloping shadows into the sitting room.

740
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:47,200
Ethel was tucked up in a corner of the Chesterfield, leaning back wearily against the cushions.

741
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,200
Good evening, darling.

742
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:50,200
Hello, Edward.

743
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:52,200
You look tired, my dear.

744
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,200
I am tired, Edward.

745
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:56,200
I seem to be drained and empty.

746
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:59,200
I noticed you didn't sleep well last night.

747
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,200
It was probably that woman yesterday with the talking.

748
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:04,200
Really, Mrs. Welbeck talks altogether too much.

749
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,200
All about that horrible case.

750
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,200
I don't like hearing about such things.

751
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,200
Of course not, dear.

752
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,200
And yet...

753
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:13,200
And yet what, Edward?

754
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:18,200
When a thing like this happens in the neighborhood, people will gossip and talk.

755
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,200
It would be a relief if they caught the woman.

756
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:22,200
One doesn't like to think...

757
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,200
I don't want to think about it at all.

758
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,200
It's so hateful.

759
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,200
She must be a horrible, perverted creature, this Mrs. Andrews.

760
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:32,200
Yes, yes, quite so.

761
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,200
Do you know, I was talking to Brooks about it only today, and he said...

762
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,200
I don't want to hear what he said.

763
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,200
I don't want to hear about it at all.

764
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,200
Of course not, darling.

765
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:43,200
I'm sorry.

766
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,200
Oh, Edward, I just want to be quiet.

767
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,200
I do so want to be quiet.

768
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,200
And so you shall, Ethel.

769
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,200
It's all my fault.

770
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,200
The doctor warned me not to disturb you like this.

771
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:58,200
Oh, Edward.

772
00:36:58,200 --> 00:36:59,200
Edward, darling.

773
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,200
There, there, my dear.

774
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:03,200
Everything's all right.

775
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,200
No need for tears.

776
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,200
It doesn't concern us anyway.

777
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,200
I helped her upstairs and into bed.

778
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:26,200
And then, when she had stopped sobbing, and was at last asleep,

779
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,200
I came down again very quietly.

780
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:37,200
I was aware of a reluctance to face Mrs. Sutton, but I had to.

781
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:45,200
A plump face to a man, her eyes obscured by thick, corn-rimmed spectacles.

782
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:48,200
And what was there about her mouth?

783
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,200
The tight lips, the hard chin.

784
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,200
What was it Brooks had said about looking first to the mouth?

785
00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:00,200
Would you be requiring anything, sir, before I go up?

786
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:02,200
No. Thank you, Mrs. Sutton.

787
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,200
I hope you're feeling better, sir.

788
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,200
No more of that trouble.

789
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,200
Quite better. Thank you, Mrs. Sutton.

790
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,200
Mrs. Mummer is not indisposed, is she?

791
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:13,200
Why, no. She's asleep.

792
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:17,200
Do you think I ought to wake her, to bring her a hot glass of milk?

793
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,200
No, no, thank you, Mrs. Sutton.

794
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,200
I believe we'll just let her be.

795
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,200
And you, sir?

796
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:26,200
Would you care for anything?

797
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,200
Not a thing, Mrs. Sutton.

798
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:30,200
Oh, it wouldn't be no bother. Only take a minute.

799
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:32,200
Not tonight.

800
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,200
All right, then.

801
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:35,200
Mrs. Sutton?

802
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,200
Yes, sir?

803
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:44,200
Were you aware that my can of arsenic out in the shed had a loose stopper?

804
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:47,200
The garden isn't my department, is it, sir?

805
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,200
No, no it isn't.

806
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,200
I didn't know about the arsenic.

807
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:54,200
Very well.

808
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,200
I'll be saying good night, then.

809
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:58,200
Oh, Mrs. Sutton.

810
00:38:58,200 --> 00:38:59,200
Yes?

811
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:00,200
One more thing.

812
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,200
Certainly, sir.

813
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,200
Nothing, Mrs. Sutton. Nothing.

814
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:16,200
The next few days were the most agonising of my life.

815
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:21,200
I began the habit of coming down early in the morning and prowling about the kitchen.

816
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,200
This only served to make Ethel more nervous.

817
00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:27,200
But Mrs. Sutton offered no remark.

818
00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:32,200
She watched me silently and with good humour, almost with amusement.

819
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,200
And after all, it was ridiculous.

820
00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:46,200
What was the use of supervising the breakfast when I had to be out of the house every day between half past nine in the morning and seven in the evening?

821
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:53,200
On Thursday night, Brooks persuaded me to go to a little bachelor dinner for a friend who was being married.

822
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:57,200
It was in my district and we weren't out of there until after midnight.

823
00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:08,200
By then it was too late for Brooks to catch a train back to town, so I invited him to come over and spend the night at my place, a household that had long since gone to bed.

824
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:09,200
Shh.

825
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:10,200
Yes?

826
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:14,200
Careful, Brooks. I don't want to disturb Ethel.

827
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:15,200
Sorry, old man.

828
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,200
Your room is just off here.

829
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,200
I think you need a fresh pillow, sir.

830
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:22,200
That'll be fine.

831
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:23,200
Hello.

832
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:24,200
What's this?

833
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:26,200
Oh, somebody writing your notes.

834
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:31,200
Dear Mr. Mamory, there's some fresh cocoa in the kitchen.

835
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,200
It only needs some hutting up.

836
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:34,200
Mrs. Sutton.

837
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:36,200
Well, you should just hit the spot.

838
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:37,200
Yes, indeed.

839
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,200
Come along.

840
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,200
Let me just get the switch.

841
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:44,200
There we are.

842
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,200
I'd better get the cocoa ready. It'll only be a minute.

843
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:53,200
It was quite a show we threw for young Farzbuth, wasn't it? Sent him off, married and styled.

844
00:40:53,200 --> 00:41:01,200
Glad to see him getting settled. People ought to marry young. All the more years to enjoy the only real blessing life gives you.

845
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:03,200
How many years has it been for you and Ethel?

846
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:04,200
Just six.

847
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:05,200
Good years, eh?

848
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:10,200
And they get better all the time. That's the wonder of it.

849
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:14,200
Tell me, Brooks, how did you happen to miss getting married?

850
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:18,200
Didn't miss it at all, chap. I've been getting along very well without it.

851
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,200
Hello. Our cocoa's ready.

852
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:24,200
And here's my cup.

853
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:29,200
Mmm. It's just hot enough.

854
00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:30,200
Brooks.

855
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,200
Yes, old man?

856
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:39,200
Is it just my fancy or is there something queer about the taste?

857
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,200
The taste?

858
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,200
It seemed to me...

859
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:48,200
Take another sip, Brooks.

860
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:52,200
Go on. Roll it round on your tongue.

861
00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:57,200
You taste it? The faint tang, like metal?

862
00:41:57,200 --> 00:41:59,200
Spit it out, Brooks! Spit it out!

863
00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,200
Mamory.

864
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:12,200
I don't know. I don't know.

865
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:15,200
Mamory, what are you going to do?

866
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:19,200
I've never been in a situation like this before.

867
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:24,200
You ought to take a specimen to the chemist. Have it analysed?

868
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:33,200
Yes. Yes, I will. First thing in the morning. But first, Brooks, I want you to come with me.

869
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:34,200
Where to?

870
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:41,200
Just outside, in the garden. I want to see something in the potting shed.

871
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:52,200
Mamory, I can't see a thing.

872
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:57,200
Just hold on to me. We're almost there.

873
00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:05,200
All right. This is the shed. Now, just about four steps inside.

874
00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:10,200
Here we are.

875
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,200
Mamory, where are you?

876
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,200
Just at your feet, old man. I'm stooping down.

877
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,200
Would you be good enough to strike a match for me?

878
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:23,200
All right. Just a moment. Here we are.

879
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:32,200
That's fine. Hold it closer. It should be behind these pots here. Yes, it's here.

880
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,200
Oh, devil, these things don't burn long.

881
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:38,200
Can you strike another?

882
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:40,200
What is it, Mamory?

883
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,200
It's a tin of weed killer.

884
00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,200
You mean arsenic?

885
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:49,200
Yes, arsenic.

886
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:53,200
And just look, Mamory, the stopper is loose.

887
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:59,200
I know, Brooks. I know.

888
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:02,200
Want another match?

889
00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:07,200
No. It isn't necessary.

890
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:12,200
Why should it be loose, Mamory? That's the question.

891
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:19,200
It is, especially since I took the trouble to ram it in as tight as it would go only last week.

892
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:26,200
Mamory, old man, I don't like to frighten you, but you see what this means.

893
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:31,200
It simply means there's a murderer in my house.

894
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:47,200
It was there, in that shed that smelled of earth, in my dress with an overcoat, holding the tin in my hand and facing Brooks in the darkness,

895
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:52,200
that the beast's panic seized me in its claws and held me so tight that I could hardly breathe.

896
00:44:52,200 --> 00:45:00,200
I felt a sudden impulse to run out into the dark streets of Hammersmith and scream out to the sleeping village the terrible thing I had discovered.

897
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:14,200
Instead, I replaced the tin exactly where it had been, and Brooks and I went back into the garden and told the house.

898
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:18,200
Look, Brooks, see that light?

899
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,200
Whose window is it?

900
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:26,200
Mrs. Sutton's. It's terrifying. Is she watching us?

901
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:31,200
I can't tell from here. Where does Ethel sleep?

902
00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:36,200
Our bedroom is right up there. It's dark, thank heaven.

903
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:41,200
If she'd drunk anything deadly, there'd be lights everywhere. She'd call out, just as I did the night I was attacked.

904
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:45,200
Yes, yes, of course. Well, what's your plan?

905
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:53,200
Plan? Yes, yes, plan. I'll get you off to bed.

906
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:54,200
Yes.

907
00:45:54,200 --> 00:46:00,200
Then I'll go into the kitchen, wash out the saucepan, and make another brew of cocoa.

908
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:05,200
I let it stand in the saucepan overnight. Just to erase suspicions, don't you see?

909
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:08,200
Yes, yes, yes, excellent. Then in the morning, off to the chemist's.

910
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,200
That's right.

911
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:18,200
Remember, you told me last week to move fast. Well, my time's run out.

912
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:26,200
I'm not a man of action, Brooks. But when my life is threatened, when the life of the person I love most is in danger, then I can do it, Brooks.

913
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:38,200
Then I can.

914
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:44,200
When I'd finished in the kitchen, I turned out all the lights and started softly up the stairs.

915
00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:51,200
I hadn't meant to wake Anethel. I meant to keep all this from her until it was over and finished.

916
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:55,200
But she must have heard me as I came into the room.

917
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:56,200
Edward?

918
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:57,200
Yes, my dear?

919
00:46:57,200 --> 00:47:01,200
How late you are, you naughty boy. Have a good time at your party?

920
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:04,200
Not bad, not bad at all.

921
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:07,200
So tonight was young Farnsworth last as a bachelor.

922
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:13,200
His last. He seemed like a lamb, all ready for the sacrifice.

923
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:15,200
You all right?

924
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:16,200
Quite all right.

925
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:17,200
Good.

926
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,200
Did Mrs. Sutton leave something hot for you? She said she would.

927
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:24,200
Yes, but I wasn't thirsty.

928
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:29,200
Oh, it was that sort of party, was it?

929
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:36,200
I sat down on the bed beside her. She was asleep again in a moment.

930
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:44,200
I took her hand and I clutched it tight, so defying death in hell to take her from me.

931
00:47:44,200 --> 00:48:00,200
Next morning I would act. I thanked God it was not too late.

932
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:06,200
At eight o'clock in the morning I stood outside the little untidy shop on Springbank,

933
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:17,200
where a weather-beaten sign informed the world that this place of business belonged to B.A. Dimthorpe, chemist.

934
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:26,200
Dimthorpe himself was an aged little fellow, as untidy himself as the shop in which he potted about day and night.

935
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:30,200
I paused a moment before entering.

936
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:37,200
How many times had we sat together in the room at the back, our chairs tilted against the wall,

937
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:42,200
exchanging views on green-fly and club-root?

938
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:51,200
How many lazy evenings we had passed together discussing the passion of our lives, the art of gardening?

939
00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:59,200
This morning I had to see him on another matter, on the new passion in my life.

940
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:07,200
This morning we should be concerned with the art of murder.

941
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:10,200
Good morning, my I.B. of Assists, Mamma Ray.

942
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:12,200
Good morning, Dimthorpe.

943
00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:15,200
What brings you so hurly in the dye? Another prescription for Hethel?

944
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:21,200
No, no. Hethel's much better these days. It's quite another matter.

945
00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:28,200
You'll be light for work, won't you? This is oddly the time to continue the battle of Lilacs versus Poppies.

946
00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:29,200
Dimthorpe.

947
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:30,200
Yes?

948
00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:34,200
I wonder if you could do a little job for me.

949
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:37,200
Happy to, if it's within me power.

950
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:39,200
Well, this is very much in your line of work.

951
00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:40,200
Well, then certainly.

952
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:44,200
I have here a bottle. It contains a cup of ordinary cocoa.

953
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:46,200
Cocoa, Mamma Ray?

954
00:49:46,200 --> 00:49:49,200
Yes. I was wondering if you'd be good enough to analyze it for me.

955
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,200
And just what is it you want me to look for, I?

956
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:58,200
I should... I should like you to look for traces of arsenic, if you would.

957
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,200
Very well, Mamma Ray. Arsenic.

958
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:10,200
This cocoa was left in a saucepan for me at home last night. I found that it tasted very odd, unpleasant, and metallic.

959
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:12,200
I know, but that's oddly enough.

960
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:20,200
You see, Dimthorpe, I have reason to believe that we have living with us at present the Lincoln Poisoner. I dare say you know the case.

961
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:25,200
The Lincoln Poisoner? Correct. Oh, but Mamma Ray, how dreadful.

962
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:34,200
I have reason to believe that this woman is attempting to murder both my wife and myself. I think I have proof. Your analysis will be the final one.

963
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,200
I shall put everything else aside, Mamma Ray. You may rely on me.

964
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:39,200
I do, Dimthorpe. I do.

965
00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:44,200
And may I congratulate you on your prudence and on your intelligence in bringing me the specimen.

966
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:45,200
Thank you.

967
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:53,200
I'll have it ready for you by this evening. And if it's what you think it is, then we shall have a clear case on which to take action.

968
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:55,200
Thank you, Dimthorpe. This evening, then...

969
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:56,200
Righto.

970
00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:59,200
I see I'm to pass a very long day.

971
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:06,200
I was a bit late in getting to the office. Brooks was already there, waiting for me with a white face and the hushed voice of a conspirator.

972
00:51:06,200 --> 00:51:07,200
Good morning. Good morning.

973
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:09,200
You were already out of the house when I awoke this morning.

974
00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:14,200
Yes. I had my call to make. Sleep well last night?

975
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:16,200
Like a lark. It's funny, considering.

976
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:17,200
It is funny.

977
00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:18,200
You didn't, I gather.

978
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:19,200
No.

979
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:21,200
You've taken care of the matter?

980
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:22,200
Yes.

981
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:23,200
When shall we know?

982
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:29,200
Yes. When shall we know?

983
00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:30,200
Late this afternoon.

984
00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:35,200
Everything seemed all right when I left the house, had breakfast with Ethel. She seemed very well, completely unsuspecting.

985
00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:37,200
Did you notice her?

986
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:39,200
I did indeed, our dear Mrs Sutton.

987
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:40,200
Well?

988
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:41,200
Bad mouth. There's no doubt of it.

989
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:42,200
Anything else?

990
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:47,200
Otherwise perfectly normal. That's what gives them away, don't you see? More normal than normal folk.

991
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:49,200
Do you feel like working today?

992
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:54,200
Frankly, no.

993
00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:57,200
Neither do I. Shall we put out the sign?

994
00:51:57,200 --> 00:51:58,200
Good idea.

995
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:05,200
We put out the sign saying that we were closed for the day because of illness, and we sat together in the office.

996
00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:16,200
The noon hour passed and neither of us moved. Four or five times we heard footsteps outside in the corridor, pausing before our door, and then turning and receding.

997
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:28,200
Neither of us spoke, neither of us moved. I examined an expanse of wall just over Brooks's head, and he examined the blank space over mine, and the hours passed.

998
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:40,200
Back on Springbank, Dimthorpe would be bending over his vials and bunsen burners, moving as methodically as only he could move, extracting the truth from a bottle of cocoa.

999
00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:46,200
As I told him, this was the longest day of my life.

1000
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:52,200
Well, Mamory?

1001
00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:57,200
Yes. It was four o'clock. I couldn't wait any longer.

1002
00:52:57,200 --> 00:52:58,200
Good luck, old man.

1003
00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:06,200
Brooks shook hands with me, and I went outside into the afternoon sunlight. I was at Springbank in twenty minutes.

1004
00:53:06,200 --> 00:53:09,200
Mamory, is that you?

1005
00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:10,200
It is, Dimthorpe.

1006
00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:16,200
I'm ready for you. Just come into the back in case we're disturbed.

1007
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:18,200
All right, Mamory, right over here.

1008
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:19,200
What does it mean?

1009
00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:23,200
It means that there's no doubt about it.

1010
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:24,200
I see.

1011
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:35,200
I used Marsh's test. It was an heavy dose. No wonder you tasted it. There must have been four or five grains of pure heart stick in that bottle. Here, take this mirror. I want you to see it for yourself.

1012
00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:36,200
All right.

1013
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:40,200
Now, just look closely at this little glass tube.

1014
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:45,200
It's a stain. A purple-black stain.

1015
00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:49,200
That's the mark left by the horse-nick. Will you ring up the police from here?

1016
00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:51,200
No, my wife. I've got to get home.

1017
00:53:51,200 --> 00:54:06,200
All right, leave it to me. I'll ring the police up for you. Oh, go quickly, Mamory.

1018
00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:22,200
Local train went so slowly and stopped so often. Ethel poison dying dead. Ethel poison dying dead. The wheels strummed harshly in my ears. I jumped from the train before it had stopped and ran out of the station and along the road.

1019
00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:34,200
A strange car was standing at my door. I saw it from the end of the street and broke into a mad gallop. It had happened. The doctor was there. I was a fool. I was a murderer to have left it so long.

1020
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:50,200
Then, while I was still 150 yards away, I saw the front door open. A man came out, followed by Ethel herself. The visitor got into his car and drove away, and Ethel went back into the house. She was safe. She was safe.

1021
00:54:50,200 --> 00:55:01,200
I could hardly control myself to hang up my hat and coat and go in looking reasonably calm. She had returned to the armchair by the fire, and she looked up at me in surprise.

1022
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:15,200
There were tea things on the table, and she was alive. Edward, you're back early, aren't you? Yes, dear. Business was slack. Somebody beat the tea? John Welbick came by. Oh, young Welbick?

1023
00:55:15,200 --> 00:55:27,200
Yes, we've been talking over arrangements for the Drama Society. Darling, I'm so glad. By having a guest here, you were protected. You were saved. Edward, what are you talking about? You seem so strange.

1024
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:43,200
There's something I've got to tell you, Ethel. I should have done it long ago. My darling, it's going to be unpleasant, but you must hear it. Oh, excuse me, ma'am. Yes? Oh, I beg your pardon, sir. I didn't know you were in. What is it, Mrs. Sutton? Will you be taking tea, or can I clear away?

1025
00:55:43,200 --> 00:56:00,200
Mr. Mummery will be wanting some. You'd better leave it. And, oh, Mum. What is it? There was a young man at the Fishmongers, and he's just come from Grimsby. Yes? And they've caught that dreadful woman at Mrs. Andrews. Oh. Isn't it a good thing? Oh, it worried me so to think she was going about like that.

1026
00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:17,200
But they've caught her. Took her job as housekeeper, she had, to elderly ladies, and they found the wicked poison on her. Girl who's spotted her will get a reward. I've been keeping my eyes open for her myself. But it's at Grimsby she was all the time.

1027
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:38,200
Thank you for the news, Mrs. Sutton. That will be all. Oh, not at all, Mum. But that's wonderful. Then it's all be the mistake. A mad mistake. Darling, I don't know whether to shout or to cry. I certainly must apologize to Mrs. Sutton.

1028
00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:58,200
We're safe, don't you see? We're safe! But what about the cocoa? Mr. Dimthorpe? And Marsha's test? And five grains of arsenic? What do they all mean? Who could have...

1029
00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:00,200
Who could have what?

1030
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:03,200
Ethel. Ethel. Ethel.

1031
00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:06,200
Yes, Ethel?

1032
00:57:06,200 --> 00:57:11,200
To me. To do it to me.

1033
00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:18,200
You fool! You fool! Don't you know that it's been well, Beck? That it's always been well, Beck?

1034
00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:26,200
Yes. It's there in your eyes. Something I've never seen before.

1035
00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:32,200
It's always been there. It's just that you've never looked.

1036
00:57:32,200 --> 00:58:00,200
That would be the police, Ethel. They've come here for you.

1037
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:12,200
Our thanks to Sam Jaffe for a magnificent performance as Edward Mummery, and to Lorraine Tuttle, Alan Reed, and to the entire cast who aroused our suspicion with such effective suspense.

1038
00:58:12,200 --> 00:58:23,200
Next week, Crossfire. Yes, Crossfire. Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Graham, and Sam Levine playing the roles they created for the RKO radio picture.

1039
00:58:23,200 --> 00:58:43,200
A drama of present-day intolerance in an atmosphere of suspense. And with the performances of Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Graham, and Sam Levine, and with Crossfire, we'll again hope to keep you in suspense.

1040
00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:58,200
Suspicion by Dorothy Sayers was adapted for suspense by Irving Ravitch and was produced and directed by Anton M. Leder. Lud Gluskin is our musical director and conductor, and Lucian Morrowek composes the original scores.

1041
00:58:58,200 --> 00:59:13,200
Next week, here, Crossfire, starring Robert Young with Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Graham, and Sam Levine on radio's outstanding theater of thrills, one hour of suspense.

1042
00:59:13,200 --> 00:59:29,200
This is CBS, where 99 million people gather every week, the Columbia Broadcasting System.