Witness for the Prosecution

控方证人

《Witness for the Prosecution》是1957年上映的美国经典法庭悬疑片，由Billy Wilder执导，改编自推理女王Agatha Christie的同名短篇小说和舞台剧。

剧情：伦敦著名刑辩律师Sir Wilfrid Robarts（Charles Laughton 饰）因心脏病发作刚刚出院，不顾私人护士的劝阻，接手了一桩看似不利的谋杀案。被告Leonard Vole（Tyrone Power 饰）被指控杀害了富有寡妇Emily French。然后后面剧情反转再反转。。。

电影地位与影响:该片被誉为“法庭片的永恒教科书”，是反转叙事的巅峰之作。上映后获得六项奥斯卡金像奖提名，包括最佳影片、最佳导演和最佳男主角，Elsa Lanchester凭借护士一角获得金球奖最佳女配角。

这是Tyrone Power生前最后一部电影。片尾特别加上了“请不要向还未观影的朋友剧透结局”的字幕，在当时是极具创意的做法。

主要角色职位表

角色分配表

此本为电影全部完整内容，角色众多，为使得pia戏便捷，我将角色分配给四人完整，用颜色体现分配好的角色内容，演员B和D最好为B男D女，其他角色A和C自由分配。

演员A: 红色系

演员B: 蓝色系

演员C: 绿色系

演员D: 黑色系

全程无音乐，大部分为庭审对话。

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): What a beautiful day! I've been hoping that we'd have a bit of sun for our home-coming. I always say it's worth having all the fog just to appreciate the sunshine. Is there too much of a draught? Shall I roll up the window?

SIR WILFRID: Just roll up your mouth. You talk too much. If I'd known how much you talked I would never have come out of my coma. This thing weighs a ton.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Now, now -- we've been flat on our back for two months -- we'd better be careful!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Lovely! It must be perfectly lovely to live and work in the Inns of Court. How lucky you lawyers are! I almost married a lawyer once. I was in attendance when he had his appendectomy. We became engaged as soon as he could sit up. But then peritonitis set in. He went like that.

SIR WILFRID: He certainly was a lucky lawyer!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Teeny-weeny steps, now Sir Wilfrid. We must remember -- we had a teeny-weeny heart attack.

SIR WILFRID: Shut up! Williams, my cane.

MISS JOHNSON: Here he comes!

SIR WILFRID: Good afternoon. Thank you very much. Everybody back to work.

MISS McHUGH: Sir Wilfrid, please -- if you don't mind -- I would like to read a little poem which we have composed to welcome you --

SIR WILFRID: Very touching, Miss McHugh. You can recite it after office hours, on your own time. Now back to work.

SIR WILFRID: What's the matter with you?

MISS O'BRIEN: Nothing -- I'm just happy that you're your old self again.

SIR WILFRID: One more manifestation of such sentimentality -- whether in poetry or prose -- and I shall instantly go back to the hospital.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Not very likely. They won't take you back. He wasn't really discharged, you know -- he was expelled. For conduct unbecoming a cardiac patient.

SIR WILFRID: Put these in water -- Blabbermouth! Come on in, Carter.

SIR WILFRID: Look at this room! It's really extraordinarily ugly! Very old and very musty, and I never knew I could miss anything so much! Missed you, too, you musty old buzzard.

CARTER: Thank you, Sir. I'm not a religious man, Sir Wilfrid, but when they carted you off in that ambulance, I went out and lit a candle.

SIR WILFRID: Why, thank you, Carter.

CARTER: Actually, sir, I was lighting it for myself. If anything happened to you, what would happen to me -- after thirty-seven years.

SIR WILFRID: Thirty-seven years? Has it been that long, Carter.

CARTER: Yes, sir. This is 1952 and that was in October, 1915. The Shepherd's Bush murder. The chemist accused of putting cyanide in his uncle's toothpaste.

SIR WILFRID: My first murder trial. I was more frightened than the defendant. The first time I rose to make an objection, my wig fell off. Where is it?

CARTER: I've guarded it with my life.

SIR WILFRID: I hope it still fits. Lost thirty pounds in that wretched hospital. Still, I dare say my head isn't any smaller.

SIR WILFRID: What's this?

CARTER: We've put it in moth balls.

SIR WILFRID: Moth balls? Am I not to practice again?!

CARTER: Of course, you are. The solicitors have been breaking down our doors. I've lined up some very interesting briefs for you, sir.

SIR WILFRID: That's better.

CARTER: A divorce case, a tax appeal, and an important marine insurance claim.

SIR WILFRID: Oh!

CARTER: They're nice, smooth matters -- with excellent fees --

SIR WILFRID: No, Carter!

CARTER: I'm sorry, sir, but you are not to undertake any criminal cases -- not any more. Your doctors...

SIR WILFRID: Doctors! -- they've deprived me of everything: alcohol, tobacco, female companionship -- if only they would let me function in my work ... on something worthwhile --

CARTER: Sorry, Sir Wilfrid.

SIR WILFRID: You might as well get a bigger box, Carter, more moth balls, and put me away, too.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Two-thirty, Sir Wilfrid. Time for our little nap.

SIR WILFRID: Get out!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Beddy-bye. We'd better go upstairs now, get undressed and lie down.

SIR WILFRID: We? What a nauseating prospect!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Upstairs, please.

SIR WILFRID: Are you aware, MISS PLIMSOLL, that while on my sickbed I seriously considered strangling you with one of your own rubber tubes? I would then have admitted the crime, retained myself for the defense. My Lord and Members of the Jury! I hereby enter a plea of justifiable homicide. For four months this alleged Angel of Mercy has subjected me to every conceivable indignity of the flesh and the spirit. She has pawed, probed, punctured, pillaged and plundered my helpless body while tormenting my mind with a steady drip of the most revolting baby talk --

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Come along now, like a good boy.

SIR WILFRID: Take your hand off me, MISS PLIMSOLL, or I shall strike you with my cane.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Oh, you'd never do that -- you might break your cigars.

SIR WILFRID: Cigars? -- what cigars?

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): The ones you're smuggling in your cane.

SIR WILFRID: You -- you could be jailed for this -- you had no search warrant for my cane.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): In the hospital he'd hide cigars and brandy all over the place. We called him Wilfred the Fox. I'm confiscating these.

SIR WILFRID: Can't I have just one? Just a few puffs, after meals? Please?

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Upstairs!

SIR WILFRID: ... I'll do it! ... some dark night when her back is turned I'll snatch her thermometer and plunge it between her misshapen shoulder blades ... so help me!

CARTER: Oh, no, sir, you mustn't walk up. We've installed something for you here. It's a lift, sir.

SIR WILFRID: A lift! What nonsense! I'm getting a bit sick of this plot to make me a helpless invalid.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): I think it's a splendid idea. Let's try it, shall we?

SIR WILFRID: I'll try it. It is my lift, because it was my heart attack.

CARTER: Simply press this button for up, and this one for down.

SIR WILFRID: Carter, I warn you, if this contraption should collapse -- if the barrister should fall off the banister --

SIR WILFRID: This is remarkable, Carter. Smoothest flight I've had in years.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Upsy-daisy!

SIR WILFRID: Just once more -- to get the feel of the controls.

MAYHEW: Good afternoon, Carter. Would it be possible to see Sir Wilfrid? I'm sorry I didn't ring up for an appointment, but this is urgent.

CARTER: If it's about a brief, Mr. Mayhew, I'm sorry, but we're full up. Sir Wilfrid has all that he can handle.

MAYHEW: I'm sure he'll want this brief -- Serious criminal matter.

CARTER: Absolutely not, Mr. Mayhew. Sir Wilfrid is still convalescent. He cannot possibly accept anything of an overstimulating nature.

SIR WILFRID: They've put me on a diet of bland civil suits. Hello, Mayhew.

MAYHEW: Hello, Wilfrid. This is very distressing news about your health.

SIR WILFRID: Distressing? It's tragic! You'd better get yourself a younger man, with younger arteries.

MAYHEW: If you could give us just a few minutes. My client is right here. This is Mr. Leonard Vole. He's in rather a ghastly mess, I'm afraid.

SIR WILFRID: How do you do, Mr. Vole.

VOLE: Well, according to Mr. Mayhew, I'm not doing at all well!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid! You're dawdling again!

SIR WILFRID: Shut up! Sorry, Mayhew. Try me again some day, when you have something not too stimulating -- like a postman bitten by a stray dog.

MAYHEW: Well, I wish you could help us, Wilfrid, but I quite understand. Take care.

SIR WILFRID: Mayhew! Mayhew! Come back here, Mayhew!

CARTER: Sir Wilfrid, please --

SIR WILFRID: Don't worry, Carter, we won't take the brief. But Mr. Mayhew is an old friend and he needs help. Surely, if I can give him a word of advice -- Come in. I'll give you five minutes.

MAYHEW: That's very kind of you, Wilfrid.

SIR WILFRID: If you don't mind, Mayhew, just you and I.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid -- our nap!

SIR WILFRID: You go ahead -- start it without me.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): This is your fault, Mr. Carter -- you should not have permitted it!

SIR WILFRID: I could probably think better if you gave me one of those cigars.

MAYHEW: Of course. There are naturally no previous convictions, he is a man of good character, with an excellent war record -- you would like him a lot.

SIR WILFRID: They've confiscated the matches, too. A light, please -- give me a light.

MAYHEW: As I see it, the defense may turn on establishing alibi for the evening of the murder -- Sorry -- I haven't any matches. Let me get some.

SIR WILFRID: Lord, no! You don't know Miss Pimsoll. This will take all our cunning.

SIR WILFRID: Young man -- your solicitor and I feel that you may be able to enlighten me on a rather important point --

VOLE: Yes, sir. Anything at all.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Really, Sir Wilfrid --

SIR WILFRID: You're not in bed yet? UPSTAIRS!

SIR WILFRID: Give me a match.

VOLE: Sorry -- I never carry them.

SIR WILFRID: WHAT! And you said I'd like him?

VOLE: I've got a lighter.

SIR WILFRID: You're right, Mayhew -- I do like him. Can you imagine MISS PLIMSOLL's face if she saw me now?

VOLE: Let's make absolutely sure she doesn't.

SIR WILFRID: Splendid! All the instincts of a skilled criminal.

VOLE: Thank you, sir.

SIR WILFRID: Young man, you may or may not have murdered a middle-aged widow, but you have certainly saved the life of an elderly barrister.

VOLE: I haven't murdered anybody. It's absurd. But Christine -- that's my wife -- she thinks I may be implicated and that I needed a lawyer. So I went to see Mr. Mayhew and now he thinks that he needs a lawyer. So now I have two lawyers. Silly, isn't it?

MAYHEW: Mr. Vole, I am a solicitor. Sir Wilfrid is a barrister. Only a barrister can actually plead a case in court.

SIR WILFRID: She shall not even find the ashes. Go on, go on.

VOLE: Well, I saw in the papers that poor MRS. FRENCH(被害人) had been found dead, with her head bashed in -- and then it said in the papers that the police were anxious to interview me since I had visited MRS. FRENCH(被害人) that evening -- so naturally, I went along to the police station.

SIR WILFRID: Did they caution you?

VOLE: I don't quite know. I mean, they asked if I would like to make a statement and they would write it down, and it might be used against me in Court. Would that be cautioning me?

SIR WILFRID: Oh, well, it can't be helped now.

VOLE: Anyway, they were very polite and they seemed quite satisfied.

MAYHEW: They seemed satisfied, Mr. Vole. He thinks that he made a statement and that's the end of it. Mr. Vole, isn't it obvious to you that you will be regarded as the principal and logical suspect in this case? I have great fear that you will be arrested.

VOLE: I've done nothing. Why should I be arrested? I mean, this is England. You don't get arrested or convicted for something you haven't done?

SIR WILFRID: We try not to make a habit of it.

VOLE: But it does happen, doesn't it? Of course. There was that case of what's-his-name -- Adolph Beck, or Becker -- he'd been in jail for eight years when they found out it was another chap entirely -- he was innocent all along.

SIR WILFRID: Very unfortunate. But restitution has been made. He received a free pardon, a bounty from the Crown, and was restored to his normal life.

VOLE: Yes, that was all right for him. But what if it had been murder? -- what if he had been hanged? -- how would they restore him to his normal life then?

MAYHEW: Really, Mr. Vole, you mustn't take such a morbid point of view.

VOLE: Sorry. It's just that when you tell me it's all closing in on me -- It's like a nightmare.

MAYHEW: Relax, Mr. Vole. I am putting you in the hands of the finest and most experienced barrister in London --

SIR WILFRID: Now, Mayhew, let's get this straight. I may have done something highly unethical: I've taken your cigar and I'm not taking your case. I can't. I'm forbidden. My doctors would never allow it. I'm truly sorry, young man. However, if you would like the case handled by someone in these chambers, I would recommend Mr. Brogan-Moore -- you know Brogan-Moore? --

VOLE: The boss's daughter. She kept annoying me, until I told her where to get off. So she told her father I was annoying her, and he told me where to get off.

SIR WILFRID: Very annoying.

VOLE: Before that, I had a job testing electric blankets -- You must be thinking I'm a bit of a drifter, sir. It's true, in a way, but I'm not really like that. Doing my Army service unsettled me a bit. That and being abroad. I was stationed in Germany. It was fine there. That's where I met Christine, my wife. She was an actress, and a good one. She's been a wonderful wife to me, too, but I haven't been much of a provider, I'm afraid -- somehow, I can't seem to settle down properly since I came back to this country. Of course, if I could just put my egg-beater across --

SIR WILFRID: Egg-beater?

VOLE: Yes, sir. I'm sort of an inventor -- nothing big, just little household things: A pocket pencil sharpener, a key-ring flashlight, but my best is really this egg-beater. You see, it not only beats the eggs; it also separates the yolk from the white.

SIR WILFRID: Is that really desirable?

VOLE: If you were a housewife, Sir Wilfrid, you'd see it right away. The trouble is I would need some money for manufacturing and promotion -- well, that's really what I was hoping MRS. FRENCH(被害人) might do for me after I met her.

SIR WILFRID: Oh. Exactly how did you meet this MRS. FRENCH(被害人)?

VOLE: That was rather funny in itself -- it was the third of September -- I remember distinctly because it is my wife's birthday -- I was window-shopping on Oxford Street, sort of daydreaming about what I would buy for her -- if I had any money --

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): You really like this one?

VOLE: Very much.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): You don't think it's too -- too mad?

VOLE: Mad? Not at all! A little daring, perhaps -- I wouldn't recommend it to every woman -- but you -- why shouldn't you attract some attention --?

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): You really think so?

VOLE: Absolutely. If I may suggest just one little thing -- let's tilt that brim a bit, to show off your face -- My bus! Good-bye!

VOLE: Now you buy that hat! I insist!

VOLE: Actually, it was quite a ridiculous hat. Silly thing with ribbons and flowers.

SIR WILFRID: I'm constantly surprised that women's hats do not provoke more murders. Go on, please.

VOLE: I was just trying to be nice to her -- make her feel good. I never dreamed that I'd see her again -- or the flower stand.

SIR WILFRID: But you did?

VOLE: Yes. A few weeks later -- again quite accidentally. I was peddling my egg-beaters that afternoon and business was a little slow...

VOLE: Would you mind, Madame --

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Hello. It's your fault, you know -- you chose it yourself.

VOLE: Sure -- if you like.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Thank you. It's a bother taking it off and putting it back on again.

VOLE: The chap on the white horse is called Jesse James. They've lured him into this ambush -- not at all cricket.

SIR WILFRID: Of course, at this time you had no idea that MRS. FRENCH(被害人) was well-off?

VOLE: Absolutely not. We were sitting in the cheap seats. All I knew was that she seemed to be very lonely -- had no friends whatsoever.

MAYHEW: She and her husband had lived abroad in British Nigeria -- for many years. He was in the Colonial Service. He died in forty-five -- of a heart attack.

SIR WILFRID: Please, Mayhew -- not while I'm smoking. Go on, young man.

VOLE: Well, they finally polished off Jesse James -- and when we left the movie, she invited me to her house for tea.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): I think it's the most fascinating thing I've ever seen. JANET! Come look at this!

JANET (女管家): I've seen egg-beaters before, ma'am.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): But this beats so quickly -- and it separates -- I guess it's centrifugal -- or centrifugal -- or what is it?

VOLE: Well, actually, it's specific gravity. It whips cream, too.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): JANET, did you hear that? -- it whips cream, too. We must have one. Is it expensive?

VOLE: Compliments of the inventor, manufacturer and sole distributor.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Thank you. We'll use it constantly, won't we, JANET ? We'd better get out of here, Mr. Vole. JANET .doesn't like visitors in her kitchen.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): A bit chilly here, isn't it? Shall we have a fire?

VOLE: It's a -- charming room.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Hubert and I collected all these things when we lived in Africa. Hubert was my husband.

VOLE: There's a lovable chap!

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): That's the mask of the witch doctor. He wore it when he pulled our servants' teeth, so Hubert used to call him a witch dentist. Hubert was so witty.

VOLE: Yes, I can see that.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Oh, JANET  -- let's use our good silver and china.

VOLE: Oh, no. Don't bother, MRS. FRENCH(被害人) -- this is perfectly all right.

JANET (女管家): Lemon or milk, please?

VOLE: I don't really care.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Would you prefer some sherry?

VOLE: Sherry would be fine.

JANET (女管家): We have no sherry.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): But we have. There's that bottle -- the one we bought last Christmas.

JANET (女管家): If he'd care for an eggnog -- there happens to be a wasted egg in the kitchen -- all ready and separated.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): Don't mind JANET , Mr. Vole. It's just that she's terribly Scotch.

VOLE: Is she? I thought she came with the collection.

MRS. FRENCH(被害人): You know -- maybe I'll have a glass of sherry myself. I feel like Christmas, somehow.

VOLE: After that I used to see her once or twice a week. She kept a bottle of sherry for me and we would talk, or play canasta, or listen to her old phonograph records -- Gilbert and Sullivan mostly. It's so weird to think of her now -- laying there, in that living room, murdered.

SIR WILFRID: I assure you she has been moved by now. Not to have done so would be unfeeling, unlawful and unsanitary.

MAYHEW: Suppose you tell Sir Wilfrid about the evening of the murder.

VOLE: I went around to see her about eight o'clock that evening... She fixed me a sandwich and we talked a bit and listened to The Mikado. I left about nine. I walked home and got there about half-past. I can prove that I can swear to it in or out of court, on the witness stand, anywhere.

SIR WILFRID: How much money did you get from her?

VOLE: From whom?

SIR WILFRID: From MRS. FRENCH(被害人)!

VOLE: Nothing. Not a quid.

SIR WILFRID: The truth! How much?

VOLE: Why should she give me any money?

SIR WILFRID: Because she was in love with you!

VOLE: That's ridiculous. She liked me. She pampered me, like an aunt -- but that's all. I swear.

SIR WILFRID: Why didn't you tell her you were a married man?

VOLE: I did tell her.

VOLE: Well, yes -- in a way --

VOLE: I was hoping to get a loan for my invention -- a couple of hundred pounds -- an honest business proposition, that's what it would have been -- is that so wicked?

SIR WILFRID: You knew it was the housekeeper's day off?

VOLE: Yes, I did.

SIR WILFRID: So you went there because you knew she would be alone?

VOLE: No. I went there because I thought she'd be lonely.

SIR WILFRID: All right, lonely! You and the rich lonely woman all alone in that lonely house -- with the gramophone blaring The Mikado -- perhaps you turned the volume up to drown out her cries -- !

VOLE: No. When I left her, she was alive.

SIR WILFRID: But when the housekeeper came back, she was dead.

VOLE: The house had been ransacked. It said so in the papers. It must have been a burglar. I didn't do it. No matter how bad things look, I didn't do it. You must believe me. You do believe me, don't you?

VOLE: You mean that people will think that Christine would tell a lie on my account?

SIR WILFRID: It has been known, Mr. Vole. Blood is thicker than evidence.

SIR WILFRID: Ah -- Brogan-Moore! Come in, come in!

BROGAN-MOORE: So good to have you out of hospital --

SIR WILFRID: I didn't get a full pardon -- I'm out on parole. You know Mr. Mayhew, I believe, and this is his client, Mr. Leonard Vole.

BROGAN-MOORE: How do you do.

SIR WILFRID: The Emily French murder.

BROGAN-MOORE: Oh, how do you do.

SIR WILFRID: Badly, thank you. There's a mass of circumstantial evidence, no alibi whatsoever -- it's a hot potato and I'm tossing it right into your lap. Much obliged.

SIR WILFRID: Your line of defense, however, will be lack of motive. You will agree that we can rule out a crime of passion. That leaves us with a murder for profit. Now then -- if Mr. Vole had been sponging on MRS. FRENCH(被害人), why kill her and cut off the source of supply? Or -- if he was hoping for a golden egg, why kill the goose before it was laid? No motive. No motive whatsoever! You find some flaw in this line of reasoning?

BROGAN-MOORE: No. It's very sound as far as it goes.

SIR WILFRID: Well, it's all yours, Brogan-Moore. You'll find Mr. Vole very responsive and quite candid -- so candid, in fact, that he has already informed me that we will have to sue him for our fees.

BROGAN-MOORE: We'll simply put a lien on Mr. Vole's eighty thousand pounds.

VOLE: What eighty thousand pounds?

BROGAN-MOORE: The eighty thousand pounds MRS. FRENCH(被害人) left you.

VOLE: Left me?

BROGAN-MOORE: They opened MRS. FRENCH(被害人)'s bank vault today and found her will. Congratulations.

VOLE: You're joking! Eighty thousand pounds! -- I was worrying about a couple of hundred for my silly egg-beater -- and now -- I must call Christine --

VOLE: This inheritance -- it doesn't make things look any better for me, does it?

SIR WILFRID: No. I wouldn't think so.

VOLE: So now they'll say that I did have a motive --

SIR WILFRID: They will indeed. Eighty thousand pounds makes for a very handsome motive.

VOLE: I thought you were crazy. But I guess now they will arrest me. Won't they?

SIR WILFRID: It's quite likely.

VOLE: I knew nothing about that will! I didn't know MRS. FRENCH(被害人) had any intention of leaving me her money. And if I didn't know about it, how could it be a motive?

MAYHEW: Mr. Brogan-Moore will certainly bring that out in court.

SIR WILFRID: It's our old friend, Inspector Hearne.

BROGAN-MOORE: Chief Inspector, as of last month.

SIR WILFRID: Chief Inspector! They must think a lot of you at Scotland Yard -- you're getting the de luxe treatment.

SIR WILFRID: In here, Chief Inspector.

HEARNE: Sorry to disturb you in your chambers, Sir Wilfrid --

SIR WILFRID: Perfectly all right. I never object to the actions of the police -- except in court once in a great while.

HEARNE: Yes, sir. I still have the scars.

SIR WILFRID: You know Mr. Mayhew, and Mr. Brogan-Moore. And this is Dangerous Leonard Vole. You'd better search him -- he may be armed with an egg-beater.

HEARNE: Is your name Leonard Vole?

VOLE: It is.

HEARNE: I have here a warrant for your arrest on the charge of murdering Emily French on October fourteenth last. I must warn you that anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence.

VOLE: I'm ready. Must I be handcuffed?

HEARNE: That won't be necessary, sir.

VOLE: You see, I've never been arrested before. Not even for walking a dog off the leash, or having a beer after hours.

SIR WILFRID: There is no disgrace in being arrested, Mr. Vole. Kings, Prime Ministers, Archbishops -- even barristers -- have stood in the dock.

VOLE: Will you tell my wife that I -- -

BROGAN-MOORE: Yes, I'll tell her.

MAYHEW: I'll go down to the station with you and see that you're properly charged.

VOLE: Thank you, Sir Wilfrid. I'll be hearing from you, won't I?

BROGAN-MOORE: Yes, of course.

SIR WILFRID: Will you see to it that Mr. Vole is well treated? Here -- have a cigar!

HEARNE: That's very kind of you, Sir Wilfrid.

SIR WILFRID: I'd better not! It would constitute a bribe!

HEARNE: We ought to be going, Mr. Vole.

VOLE: One thing I've learned for sure -- never look in a window where there are women's hats!

SIR WILFRID: Makes a very nice impression, doesn't he?

BROGAN-MOORE: Yes, rather. Did you give him the monocle test?

SIR WILFRID: Passed with flying colors.

BROGAN-MOORE: I hope he does as well in the Dock. This is sticky, you know.

SIR WILFRID: Of course it is! The prosecution will blast him with their heaviest artillery. All you'll have is one little popgun - an alibi furnished by his wife! Isn't that an intriguing challenge?

BROGAN-MOORE: I think I'd like it more if it was less of a challenge.

CARTER: Sorry, Sir Wilfrid, but MISS PLIMSOLL has issued an ultimatum: if you're not in bed in one minute, she will resign.

SIR WILFRID: Splendid! Give her a month's pay and kick her down the stairs!

CARTER: Sir Wilfrid, either you take proper care of yourself, or I, too, shall resign.

SIR WILFRID: This is blackmail! You're quite right, Carter. For my first day, this has already been rather hectic. I should be in bed.

BROGAN-MOORE: Mayhew should get on to Mrs. Vole and have her come over. Will you sit in?

SIR WILFRID: Thank you, no! I'm in no condition to cope with emotional wives drenched in tears.

SIR WILFRID: Ah, MISS PLIMSOLL! How alluring you look -- waiting like a hangman on the scaffold. Take me! I'm yours! Handle Mrs. Vole gently, especially when you break the news of the arrest. Bear in mind she's a foreigner, so be prepared for hysterics -- even a fainting spell. Better have smelling salts ready, a box of tissues and a nip of brandy.

CHRISTINE: I do not think that will be necessary. I never faint because I am not sure that I will fall gracefully -- and I never use smelling salts because they puff up the eyes. I am Christine Vole.

SIR WILFRID: How do you do. I am Wilfrid Robarts and this is Mr. Brogan-Moore. My dear Mrs. Vole, I am afraid we have rather bad news for you --

CHRISTINE: Don't be afraid, Sir Wilfrid. I am quite disciplined.

SIR WILFRID: There is nothing to be alarmed about as yet -- --

CHRISTINE: Leonard has been arrested and charged with murder -- is that it?

SIR WILFRID: I'm glad you're showing such fortitude.

CHRISTINE: Call it what you like. What is the next step?

SIR WILFRID: Your husband will have to stand trial, I'm afraid. Will you take Mrs. Vole inside and explain the procedure. Mr. Brogan-Moore will lead the defense.

CHRISTINE: Oh? You will not personally defend Leonard?

SIR WILFRID: Regrettably, not. My health -- or rather the lack of it -- forbids me.

CHRISTINE: It is regrettable. Mr. Mayhew described you as the champion of the hopeless cause. Is it perhaps that this cause is too hopeless?

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): I shall have a very serious talk with Dr. Harrison. It was a mistake to let you come back here. I should have taken you directly to a rest home, or to a resort -- some place quiet, far off -- like Bermuda.

SIR WILFRID: Oh, shut up! You just want to see me in those nasty shorts.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Come, now, Sir Wilfrid, you must not think of it. You must get ready for sleep -- think beautiful thoughts.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Now put those on -- tops and bottoms -- while I make your bed.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): After your rest, we'll have a nice cup of cocoa. Then perhaps we'll go for a little walk in the square. I must say, I feel sorry for that nice Mr. Vole -- not just because he was arrested -- but that wife of his -- she must be German -- I suppose that's what happens when we let our boys cross the channel: they go crazy -- Personally, I think the Government should do something about those foreign wives -- like an embargo -- how else can we take care of our own surplus -- don't you agree, Sir Wilfrid? All right, hop in -- Sir Wilfrid!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid!

CHRISTINE: Yes, of course, I knew that Leonard had been seeing MRS. FRENCH(被害人) quite frequently. I knew it from the day when he came home with a pair of green socks she had knitted for him.

BROGAN-MOORE: Well, that's quite natural. And I'm sure a jury will find it rather endearing.

CHRISTINE: Oh, Leonard can be very endearing. He hates that particular shade of green, and the socks were two sizes too small, but he wore them just the same -- just to give her pleasure. Leonard has a way with women. I only hope he will have an all-woman jury -- they will carry him from the courtroom in triumph!

BROGAN-MOORE: A simple acquittal will do. Now, Mrs. Vole, you know that MRS. FRENCH(被害人) left your husband money?

CHRISTINE: Yes. A lot of money.

BROGAN-MOORE: Of course, your husband had no previous knowledge of this bequest?

CHRISTINE: Is that what he told you?

BROGAN-MOORE: Surely, Mrs. Vole, you are not suggesting anything different?

CHRISTINE: Oh, no. I do not suggest anything.

BROGAN-MOORE: Quite obviously, MRS. FRENCH(被害人) had come to look upon your husband as a son -- or, perhaps, a favorite nephew.

CHRISTINE: You think MRS. FRENCH(被害人) looked upon Leonard as a son -- or a nephew?

BROGAN-MOORE: I do. An entirely natural and understandable relationship.

CHRISTINE: What hypocrites you are in this country! I shock you. I am so sorry.

BROGAN-MOORE: Apparently you have a continental way of looking at things, but I assure you it would be most unwise to suggest that MRS. FRENCH(被害人) had any feelings for your husband other than -- well -- er --

CHRISTINE: Let us say an aunt. By all means.

SIR WILFRID: Pardon me, Brogan-Moore. Did you say that the socks MRS. FRENCH(被害人) knitted for your husband were two sizes too small?

CHRISTINE: At least.

SIR WILFRID: Would that not indicate that she thought of him as a small boy, a nephew, for instance?

CHRISTINE: It indicates that she did not know how to knit.

SIR WILFRID: Mrs. Vole, you realize that your husband's entire defense rests on his word and yours.

CHRISTINE: I realize that.

SIR WILFRID: And that the jury will be quite skeptical by the word of a man accused of murder when supported only by the word of his wife.

CHRISTINE: I realize that, too.

SIR WILFRID: Let us then at least make sure that the two are not in conflict.

CHRISTINE: By all means, let us. There! -- isn't that more comfortable for you, Sir Wilfrid?

SIR WILFRID: On the night of the murder, your husband came home before nine-thirty. Is that correct?

CHRISTINE: Yes -- I believe so.

SIR WILFRID: In fact, he remembers that it was precisely nine-twenty-six.

CHRISTINE: Nine twenty-six! What makes him so precise?

SIR WILFRID: The clock -- the new invention he'd been tinkering with.

CHRISTINE: Clock? Oh -- oh, yes, a new kind of cuckoo clock! It's very clever. Leonard is quite an inventor.

BROGAN-MOORE: Then it is true -- he was at home with you at nine twenty-six?

CHRISTINE: Precisely.

BROGAN-MOORE: And he did not go out again?

CHRISTINE: Leonard came home at nine twenty-six and did not go out again. Isn't that what he wants me to say?

BROGAN-MOORE: Isn't it the truth?

CHRISTINE: Of course.

SIR WILFRID: My dear Mrs. Vole -- in our Courts we will accept the evidence of witnesses who speak only Bulgarian, and who must have an interpreter; and even deaf-mutes, who cannot speak at all. As long as they tell the truth.

BROGAN-MOORE: You are aware, of course, that when I put you in the witness box you will be sworn, and you will testify under oath?

CHRISTINE: Yes. Leonard came home at precisely nine twenty-six and did not go out again. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Is that better?

SIR WILFRID: Mrs. Vole, do you love your husband?

CHRISTINE: Leonard thinks I do.

SIR WILFRID: Well, do you?

CHRISTINE: Am I already under oath?

SIR WILFRID: Mrs. Vole, whatever your gambit may be, do you know that under British law you cannot be called to give testimony damaging to your husband?

CHRISTINE: How very convenient.

SIR WILFRID: We are dealing with a capital crime. The prosecution will try to hang your husband!

CHRISTINE: He is not my husband.

SIR WILFRID: Did you tell Leonard?

CHRISTINE: It would have been stupid to tell him. He would not have married me and I would have been left behind to starve in the rubble.

BROGAN-MOORE: So he married you, and brought you safely to this country. Don't you think you should be very grateful to him?

CHRISTINE: One can get very tired of gratitude.

SIR WILFRID: Your husband loves you very much, does he not?

CHRISTINE: Leonard? He worships the ground I walk on!

SIR WILFRID: And you?

CHRISTINE: You want to know too much! Auf wiedersehen, gentlemen.

SIR WILFRID: Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Vole. Your visit has been most reassuring.

CHRISTINE: Do not worry, Sir Wilfrid. I shall give him an alibi. I will be very convincing. There will be tears in my eyes when I say -- Leonard came home at nine twenty-six -- precisely. I may even bring the cuckoo - as an additional witness.

SIR WILFRID: You're a very remarkable woman, Mrs. Vole.

CHRISTINE: And you are satisfied, I hope?

SIR WILFRID: I'm damned if I'm satisfied.

BROGAN-MOORE: Care to join me in a whiff of those smelling salts?

SIR WILFRID: That woman is up to something, but what?

BROGAN-MOORE: The Prosecution will break her down in no time when I put her in the witness box. You know, defending this case is going to be rather like The Charge of the Light Brigade, or one of those Japanese suicide pilots

quite one

sided, with the odds all on the other side. I haven't got much to go on with, have I? The fact is, I've got nothing.

SIR WILFRID: Let me ask you something -- do you believe Leonard Vole is innocent? Do you?

BROGAN-MOORE: I'm not sure -- I'm sorry, Wilfrid -- Of course, I'll do my best --

SIR WILFRID: It's all right, Brogan-Moore -- I'll take it from here.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): I have called Dr. Harrison and given him a complete report on your shocking behavior. I can no longer --

SIR WILFRID: Give me a match, MISS PLIMSOLL.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid!

SIR WILFRID: Did-you-hear-me? -- A MATCH!

VOLE: Hello, Mr. Mayhew. Sir Wilfrid -- Mr. Mayhew told me you were going to represent me. I'm very grateful.

SIR WILFRID: I struck a bargain with my doctors -- I'll let them exile me to Bermuda for six months as soon as we finish your case.

VOLE: Thank you.

SIR WILFRID: Let us hope that we will both survive.

MAYHEW: Get into these, will you? We need a photograph.

VOLE: What for?

MAYHEW: Because these are what you wore on the night of the murder. We want to circulate a photograph. Perhaps someone did see you leaving MRS. FRENCH(被害人) on your way home.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Over here, by the window, please. Hold it. Now one in profile, please. That's it.

MAYHEW: I'll pick up the negatives later, thank you.

VOLE: Do we really need this? I mean -- my wife knows what time I came home that night.

SIR WILFRID: A disinterested witness may be of more value.

VOLE: Oh, yes, of course -- Christine is an interested witness -- I don't understand -- why hasn't she come to see me -- ? Won't they let her see me? It's been a week -- .

SIR WILFRID: Mayhew, give me the reports.

VOLE: Have you talked to Christine -- what's the matter with her?

SIR WILFRID: I want to read you a portion of the evidence of JANET MacKenzie, the housekeeper; Mr. Vole helped MRS. FRENCH(被害人) with her business affairs. Particularly her income tax returns. --

VOLE: Yes, I did. Some of the forms are very complicated.

SIR WILFRID: There is also a hint that you may have helped her draft her new will --

VOLE: That's not true. If JANET says that, she's lying. She was always against me. I don't know why --

SIR WILFRID: It's quite obvious. You threw an eggbeater into the wheels of her Victorian household. Now, what about this cut on your wrist? You told the police you cut yourself with a knife?

VOLE: That's right. I was cutting bread, and the knife slipped. But that was two days after the murder. Christine was there -- she'll tell them when she gives evidence. Are you keeping something from me? Is she ill? Was she shocked by what happened to me?

SIR WILFRID: All things considered, I think she took it very well. Of course, that may have been only on the surface. Wives are often profoundly disturbed at such a time --

VOLE: It must be hard on her. We've never been separated before. Not since our first meeting.

SIR WILFRID: How did you meet your wife, Mr. Vole?

VOLE: In Germany, in 1945 -- The very first time I saw her, the ceiling fell right in on me

SIR WILFRID: Oh?..

VOLE: We were stationed outside Hamburg, with an R.A.F. maintenance unit. I installed a shower in the officers' billet, so they gave me a weekend pass ....

FIRST DRUNKEN SOLDIER: Hey, Fraulein show us some legs!

SECOND SOLDIER: They rob you blind and then throw you a ruddy sailor!

THIRD SOLDIER: Come on -- let's see 'em!

SERGEANT: All right, Fraulein, if you won't show 'em -- I will!

FIRST DRUNKEN SOLDIER: All right -- show me your legs!

VOLE: I forgot to finish my drink. Gesundheit. What are you looking for?

CHRISTINE: My accordion.

VOLE: Let me help you.

VOLE: I think I found it.

CHRISTINE: Step on it again -- it's still breathing.

VOLE: I'm terribly sorry.

CHRISTINE: All right -- get out. We've had trouble enough.

VOLE: Actually, it's your own fault. That costume outside gives the boys ideas -- then your trousers let them down -- hard.

CHRISTINE: That costume went in the first raid on Hamburg. Then raid by raid the rest of my dresses. Now you've bombed my trousers.

VOLE: Cigarette? Gum?

CHRISTINE: You're burning my nose.

VOLE: Say -- how about some coffee? I've got a tin of coffee.

CHRISTINE: How much?

VOLE: I don't know -- what's the rate of exchange?

CHRISTINE: Depends -- whether it's fresh coffee, or powdered coffee.

VOLE: It's instant coffee. Any hot water at your place?

CHRISTINE: Sometimes.

VOLE: Let's take a chance. Where do you live?

CHRISTINE: Nearby. Come.

CHRISTINE: Sorry -- it's the maid's night off.

VOLE: It's pretty horrible -- in a gemuetlich sort of way.

CHRISTINE: It's fine now. I used to have a roommate. A dancer. She had luck. She married a Canadian. She lives now in Toronto. She has a Ford automobile. Better make yourself comfortable -- the gas is slow these days.

VOLE: I've got a weekend pass.

CHRISTINE: No, not that chair. It holds up that beam, and that holds up half the ceiling. Better sit on the cot.

VOLE: On the cot? It's getting more gemuetlich all the time.

VOLE: Are you married?

CHRISTINE: Why? Oh -- that. No, I'm not married. I just wear it when I'm working. It gives me a little protection -- with all these men.

VOLE: Didn't work too well tonight, did it?

CHRISTINE: Tonight was bad. But it is getting better. Where is the coffee?

VOLE: Coffee -- Javohll! The finest Brazilian blend -- the same kind Field Marshal Montgomery drinks.

VOLE: How's that for a rate of exchange?

CHRISTINE: Fair.

VOLE: Would you be interested in having the whole tin?

CHRISTINE: I would.

VOLE: Fair?

CHRISTINE: Very fair.

VOLE: How are you fixed for sugar?

CHRISTINE: I could use some.

VOLE: Cream?

CHRISTINE: Sure.

VOLE: Sugar. Cream.

CHRISTINE: It is a pleasure to do business with you.

VOLE: I also carry bacon, powdered eggs and biscuits.

CHRISTINE: I don't know if I can afford it.

VOLE: Don't worry. We'll work out an installment plan. A small down-payment will do.

WAITER: Gute Nacht, Fraulein Helm.

CHRISTINE: Gute Nacht. Hier! Nehmen Sie's mit nach Hause -- fuer die Kinder!

WAITER: Danke schoen -- danke vielmals, Fraulein Helm!

VOLE: You gave away a fortune. Half pound of bacon, four dozen powdered eggs, and all those biscuits!

CHRISTINE: Do not worry. I shall meet every installment.

VOLE: Forget it. No charge. Compliments of Flight Sgt. Leonard Vole.

CHRISTINE: No. We are hungry, but we are not beggars.

VOLE: Nonsense. Nobody owes nothing to nobody. Let's start from scratch. Okay?

CHRISTINE: Okay.

VOLE: Let's have the coffee. If someone had told me I was going to wind up with a German sailor --

VOLE: I'm terribly sorry. Maybe I can fix it. I'm good at it.

CHRISTINE: Why fix it? It is not raining. Are you all right?

VOLE: I think so. My head hurts.

CHRISTINE: Maybe I can fix it. I'm good at it.

VOLE: ... well, I had a weekend pass... a month's pay in my pocket --

SIR WILFRID: And she already had a wedding ring --

VOLE: That's right. We got married, and when I got out of the Service, I brought her to England. It was wonderful -- I rented a little flat on Tottenham Court Road. When Christine saw it for the first time, she was so happy she broke down and cried.

SIR WILFRID: Naturally. She had a solid roof over her head, and a British passport.

VOLE: Oh, no, it wasn't that at all -- it was me. She lost all her family in the war -- I'm all she has.

SIR WILFRID: Yes, of course.

VOLE: You don't really know Christine -- the way she feels about me -- but you'll see when she gives her evidence.

SIR WILFRID: Mr. Vole, I must tell you that I am not putting her in the witness box.

VOLE: You're not! Why not?

SIR WILFRID: Well -- for one thing, she is a foreigner, not too familiar with the subtleties of our language -- the Prosecution could easily trip her up --

MAYHEW: I hear it may be Mr. Myers for the Crown. We can't take chances with him.

SIR WILFRID: Quite. We'd better be going. Miss Pimsoll is waiting in the car -- with her pills and a thermos of lukewarm cocoa.

MAYHEW: Guard!

VOLE: But Christine must give evidence.

SIR WILFRID: I am -- and you must trust me, Mr. Vole. If for no other reason, because I am a mean, ill-tempered old man who hates to lose. Let us wish each other luck.

VOLE: I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I'm scared. I need her. Without her, I'm sunk.

MAYHEW: Touching, isn't it, the way he counts on his wife.

SIR WILFRID: Yes -- like a drowning man, clutching at a razor blade.

CLERK: Leonard Vole, you are charged on indictment for that you on the fourteenth day of September in the County of London, murdered Emily Jane French. How say you, Leonard Vole? Are you guilty or not guilty?

VOLE: Not guilty.

CLERK: Members of the Jury, the prisoner stands indicted for that he on the fourteenth day of September murdered Emily Jane French. To this indictment he has pleaded not guilty, and it is your charge to say, having heard the evidence, whether he be guilty or not.

JUDGE: Members of the Jury, by the oath you have just taken you have sworn to try this case on the evidence. You must shut out from your minds everything except what will take place in this Court. You may proceed for the Prosecution, Mr. Myers.

MYERS: May it please you, my lord. Members of the Jury. I appear in this case with my learned friend Mr. Barton for the Prosecution. My learned friends, Sir Wilfrid Roberts and Mr. Brogan-Moore appear for the Defense. I trust we are not to be deprived of the learned and stimulating presence of Sir Wilfrid.

BROGAN-MOORE: My lord, may I assure my learned friend of the Prosecution that Sir Wilfrid is in the Old Bailey. He is slightly incapacitated but he will be in his seat presently.

MYERS: My lord, may I express my regret that Sir Wilfrid is even slightly incapacitated --

JUDGE: You may, Mr. Myers, and you may also proceed with the case for the Prosecution. The transcript will be available to Sir Wilfrid should he require it.

MYERS: Thank you, my lord. The facts in this case are simple, and to a point, not in dispute. You will hear how the prisoner made the acquaintance of Mrs. Emily French, a woman of fifty-six; how he was treated by her with kindness and even affection. The nature of that affection you will have to decide for yourselves. On the night of October 14th, last, between nine-thirty and ten o'clock, MRS. FRENCH(被害人) was murdered and medical testimony will be introduced to prove that death was caused by a blow from a blunt and heavy instrument, and it is the case for the prosecution that the blow was struck by the prisoner, Leonard Vole.

VOLE: That's not true. I didn't do it.

MYERS: Among the witnesses you will hear police evidence; also, the evidence of MRS. FRENCH(被害人)'s housekeeper, JANET MacKenzie. And from medical and laboratory experts, and the testimony of the murdered woman's solicitor, who drew her final will. I will now call Chief Inspector Hearne, Criminal Investigation Department, New Scotland Yard.

USHER: Chief Inspector Hearne!

POLICEMAN: Chief Inspector Hearne.

HEARNE: I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

SIR WILFRID: This is ridiculous -- just a bit of nervous heartburn -- I always get it the first day of a trial.

DR. HARRISON: 240 above 130 -- you shouldn't be here at all.

SIR WILFRID: I should be in the Courtroom -- the trial has begun!

DR. HARRISON: The syringe, please.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Now, be a good brave boy, Sir Wilfrid.

SIR WILFRID: Miss Pimsoll, it may interest you to know that I am descended from a warrior family which traces its brave past back to Richard the Lion-hearted -- OUCH!

DR. HARRISON: You're to have a calcium injection daily -- a tranquilizing pill every hour -- in case of a sudden pain, or shortness of breath, pop one of these nitroglycerine tablets -- from the black box -- under your tongue. And I'll leave you some drops for --

SIR WILFRID: That's enough, Doctor -- the Judge will be asking for a saliva test -- I'd better take that thermos of cocoa with me. Helps me wash down the pills.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Let me see it, please. My learned patient is not above substituting brandy for the cocoa -- It is cocoa. So sorry.

SIR WILFRID: If you were a woman, Miss Pimsoll, I'd strike you! Take care of this, Carter.

DR. HARRISON: Now, Sir Wilfrid, in the courtroom, you must avoid over-excitement. Watch your temper. Keep both your voice and your blood pressure down.

SIR WILFRID: Thank you, Doctor. I shall be quite safe, what with the pills and the cocoa. Come on, Carter!

MYERS: ... from the body temperature, and other factors, we placed the time of death at between nine-thirty and ten p.m., approximately thirty minutes before JANET MacKenzie, the housekeeper, returned home and called us. In what position did you find the body of MRS. FRENCH(被害人)?

HEARNE: She was lying on her face, with a severe injury to the back of her head.

MYERS: Was that injury the cause of death, Inspector?

HEARNE: Yes, sir. Death was instantaneous, caused by one blow from a heavy and blunt instrument.

MYERS: Were there any other signs of a struggle?

HEARNE: None. Just the one blow.

MYERS: One blow? Would that indicate to you that the murderer had taken MRS. FRENCH(被害人) by surprise?

SIR WILFRID: My lord, I must object -- my learned friend refers to the assailant as the murderer, but we have not yet determined whether the assailant was a man -- or a woman. It could quite conceivably have been the murderess.

JUDGE: Mr. Myers, it seems that Sir Wilfrid has joined us just in time to catch you on a point of grammar. Please rephrase your question.

MYERS: Yes, my lord. Inspector, is it your opinion that the assailant -- whether he, she or it -- took MRS. FRENCH(被害人) by surprise?

SIR WILFRID: My lord, I am taken by surprise that my learned colleague should attempt to solicit from the witness an opinion, and not a fact.

JUDGE: Quite so. You'll have to do better than that, Mr. Myers.

MYERS: My lord, I withdraw the question entirely.

SIR WILFRID: That's much better.

MYERS: Very well, Inspector, let us proceed with the facts in the case. After establishing the cause and the time of death, what did you then do?

HEARNE: A search was made, photographs were taken, and the premises were fingerprinted.

MYERS: What fingerprints did you discover?

HEARNE: I found the fingerprints of MRS. FRENCH(被害人), those of JANET MacKenzie, and some which later proved to be those of Leonard Vole.

MYERS: No others?

HEARNE: No others.

MYERS: Now did you say that the room had the appearance that a robbery had been committed?

HEARNE: Yes. Things were strewn about and a window had been broken near the catch. There was glass on the floor and fragments were found outside. The glass outside was not consistent with the window having been forced from the outside.

MYERS: What you are saying is that someone attempted to make it look as though the window had been forced from the outside, isn't that so?

SIR WILFRID: My lord, I must object. My learned friend is putting words in the witness' mouth. After all, if he insists on answering his own questions the presence of the witness seems superfluous.

JUDGE: Quite, quite. Don't you think so, Mr. Myers?

MYERS: Yes, my lord. Inspector, did you ascertain whether any of the murdered woman's property was missing?

HEARNE: According to the housekeeper, nothing was missing.

MYERS: In your experience, Inspector, when burglars -- or burglarsess -- break into a house, do they leave without taking anything?

HEARNE: Yes, sir. It is Type O.

MYERS: And did you subsequently test the blood of the dead woman?

HEARNE: Yes, sir.

MYERS: And what type was that?

HEARNE: The same -- Type O.

MYERS: Thank you, Inspector. No further questions.

SIR WILFRID: You say that the only fingerprints you found were those of MRS. FRENCH(被害人), JANET MacKenzie and the prisoner, Leonard Vole. In your experience when a burglar breaks in, does he usually leave fingerprints, or does he wear gloves?

HEARNE: He wears gloves.

SIR WILFRID: Invariably?

HEARNE: Almost invariably.

SIR WILFRID: So the absence of fingerprints in a case of robbery would hardly surprise you?

HEARNE: No, sir.

SIR WILFRID: Can't we then surmise that a burglar might have entered what was presumably an empty house, might have suddenly encountered MRS. FRENCH(被害人) and struck her -- then realizing that she was dead, panicked and fled without taking anything?

HEARNE: Yes, sir -- that is certainly possible.

MYERS: I submit, my lord, that it is entirely impossible to guess what went on in the mind of some entirely imaginary burglar -- with or without gloves.

JUDGE: Quite right, Mr. Myers. Let us not surmise, Sir Wilfrid, but confine ourselves to facts.

SIR WILFRID: Inspector, when you questioned the prisoner as to the stains on his jacket, did he not show you a recently healed scar on his wrist and tell you he had cut himself with a kitchen knife while slicing bread?

HEARNE: Yes, sir, that is what he said.

SIR WILFRID: And were you not told the same thing by the prisoner's wife?

HEARNE: Yes, sir, but afterwards --

SIR WILFRID: A simple yes or no, please. Did the prisoner's wife show you a knife and tell you that her husband had cut his wrist while slicing bread?

HEARNE: Yes, sir.

SIR WILFRID: I will ask you to examine this knife, Inspector. Just test the edge of the knife with your finger -- carefully! You agree that the point and the cutting edge are razor-sharp?

HEARNE: Yes, sir.

SIR WILFRID: Now then, if such a knife were to slip, might it not inflict a cut which would bleed profusely?

HEARNE: Yes, sir -- it might.

SIR WILFRID: Now, Inspector, you have stated that the bloodstains on the prisoner's jacket were analyzed, as was the blood of MRS. FRENCH(被害人), and they were both found to be of the same group -- Group O?

HEARNE: That is correct.

USHER: JANET MacKenzie!

POLICEMAN: JANET MacKenzie!

MYERS: Your name is JANET MacKenzie?

JANET (女管家): Aye, that's my name.

MYERS: Where do you live?

JANET (女管家): Now that MRS. FRENCH(被害人), poor soul, is dead, I've moved in with my niece, at 19 Glenister Place.

JUDGE: Miss MacKenzie, would you please speak into the microphone.

MYERS: You were companion-housekeeper to the late Mrs. Emily French?

JANET (女管家): I was her housekeeper. I've no opinion of companions, poor feckless bodies, afraid to do a bit of honest domestic work.

MYERS: Quite. What I meant was that you were on friendly terms -- not altogether those of a mistress and a servant.

JANET (女管家): Ten years I was with her and looked after her. She knew me and she trusted me, and many's the time I prevented her doing a foolish thing.

MYERS: Please tell us in your own words about the events of the evening of September 14th.

JANET (女管家): It was Friday and my night out. I was going round to see my niece in Glenister Road, which is about five minutes' walk. I left the house at half-past seven. I'd promised to bring her a dress pattern that she'd admired. Is this thing necessary?

JUDGE: An excellent question. However, it has been installed at considerable expense to the taxpayers so let us take advantage of it. Please continue.

JANET (女管家): Well, when I got to my niece's, I found I'd left the pattern behind so after supper I slipped back to get it, as it was no distance. I got back to the house at twenty-five minutes past nine. I let myself in, and went upstairs to my room. As I passed the sitting-room, I heard the prisoner in there talking to MRS. FRENCH.

VOLE: No! It wasn't me! It wasn't my voice!

MYERS: You're sure it was the prisoner's voice you heard?

JANET (女管家): Aye, I know his voice well enough -- with him calling so often. Talking and laughing they were, but it was no business of mine, so I went upstairs and fetched my pattern.

MYERS: Let us be very exact about the time. You say that you reentered the house at twenty-five past nine?

JANET (女管家): Aye. The pattern was on a shelf in my room, right next to my clock, and I saw the time. Twenty-five past nine.

MYERS: Go on, please.

JANET (女管家): I went back to my niece. She was delighted with the pattern -- simply delighted. I stayed there until twenty to eleven, then came home. I went into the sitting-room to see if the mistress wanted anything, and there she was, dead, with everything tossed hither and thither.

MYERS: Did you really think that a burglary had occurred?

SIR WILFRID: My lord, I must protest.

JUDGE: I will not allow that question to be answered, Mr. Myers.

MYERS: M'lord. How much did you know about the prisoner?

JANET (女管家): I knew that he needed money.

MYERS: Did you ever hear him ask MRS. FRENCH(被害人) for money?

JANET (女管家): He was too clever for that.

MYERS: Were you aware, Miss MacKenzie, that Leonard Vole was a married man?

JANET (女管家): No indeed! Neither was the mistress.

VOLE: JANET!

SIR WILFRID: M'lord, I must object. What MRS. FRENCH(被害人) knew or did not know is pure conjecture on JANET MacKenzie's part.

MYERS: Let me put it this way ... You formed the opinion that MRS. FRENCH(被害人) thought Leonard Vole a single man? Have you any facts to support that opinion?

JANET (女管家): There was the books she ordered, The Life of Baroness Burdett Coutts and one about Disraeli and his wife. Both of them about women who'd married men years younger than themselves. I knew what she was thinking.

JUDGE: I'm afraid we cannot admit that.

JANET (女管家): Why?

JUDGE: Members of the Jury, it is possible for a woman to read the Life of Disraeli without contemplating marriage with a man younger than herself.

MYERS: Miss MacKenzie, were you aware of what arrangements MRS. FRENCH(被害人) had made for the disposal of her money?

JANET (女管家): Yes, she had her old will revoked and a new one drawn up. I heard her calling her solicitor, Mr. Stokes. He was there, too, the prisoner, I mean.

MYERS: You heard the prisoner and MRS. FRENCH(被害人) discussing her new will?

JANET (女管家): Aye. He was to have all her money, she told him, as she had no near relatives nor anybody who meant to her what he did.

MYERS: And when did this take place?

JANET (女管家): On September 8th, one week to the day before she was murdered.

MYERS: Thank you. That concludes my examination.

SIR WILFRID: Not just yet, Miss MacKenzie. Miss MacKenzie, you have given testimony about two wills: in the old will, the will that was revoked, were you not to receive the bulk of MRS. FRENCH(被害人)'s estate?

JANET (女管家): Aye. That is so.

SIR WILFRID: Whereas in the new will, except for a bequest to you of a small annuity, the principal beneficiary is the prisoner, Leonard Vole?

JANET (女管家): It will be a wicked injustice if he ever touches a penny of that money.

SIR WILFRID: It is entirely understandable that you are antagonistic to the prisoner.

JANET (女管家): I'm not antagonistic to him. He's a shirtless scheming rascal - but I'm not antagonistic to him.

SIR WILFRID: I suggest that you have formed this opinion because his friendship with your mistress cost you the bulk of her estate.

JANET (女管家): I never liked him.

SIR WILFRID: Your candour is refreshing. Now, on the night of September 14th, you say you heard the prisoner and MRS. FRENCH(被害人) talking together. What did you hear them say?

JANET (女管家): I didn't hear what they actually said.

SIR WILFRID: You mean you only heard the voices -- the murmur of voices?

JANET (女管家): They were laughing.

SIR WILFRID: What makes you say the man's voice was Leonard Vole?

JANET (女管家): I know his voice well enough.

SIR WILFRID: The door was closed, was it not?

JANET (女管家): Yes.

SIR WILFRID: You were no doubt in a hurry to get the pattern, so you probably walked quickly past the closed door -- yet you are sure that you heard Leonard Vole's voice?

JANET (女管家): I was there long enough to hear what I heard.

SIR WILFRID: Come, Miss MacKenzie, I'm sure you don't wish to suggest to the Jury that you were eavesdropping.

JANET (女管家): I know it was him in there with her. Who else could it have been?

SIR WILFRID: Exactly! What you mean is you wanted it to be him. That's the way your mind worked. Now, tell me, did MRS. FRENCH(被害人) sometimes watch television in the evening?

JANET (女管家): Aye. She was fond of a talk, or a good play.

SIR WILFRID: Wasn't it possible that on the evening when you returned home and passed the door, that what you really heard was the television and a man and woman's voices, and laughter? There was a play called "Lover's Leap" on the television that night.

JANET (女管家): It was not the television.

SIR WILFRID: Oh! Why not?

JANET (女管家): Because it was away being repaired that week.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Odd -- it's not time yet.

MYERS: If my learned friend has no further questions I would like --

SIR WILFRID: I have not quite finished. You are registered, are you not, under the National Health Insurance Act?

JANET (女管家): That's so. Four-and-six I have to pay out each week. It's a terrible lot of money for a working woman to pay.

SIR WILFRID: I am sure that many agree with you. Now, then, Miss MacKenzie did you recently apply to the National Health Insurance -- for a hearing aid?

JANET (女管家): A what?

SIR WILFRID: A hearing aid?

JANET (女管家): What did you say?

MYERS: My lord, I must protest at the manner in which this question is being put --

SIR WILFRID: I will repeat the question, my lord -- I asked you, in a normal tone of voice, audible to everyone in open court -- did you apply to the National Health Insurance for a hearing aid?

JANET (女管家): Yes, I did.

SIR WILFRID: Did you get it?

JANET (女管家): Not yet.

SIR WILFRID: However, you state that you walked past a door which is four inches of solid oak, you heard voices, and you are willing to swear that you could distinguish the voice of -- the prisoner, Leonard Vole?

JANET (女管家): Who?

SIR WILFRID: No further questions!

JANET (女管家): Maybe you can help me, Your Lordship -- six months ago I applied for the hearing aid --

JUDGE: My dear Miss MacKenzie, considering the rubbish that is being talked nowadays, you are missing very little. You may stand down now.

MYERS: Call Police Constable Jeffries.

MYERS: The Prosecution will now call Mr. Henry Stokes.

JUDGE: Mr. Myers, does that conclude your case?

MYERS: No, my lord, I now call the final witness for the Prosecution, Christine Helm!

USHER & POLICEMAN: Christine Helm!

VOLE: Christine!

CHRISTINE: I swear by Almighty God that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

SIR WILFRID: My lord, I have the most serious objection to this witness being summoned by the Prosecution as she is the wife of the prisoner, Leonard Vole --

MYERS: My lord, I call my learned friend's attention to the fact that I summoned not Mrs. Vole, but Mrs. Helm. Your name, in fact, is Christine Helm?

CHRISTINE: Yes. Christine Helm.

MYERS: You have been living as the wife of the prisoner, Leonard Vole?

CHRISTINE: Yes.

MYERS: Are you actually his wife?

CHRISTINE: I went through a marriage ceremony with him in Hamburg. But I already had a husband -- he is still alive. -- this being so, my marriage to Mr. Vole was not --

MYERS: Not valid?

CHRISTINE: Not valid.

SIR WILFRID: My lord, there is proof of a marriage between the witness and Leonard Vole. There is no proof whatsoever of an alleged previous marriage.

MYERS: My lord, the alleged previous marriage is in fact well-documented. Mrs. Helm, is this a certificate of marriage between yourself and one -- Otto Ludwig Helm...? ... the ceremony having taken place in Breslau on the 18th of April, 1942?

CHRISTINE: Yes. That is the paper of my marriage.

JUDGE: I should like to see that certificate. I think this witness is qualified to give evidence.

JUDGE: Having had the benefit of Sir Wilfrid's opinion, you may proceed.

MYERS: Mrs. Helm, are you willing to give evidence against the man you have been calling your husband?

CHRISTINE: I am willing.

MYERS: On the night that MRS. FRENCH(被害人) was murdered, you stated to the police that Leonard Vole left the house at seven-thirty and returned at twenty-five minutes past nine. Did he, in fact, return at twenty-five past nine?

CHRISTINE: No. He returned at ten minutes past ten.

VOLE: Christine, what are you saying? That's not true. You know it's not true!

JUDGE: I must have silence! As your counsel will tell you, Vole, you will very shortly have an opportunity of speaking in your own defense!

MYERS: Leonard Vole returned, you say, at ten minutes past ten. And what happened next?

CHRISTINE: He was breathing hard, very excited. He threw off his coat and examined the sleeves. Then he told me to wash the cuffs. They had blood on them.

MYERS: Go on.

CHRISTINE: I said, "Leonard, what have you done?"

MYERS: What did the prisoner say to that?

CHRISTINE: He said, "I've killed her!"

VOLE: Christine! Why are you saying these things?! Why are you lying?!

BLONDE: What an awful woman!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Oh, she's evil, that one. I've known it all along.

JUDGE: If the Defense so desires I will order a brief recess, so that the prisoner may gain control of himself.

SIR WILFRID: My lord is most gracious, but pray let the witness continue. We are all of us caught up in the suspense of this horror fiction -- to have to hear it in installments might prove unendurable.

JUDGE: Proceed, Mr. Myers.

MYERS: Mrs. Helm, when the prisoner said, "I have killed her," did you know to whom he referred?

CHRISTINE: Yes. It was the woman he had been going to see so often.

MYERS: Now, then, when questioned by the police, you told them that the prisoner came home at nine-twenty-five?

CHRISTINE: Yes. Because Leonard asked me to say that!

MYERS: But you have changed your story now -- why?

CHRISTINE: I cannot go on lying to save him! I said to the police what he wanted me to say because I am grateful to him. He married me and brought me to this country. What he has asked me to do I have always done because I was grateful.

MYERS: It was not because he was your husband, and you loved him?

CHRISTINE: No. I never loved him.

SIR WILFRID: Mrs. Vole -- or Mrs. Helm -- which do you prefer to be called?

CHRISTINE: It does not matter.

SIR WILFRID: Does it not? In this country we are inclined to take a rather more serious view of marriage. However -- Frau Helm, it would appear that when you first met the prisoner in Hamburg you lied to him about your marital status?

CHRISTINE: I wanted to get out of Germany, so --

SIR WILFRID: You lied, did you not? Just "yes" or "no," please!

CHRISTINE: Yes.

SIR WILFRID: Thank you. And subsequently, in arranging the marriage, you lied to the authorities?

CHRISTINE: I did not tell the truth to the authorities.

SIR WILFRID: You lied to them?

CHRISTINE: Yes.

SIR WILFRID: And in the ceremony of marriage itself, when you swore to love and to honor and to cherish your husband, that, too, was a lie?

CHRISTINE: Yes.

SIR WILFRID: And then -- when the police questioned you about this wretched man who believed himself married and loved, you told them --

CHRISTINE: Yes. A lie.

SIR WILFRID: And when you said that he had accidentally cut his wrist, again you lied?

CHRISTINE: Yes.

SIR WILFRID: Now today you have told us a new story entirely. The question is, Frau Helm, were you lying then, are you lying now, or are you not, in fact, a chronic and habitual liar?

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): The other pill -- under the tongue!

MYERS: My lord, is my learned colleague to be allowed to bully and insult the witness in this fashion?

JUDGE: Mr. Myers, this is a capital charge, and within the bounds of reason I would like the Defense to have every latitude.

MYERS: Then that, my lord, is the case for the Prosecution.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Want a tissue?

BLONDE: Yes, thanks. It's the first murder trial I've ever been to. It's terrible.

JUDGE: Sir Wilfrid, are you ready for the Defense?

SIR WILFRID: My lord, members of the Jury, the Prosecution has very ably presented against the prisoner, Leonard Vole, a case of the most overwhelming circumstantial evidence. Among the witnesses you have heard Chief Inspector Hearne, who has given his testimony in a fair and impartial manner -- as he always does in these cases. He has evolved and put before you a clever theory of how this crime was committed. Whether it is theory or actual fact, however, you will decide for yourselves. Then -- you have heard the evidence of JANET MacKenzie, a worthy and devoted housekeeper, who has suffered two most grievous losses. One, the death of her beloved mistress -- and second, in being deprived of an inheritance of 80,000 pounds which she had fully expected to receive. I will not comment further on her evidence.

SIR WILFRID: Your name is Leonard Stephen Vole?

VOLE: It is.

SIR WILFRID: Where do you live?

VOLE: 55 Tottenham Court Road.

SIR WILFRID: Leonard Stephen Vole, did you or did you not, on the night of September 18th last, murder Emily Jane French?

VOLE: I did not.

JUDGE: Have you, in fact, concluded your examination of the prisoner, Sir Wilfrid?

SIR WILFRID: My lord, the prisoner has endured three days of the most profound mental agony and shock. The Defense feels that his faculties should be spared for the cross-examination by my learned friend for the Prosecution. This is not a plea for any indulgence. I am confident that no matter how searching this may be, the prisoner will withstand it.

MYERS: Mr. Vole, at the time that you made the acquaintance of MRS. FRENCH(被害人), were you employed?

VOLE: No, sir.

MYERS: How much money did you have?

VOLE: Only a few pounds.

MYERS: Did she ever give you any money?

VOLE: No, not a penny.

MYERS: Did you expect to receive any?

VOLE: No, sir.

MYERS: Did you know that in her new will, you were the beneficiary to the extent of 80,000 pounds?

VOLE: No.

MYERS: Now, Mr. Vole, when you went to visit MRS. FRENCH(被害人) for the last time, did you wear a trench coat and a brown hat?

VOLE: Yes, I did.

MYERS: Was it this coat and hat?

VOLE: Yes.

MYERS: My lord, the Defense, leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to establish an alibi for the prisoner, circulated this photograph hoping to bring forth a witness who had seen him leaving MRS. FRENCH(被害人)'s house or entering his own at the times he has stated. Apparently, this splendid effort was without results. However, the Defense will be pleased to learn that at the last moment a witness has come forward, and that the prisoner had been seen, wearing this coat and this hat. Lamentably, he had not been seen on the night of the murder, but exactly one week before. On the afternoon of September 8th, were you or were you not in a travel agency in Regent Street inquiring about prices and schedules of foreign cruises?

VOLE: Supposing I did. That's not a crime, is it?

MYERS: Not at all. Many people go for a cruise -- when they can pay for it. But you couldn't pay for it, could you, Mr. Vole?

VOLE: I was hard up. I told you so.

MYERS: And yet you came into this particular travel agency -- with a blonde -- a honey blonde, I understand --

JUDGE: A honey blonde, Mr. Myers?

MYERS: A term for a lady with hair like honey, my lord.

JUDGE: Sounds a bit sticky, doesn't it?

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Quite a sense of humor! Wouldn't strike him so funny if he were in the Dock.

MYERS: You then admit that you made inquiries about the most expensive and luxurious cruises. How did you expect to pay for such a thing?

VOLE: I don't know, it was --

MYERS: If you don't know -- perhaps I can help you. On the morning of the very same day, according to Mr. Stokes, you heard MRS. FRENCH(被害人) change her will, leaving you the bulk of her money --

VOLE: I didn't! I knew nothing about the will --

MYERS: -- and in the afternoon, you started making plans to dispose of the money!

VOLE: No! It was nothing of the kind! I was in a pub, and I met this girl -- I don't even know her name -- we had a couple of drinks and then we walked out together -- we passed that display window with fancy posters with blue seas and palm trees -- the Grecian Islands, or some place -- so we went in -- just for the fun of it -- and we asked for some folders. The man gave me sort of a funny look -- because I looked a bit shabby -- and it irritated me so I kept asking for the swankiest tours -- all de luxe and a cabin on the boat deck -- just putting on an act --

MYERS: An act? No, not an act -- you knew that in a week you were going to inherit 80,000 pounds!

VOLE: No, it was nothing like that! It was make-believe and childish -- but it was fun and I enjoyed it. I wasn't thinking of killing anybody, or inheriting any money!

MYERS: It was just remarkable coincidence that MRS. FRENCH(被害人) should be killed only a week later?

VOLE: I've told you - I didn't kill her!

MYERS: Can you suggest any reason why the witness, Christine Helm, should deliberately give the evidence she has given if it were not true?

VOLE: No, I don't. I don't know why my wife I don't even know why I still call her my wife she must be lying, or out of her mind.

MYERS: She seemed remarkably sane, and self-possessed. But insanity is the only reason you can suggest?

VOLE: I don't understand it! Oh, God, what's happened what's changed her? I

MYERS: Very effective, I'm sure. But in this Court, we deal with fact. And the fact is, Mr. Vole, that we have only your word for it, that you left Emily French's house at the time you say you did, and that you arrived home at five and twenty minutes past nine, and that you did not go out again.

VOLE: Someone must have seen me in the street or going into the house.

MYERS: One would certainly think so - but the only person who did see you come home that night says it was at ten minutes past ten. And she says that you had blood on your clothes.

VOLE: I cut my wrist --

MYERS: You cut your wrist deliberately!

VOLE: No, I didn't! I didn't do anything, but you make it sound as though I did! I can hear it myself!

MYERS: You came home at ten past ten!

VOLE: No, I didn't - you've got to believe me! You've got to believe me!

MYERS: You killed Emily French!

VOLE: I didn't do it! I didn't kill her! I've never killed anybody. Oh, God! It's a nightmare. It's some ghastly, horrible dream!

SECRETARY: Good evening, Sir Wilfrid. How did it go today?

TAILOR: Sir Wilfrid -- I'm from Hawks & Hill -- I've brought your Bermuda shorts -- for a fitting.

SIR WILFRID: My what?

TAILOR: You'd better slip these on, Sir Wilfrid -- if we're to have them ready by tomorrow.

SIR WILFRID: My dear man, I am in the middle of a murder trial --

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): It'll be all over by tomorrow afternoon. The boat train isn't until nine-forty.

SIR WILFRID: You work it out -- you know my shape -- you've stabbed it often enough.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Upstairs, Sir Wilfrid! You need a lukewarm bath -- your calcium injection -- and there is still a lot of packing to be done...

SIR WILFRID: Ridiculous, having those boat reservations -- how do we know? -- the Jury may be out for days.

BROGAN-MOORE: Not on this case, I'm afraid. This seems too open-and-shut.

SIR WILFRID: I watched them when Frau Helm was on the stand. They didn't like her.

BROGAN-MOORE: No, they didn't like her -- but they believed her. They liked Leonard Vole, but they didn't believe him.

MAYHEW: And that travel agency business doesn't help, either. Cigar, Wilfrid?

BROGAN-MOORE: Wilfrid, do you think she lied?

SIR WILFRID: Don't you?

BROGAN-MOORE: I don't know. I'm not sure.

SIR WILFRID: I am. She lied -- whether she calls it Meineid, or perjury, she lied! The only question in my mind is why? -- what's her game? -- what is she up to? Why?

CARTER: Sir Wilfrid -- I hope that in your final speech tomorrow, you won't let yourself become too emotionally involved -- you must think of your physical condition --

BROGAN-MOORE: He's right. I want to see you save yourself. This isn't going to be your last case --

SIR WILFRID: Yes, it is. But until it is over, I am still a barrister and my client's life is at stake. That's all that matters -- his life. He is entitled to the best that I can do. If I can't stand up to make my final appeal for him, I'll make it sitting down. If I become short of breath, I'll take a pill -- or two pills -- or all of them -- and the box as well!

CARTER: Yes?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: Is this Sir Wilfrid Robarts place?

CARTER: Yes, it is.

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: Lemme talk to the old boy.

CARTER: Who is this speaking, please?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: Never you mind -- lemme talk to 'im.

CARTER: I'm afraid that will be impossible -- what is the nature of your business?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: It's business, all right. I've got something to sell 'im, I have.

CARTER: Really, Madam --

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: An' what I've got to sell 'im, believe me, 'e'll want to buy! It's got to do with that Leonard Vole chap!

CARTER: Leonard Vole!

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: It's about that German wife -- I've got the goods on 'er! An' it's for sale.

SIR WILFRID: This is Wilfrid Robarts speaking. Now what is this all about?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: Well, hello, Ducky --

SIR WILFRID: What is this you said about Mrs. Leonard Vole?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: I'm not just sayin' - I've got it black and white!

SIR WILFRID: You got what?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: Listen to this carefully, Ducky -- I'm in the buffet at Euston Station, at the far end of the bar, an' I'll be here for just thirty minutes -- because that's when my train leaves -- if you want the low-down on that German trollop, you get yourself over here!

SIR WILFRID: What low-down? What do you know about her?

COCKNEY WOMAN'S VOICE: Uh-uh -- not on the phone -- you better get on over here -- an' bring plenty o'money!

SIR WILFRID: Now, just a moment --

SIR WILFRID: Bilge! Some drunken crank! -- you get those in every murder trial -- drunk and disorderly -- giving me an ultimatum -- Euston Station in thirty minutes -- got the low-down on Mrs. Vole -- Balderdash -- I'm too old and too sick to go on a wild goose chase -- Bilge and Balderdash! Come on, Mayhew!

CARTER: Where to, sir?

SIR WILFRID: Euston Station -- where else?!

TAILOR: Now?

SIR WILFRID: Shortly!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid! Where are you going? Your bath, your massage, your dinner, your injection --

SIR WILFRID: Thank you, MISS PLIMSOLL!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): What am I to do?

BROGAN-MOORE: I'd suggest you sterilize the needle.

COCKNEY WOMAN: You wouldn't be Sir Wilfrid Robarts, would you?

SIR WILFRID: I would.

COCKNEY WOMAN: I didn't recognize you without your wig. Lovely you all look in them wigs. Two o'yer -- I'm not talkin' to two o'yer.

SIR WILFRID: This is Mr. Mayhew, Leonard Vole's solicitor.

COCKNEY WOMAN: Well, that's all right then, I guess.

SIR WILFRID: And your name, please?

COCKNEY WOMAN: No need for names. If I did give you a name it mightn't be the right one, might it?

SIR WILFRID: As you please. Now, what is this information you allegedly have?

COCKNEY WOMAN: Have a drink, boys. Two whiskeys for my gentlemen friends.

SIR WILFRID: You realize, of course, that you are in duty bound to come forward to give any evidence that you might have in your possession?

COCKNEY WOMAN: Oh, come off it! Did you bring any money?

MAYHEW: What is it you have -- madame?

COCKNEY WOMAN: Letters. Letters that German wife of his wrote -- that's what it is. Letters written by Christine Vole to the prisoner?

SIR WILFRID: To the prisoner? Don't make me laugh! Poor ruddy prisoner, he's been took in by her all right. An' these letters prove it!

MAYHEW: If you will let us see these letters, madame, we shall be able to advise you as to how pertinent they are.

COCKNEY WOMAN: Well, as I say, I don't expect you to buy without seein', but fair's fair. If these letters get the boy off -- well, it's a hundred pounds for me. Right?

MAYHEW: If these letters contain information useful to the defense -- I am prepared to offer you ten pounds.

COCKNEY WOMAN: What? Ten blurry pounds for letters like these? You can take the piece o'glass outa your eye. G'night, gents.

SIR WILFRID: If these should help to prove my client's innocence, twenty pounds would, I think, not be an unreasonable sum -- for your expenses.

COCKNEY WOMAN: Fifty -- an' it's a bargain. That's if yer satisfied with what's in 'em.

SIR WILFRID: Forty pounds.

COCKNEY WOMAN: All right, blast yer. 'Ere, take 'em. Quite a packet!

COCKNEY WOMAN: Beauties, ain't they? I hope they fix 'er good an' proper.

SIR WILFRID: How do we know these are from Mrs. Vole?

COCKNEY WOMAN: Oh, she wrote 'em, all right. It's all fair an' square.

MAYHEW: I've had messages from her. It looks like her handwriting. Good Lord, look at this!

SIR WILFRID: Incredible!

COCKNEY WOMAN: There's one comin' up that's even better! Now, what about my money?

MAYHEW: How did you get hold of these?

COCKNEY WOMAN: What difference does it make, just so she gets what's coming to 'er!

SIR WILFRID: What have you got against her?

COCKNEY WOMAN: I'll give you something to dream about, mister!

COCKNEY WOMAN: Went to kiss me, Ducky?

COCKNEY WOMAN: No, I didn't suppose you would.

SIR WILFRID: Christine Vole did that to you?

COCKNEY WOMAN: Not 'er. The chap I was going with. He was a bit younger than me, but I loved 'im. Then she come along. Started seeing 'im on the sly and then one day he cleared out. I went after 'im and I found 'em together. I told 'im what I thought of 'er and he cut my face up proper.

SIR WILFRID: Did you go to the police about it?

COCKNEY WOMAN: Who? Me? Not likely. 'Sides, it wasn't his fault. Not really. It was hers. It was all hers. Gettin' 'im away from me, turnin' 'im against me. But I waited my time to pay 'er back -- an it's come now!

SIR WILFRID: I'm deeply sorry, deeply sorry. Er -- we'll make it another five pounds for the letters.

COCKNEY WOMAN: 'Oidin' out on me, were ye! I knew I was being too soft with ye!

MAYHEW: The cold-blooded vindictiveness! Read this one!

SIR WILFRID: Unbelievable! We'd better have the full name of the man to whom these were addressed. Miss -- Where is she?

MAYHEW: Gone, I'd say. She just doesn't want her other cheek slashed. Can't blame her, can you?

BARMAN: Chaser, sir?

SIR WILFRID: Good idea.

USHER: Stand up!

USHER: All persons who have anything further to do before Miledy the Queen's Justices of Oyer and Terminer and general Goal delivery for the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court draw near and give your attendance. God save The Queen.

JUDGE: Since the Defense has called but one witness -- the prisoner -- it has the right to be heard last in summation. Therefore, Mr. Myers, if you are ready, let us have the final address for the Prosecution.

MYERS: My lord -- members of the jury -- I shall be brief in my final speech because I think the Prosecution has proved so obvious a case of murder against the prisoner, Leonard Vole, that a verdict of guilty seems to be the only possible conclusion. I will briefly summarize these facts --

JUDGE: You'd better begin again, Mr. Myers -- that is, if Sir Wilfrid is at all interested in our proceedings.

SIR WILFRID: I am indeed, my lord! The summation for the Crown, however, is premature -- I ask that the case for the defense be reopened and that a witness be recalled!

MYERS: My lord, I must strenuously object to the reopening of a case which the Prosecution regards as closed.

SIR WILFRID: Evidence of the most startling nature has come into my possession only last night --

MYERS: My lord, the course my learned friend proposes is quite unprecedented.

SIR WILFRID: I have anticipated my friend's objection and I am prepared to meet it with ample precedent. There is, first, the case of The Crown against Stillman -- which was reported at page 463 of the 1926 Appeal Cases -- also, the Crown against Porter, August 11, 1930, reported at the Winchester Assizes, at page 231, and before the Divisional Court the following October, reported at page 153 of 1942 Kings Bench Division. Further, the case of the King against Sullivan, in which this issue was raised, and I am sure your lordship will remember since he appeared for the Prosecution.

SIR WILFRID: Mrs. Helm, you appreciate that you are still under oath?

CHRISTINE: Yes.

SIR WILFRID: Mrs. Helm, do you know a man named Max?

CHRISTINE: I don't know what you mean.

SIR WILFRID: It's a simple question. Do you or do you not know a man called Max?

CHRISTINE: Certainly not.

SIR WILFRID: It's a fairly common name. And yet you mean that you have never known a man by the name of Max?

CHRISTINE: Oh, in Germany, perhaps -- that was a long time ago.

SIR WILFRID: I shall not ask you to go back that far -- just a few weeks -- to the 20th of September last.

CHRISTINE: What have you got there?

SIR WILFRID: A letter. I suggest that on the 20th of September you wrote a certain letter -- addressed to a man named Max.

CHRISTINE: I don't know what you're talking about.

SIR WILFRID: -- addressed to a man named Max.

CHRISTINE: I did nothing of the sort.

SIR WILFRID: A letter which was but one of a series written to the same man --

CHRISTINE: Lies -- all lies!

SIR WILFRID: You would seem to have been on -- let us say, on intimate terms with this man.

VOLE: How dare you say a thing like that -- It isn't true!

JUDGE: The prisoner, in his own interest, will remain silent!

SIR WILFRID: I am not concerned with the general trend of this correspondence -- only in one particular letter. My beloved Max. An extraordinary thing has happened. I believe all our difficulties may be ended...

CHRISTINE: I will not stand here and listen to a pack of lies -- This letter is a forgery -- it isn't even my letter paper --

SIR WILFRID: It isn't?

CHRISTINE: No. I write my letters on small blue paper -- with my initials on it.

SIR WILFRID: Like this? This happens to be a bill from my tailor -- for a pair of extremely becoming Bermuda shorts.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Wilfrid the Fox! That's what we call him, and that's what he is!

SIR WILFRID: Now, Mrs. Helm, you have been kind enough to identify your letter paper -- now, if you like, I can have an expert identify your handwriting.

CHRISTINE: Damn you -- damn you!

VOLE: Leave her alone!

CHRISTINE: Damn you!

JUDGE: Mrs. Helm!

CHRISTINE: Let me out of here -- let me go!

JUDGE: Usher, give the witness a chair.

JUDGE: Sir Wilfrid, will you now read the letter in question so that the Jury can hear it.

SIR WILFRID: My beloved Max. An extraordinary thing has happened. All our difficulties may soon be solved. Leonard is suspected of murdering the old lady I told you about. His only hope of an alibi depends on me -- on me alone. Suppose I testified that he was not at home with me at the time of the murder -- that he came home with blood on his sleeves and that he even admitted to me that he had killed her. Strange, isn't it -- he always said he would never let me leave him -- but now, if this succeeds, he will be leaving me -- because they will take him away, forever -- and I shall be free, and yours, my beloved -- I count the hours until we are together -- Christine.

JUDGE: Mrs. Helm, will you go back to the witness box?

SIR WILFRID: I now ask you again, Christine Helm, did you write this letter?

VOLE: Christine, tell him you didn't write it! I know you didn't!

SIR WILFRID: Please answer my question -- did you write this letter?

JUDGE: Before answering, Mrs. Helm, I wish to warn you: the law regarding perjury in this country is very severe. If you have already committed perjury in this courtroom, I strongly advise you not to add to your crime. But if this letter has not been written by you, then now is the time to categorically state this fact!

CHRISTINE: I wrote the letter.

SIR WILFRID: Then that, my lord, is the case for the Defense.

DR. HARRISON: I keep asking myself, Sir Wilfrid, which is harder -- your head or your arteries? You'd better stop pressing your luck -- you're overdue now.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): We're all packed, Doctor. The luggage is in the car. I hope the jury won't take all afternoon.

BROGAN-MOORE: I concede! Congratulations!

SIR WILFRID: Not yet.

BROGAN-MOORE: Oh, come now, it's all over. Wrapped up, neat and tidy. What's wrong?

SIR WILFRID: It's a little too neat, too tidy, and altogether too symmetrical. That's what's wrong with it!

MAYHEW: The jury is just coming back.

BROGAN-MOORE: You're not worried about the verdict, are you?

SIR WILFRID: It's not their judgment that worries me -- it's mine. Let's go.

CLERK: The prisoner will stand up. Members of the Jury, are you all agreed upon your verdict?

FOREMAN: We are.

CLERK: Do you find the prisoner at the bar, Leonard Stephen Vole, guilty or not guilty?

FOREMAN: Not guilty, my lord.

USHER: Silence! Silence!

JUDGE: Leonard Stephen Vole, you have been found not guilty of the murder of Emily Jane French on September 11th. You are hereby discharged and are free to leave the Court.

USHER: All persons who have anything further to do before the Queen's Justices of Oyer and Terminer and general gaol delivery for the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court may depart hence and give your attendance here again tomorrow morning at 10:30 o'clock. God Save The Queen.

VOLE: Thank you, Sir Wilfrid. Thank you for everything. You were wonderful.

SIR WILFRID: Let's say we were lucky all around.

WARDER: I have your belongings -- if you'll be kind enough to come with me, Mr. Vole, and sign the papers, we can release you.

VOLE: Mister Vole! They didn't call me mister when they checked me in.

MAYHEW: I'll go along with you. I've brought your coat and your hat.

VOLE: Let's go quickly, before they change their mind.

BROGAN-MOORE: Chipper, isn't he? An hour ago he had one foot on the gallows and the other on a banana peel. You ought to be very proud, Wilfrid. Are you?

SIR WILFRID: Not yet. We've disposed of the gallows, but there is still that banana peel -- somewhere -- under somebody's foot.

POLICEMAN: Better wait here until we get rid of that crowd, Madam.

CHRISTINE: Thank you.

CARTER: Ready, sir? MISS PLIMSOLL will be waiting.

SIR WILFRID: Let me finish the last of the cocoa -- While I am still beyond her jurisdiction.

CHRISTINE: I never thought you British could get so emotional -- especially in a public place.

SIR WILFRID: I apologize for my compatriots.

CHRISTINE: It's all right. I don't mind being called names or pushed around, or even kicked in the shin -- but now I have a ladder in my last pair of nylons.

SIR WILFRID: In case you're not familiar with our prison regulations -- no silk stockings.

CHRISTINE: Prison? Will I go to prison?

SIR WILFRID: You heard the learned judge. You will quite certainly be charged with perjury, tried for it, and to prison you shall go.

CHRISTINE: Well -- it won't be for life, will it?

SIR WILFRID: If I were retained for the prosecution, it would be.

CHRISTINE: You loathe me, don't you? Like the people outside. What a wicked woman I am, and how brilliantly you exposed me, and saved Leonard's life. The great Sir Wilfrid Robarts did it again! Well, let me tell you something -- you didn't do it alone! You had help!

SIR WILFRID: What are you driving at?

CHRISTINE: I am not driving at anything any more -- Leonard is free, and we did it!

SIR WILFRID: We?

CHRISTINE: That's right. Remember when I came to see you, and you said that no jury would believe an alibi given by a loving wife, no matter how much she swore that her husband was innocent? That gave me the idea. --

SIR WILFRID: What idea?

CHRISTINE: The idea that I should be a witness, not for my husband, but for the prosecution -- that I should swear that Leonard was guilty -- and that you should expose me as a vicious liar -- because only then, would they believe that Leonard was innocent!

CHRISTINE: So now you know the whole story, Sir Wilfrid. I'll give you something to dream about, mister. Wanna kiss me, Ducky?

SIR WILFRID: I suspected something -- but not that -- never that!

CHRISTINE: Thank you for the compliment. It's been a long time since I was an actress, and I never before played such an important role --

SIR WILFRID: And all those blue letters? --

CHRISTINE: It took me hours to write them -- to invent Max -- there never was a Max, there never has been anyone but Leonard -- only Leonard.

VOLE: No, they won't. As for paying for it -- let's double your fee -- there'll be plenty of money when the will goes through -- I'm not cheap -- I want everybody to get something out of it. There's JANET MacKenzie -- let's get her that new hearing aid -- And a new one of those for you -- 18 karat gold, if they make one. And when they try you for perjury, there'll be 5,000 pounds to get you off easy.

CHRISTINE: I don't care, Leonard -- just so we'll be together again -- you don't know what I went through standing in the witness box, having to face you in the dock and saying I never loved you -- Leonard, what is it?

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid -- the luggage is in the car -- we've only 20 minutes to make the boat train -- Oh -- this is a nice young lady I met in the gallery during the trial --

GIRL: Len! They've been trying to keep me away from you -- it's had me nearly crazy --

CHRISTINE: Leonard -- who is this girl?

GIRL: I'm not this girl -- I'm his girl -- tell her, Len.

CHRISTINE: Leonard, is this the girl who was with you in the travel bureau -- the girl you said you hardly knew -- didn't even know her name? --

GIRL: That's right -- that's who I am. And I know all about you. You're not his wife; never have been. You're years older than he is. We've been going together for months and we're going away on one of those cruises -- just like they said in court -- tell her yourself, Len.

CHRISTINE: Yes, Len, tell me yourself.

VOLE: Sorry, Christine. That's how it is.

VOLE: Come on Diana, let's go.

CHRISTINE: Leonard; you can't! -- not after what I've done. I won't let you --

VOLE: You're being silly now. I saved your life getting you out of Germany -- you saved mine getting me out of this mess. So we're even. It's all over.

CHRISTINE: Don't, Leonard -- don't leave me.

VOLE: Now pull yourself together. They'll have you up here for perjury -- don't make it worse or they'll try you as an accessory, and you know what that means.

CHRISTINE: Let them. Let them try me for perjury, or an accessory -- or better yet, let them try me for murder!

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): She killed him.

SIR WILFRID: She executed him.

CARTER: I -- I've sent the luggage on ahead, and I've got a car waiting outside.

SIR WILFRID: ... a remarkable woman!

CARTER: You can just barely make the boat train, Sir Wilfrid.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Better bring the luggage back, and you can dismiss the car -- we're not going yet, are we?

SIR WILFRID: Thank you, MISS PLIMSOLL.

SIR WILFRID: Get Brogan-Moore to my chambers, and have Mayhew there, too. We are appearing for the defense in the trial of Christine Vole.

MISS PLIMSOLL(WILFRID的私人护士): Sir Wilfrid! -- you forgot your brandy!

（完结）