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Shall We Join The Ladies · The House of Skulls

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  Speaker 1: Shall we join the Ladies by J M. Barry. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in a
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or the volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Narrator read by Anossimum.
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  Speaker 2: The Host read by Phil Benson.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Mister Preen read by Victor Horvat.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Sir Joseph read by Andy Minter.
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  Speaker 5: Missus Bland read by Ruth Golding.
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  Speaker 6: Captain Jennings read by al G. Pag.
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  Speaker 7: Mister Vale read by Alan Weyman.
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  Speaker 8: Missus Breen read by you Linni Da Maya.
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  Speaker 9: Mister Gourlay read by Piotrnatter.
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  Speaker 10: Miss is It read by Lucy Perry.
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  Speaker 11: Lady Jane read by Carl Box.
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  Speaker 12: Lady Wraythee read by Ashley Jane.
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  Speaker 13: Miss Vale read by the Annamilingaar.
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  Speaker 14: Missus Castro read by Charlotte Ducats.
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  Speaker 8: The Maid read by Rapunzelina.
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  Speaker 1: Smith is a little old bachelor and sits there beaming
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  Speaker 1: on his guests like an elderly cupid. So they think him,
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  Speaker 1: but they are to be undeceived. Though many of them
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  Speaker 1: have not met until this week, they have at present
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  Speaker 1: that genial regard for each other, which steals so becomingly
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  Speaker 1: over really nice people who have eaten too much Dolphin,
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  Speaker 1: the butler is passing round the fruit. The only other
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  Speaker 1: attendant is a maid in the background as for an emergency,
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  Speaker 1: and she is as interested in the conversation as he
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  Speaker 1: is indifferent to it. If one of the guests were
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  Speaker 1: to destroy himself, Dolphin would merely sign to her to
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  Speaker 1: remove the debris, while he continued to serve the fruit.
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  Speaker 1: In the midst of hilarity over some quip that we're
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: just too late to catch the youthful, Lady Jane counts
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  Speaker 1: the company and is appolled. We are thirteen, Lady raythee
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  Speaker 1: many fingers count fourteen twelve, we are thirteen.
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  Speaker 2: Oh dear, how careless of me? Is there anything I
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  Speaker 2: can do?
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  Speaker 1: Sir Joseph of the city.
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  Speaker 4: Leave this to me. I'll keep your seats.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Preen, perhaps rather thankfully, I am afraid Lady Jane
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  Speaker 1: has risen. Lady Jane subsides, Joseph, you have risen yourself,
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  Speaker 1: Sir Joseph subsides Missus Castro, a mysterious widow from Buenos Aires.
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  Speaker 14: Were there thirteen? All those other nights.
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  Speaker 8: We always had a guest or two from outside.
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  Speaker 1: You remember, miss is it whose name obviously needs to
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  Speaker 1: be queried.
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  Speaker 10: Have got to do is to make our number fourteen?
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  Speaker 7: But how miss is it?
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  Speaker 10: Why? Dolphin?
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  Speaker 8: Of course, it's too clever of you, miss is it?
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  Speaker 8: Mister Smith, Dolphin may sit down with us, mayn't he?
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  Speaker 14: Please, dear mister Smith, just for a moment. It breaks
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  Speaker 14: the spell.
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  Speaker 4: We won't ech you, Dolphin.
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  Speaker 1: But he has crunched some similar ones.
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  Speaker 2: Let me explain to him. You see, Dolphin, there's a
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  Speaker 2: superstition that if thirteen people sit down at table, something
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  Speaker 2: staggering will happen to one of them before the night
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  Speaker 2: is out. That is it, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Missus blend darkly?
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  Speaker 5: Namely death?
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  Speaker 1: Host brightly?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, namely death.
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  Speaker 11: But not before the night is out? You dere before
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  Speaker 11: the year is out?
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  Speaker 2: I thought it was before night is out.
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  Speaker 1: Dolphin is reluctant.
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  Speaker 9: Sit here, Dolphin, No.
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  Speaker 13: I want him.
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  Speaker 10: It was my idea, and I insist on having him.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Castro moving farther to the left.
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  Speaker 14: Yes, here between us.
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  Speaker 1: Dolphin obliges missus preane with childish abandon.
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  Speaker 2: Saved as we are saved, And he does not seem
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  Speaker 2: happy may he resume his duties?
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  Speaker 12: Yes, yes, and now we ladies may.
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  Speaker 1: Withdraw Prean, the most selfish of the company and therefore
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  Speaker 1: perhaps the favorite.
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  Speaker 3: First a glass of wine with you, Dolphin Vail.
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  Speaker 1: I was seeking to undermine Preene's popularity.
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  Speaker 7: Is this wise?
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  Speaker 1: Preen determined to carry the thing through despite this fellow.
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  Speaker 3: To the health of our friend Dolphin.
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  Speaker 1: Dolphin's health, I have been drunk. He withdraws his chair
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  Speaker 1: and returns to the sideboard, as miss Isitt and missus
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  Speaker 1: Castro had made room for him between them, exactly opposite
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  Speaker 1: his master, and the space remains empty. We have now
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  Speaker 1: a better view of the company. Can this have been
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  Speaker 1: the author's object? Said Joseph, pleasantly, detaining the ladies.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, one moment another toast a fellow guest tomorrow morning,
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  Speaker 4: and last, this party has to break up. And I
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  Speaker 4: am sure you will all agree with me that we
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  Speaker 4: have had a delightful week. It has not been an
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  Speaker 4: eventful week. It has been too happy for that.
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  Speaker 6: I right to protest. When he came here a week ago,
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  Speaker 6: I had never met Lady Jane. Now, as you know,
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  Speaker 6: we are engaged. I sertainly call it an eventful week.
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  Speaker 11: Yes, please, said Joseph.
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  Speaker 4: I stand corrected. And now we are in the last
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  Speaker 4: evening of it. We are drawing nigh to the end
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  Speaker 4: of a perfect day.
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  Speaker 1: Preen, who is also an orator.
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  Speaker 3: In seconding this motion, pooh, he.
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  Speaker 1: Is the perfect little gentleman, if socks and spats can
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  Speaker 1: do it.
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  Speaker 4: No, I have known you intimately for about a short time.
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  Speaker 4: I already find it impossible to call you anything but
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  Speaker 4: a Sam Smith in our hearts.
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  Speaker 14: Mister Smith, that is what we ladies call you.
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  Speaker 3: Also, if I might say a word.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, ladies and gentlemen, is he not like a pocket
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  Speaker 4: edition of mister Pickwick Girley?
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  Speaker 1: An artist exactly?
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  Speaker 9: That is how I should like to paint him.
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  Speaker 5: Mister Smith, you love. We think that if you were married,
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  Speaker 5: you could not be quite so nice.
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  Speaker 4: At any rate, he could not be quite so simple.
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  Speaker 4: For you are a there is simple soul, Sam Smith.
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  Speaker 4: Well we esteemul the war for your simplicity. Friends, all
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  Speaker 4: I give you the toast of Sam Smith.
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  Speaker 1: The toast is drunk with acclamation, and dolphin, who has
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  Speaker 1: paid no attention to it again hovers round with wine,
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  Speaker 1: host rising in answer to their appeals and warming them
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  Speaker 1: with his Pickwickian.
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  Speaker 2: Smile, Ladies and gentlemen. You are very kind, and I
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  Speaker 2: don't pretend that it isn't pleasant to me to be praised.
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  Speaker 2: Tell me, have you ever wondered why I invited you here?
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  Speaker 10: Because you like us? Of course, you muddle headed darling,
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  Speaker 10: was that the reason?
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  Speaker 4: Take care, Sammy, you are not saying what you mean?
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  Speaker 4: Am I not?
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  Speaker 2: Kindly? Excuse? I dare say? I'm as simple as Sir
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  Speaker 2: Joseph says? And yet do you really know me? Does
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  Speaker 2: any person ever know another? Absolutely has not the simplest
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  Speaker 2: of us a secret drawer inside him with a lock
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  Speaker 2: to it.
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  Speaker 10: If you have, mister Smith, be a deer and open
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  Speaker 10: it to us.
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  Speaker 14: How delicious he's going to tell us of his person only.
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  Speaker 2: Love ah, Missus Castro, I think I had one once,
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  Speaker 2: very nice, but I've forgotten her name. The person I
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  Speaker 2: loved best was my brother.
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  Speaker 3: I never knew you had a brother.
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  Speaker 2: I suppose none of you knew. He died two years ago, Sorry,
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  Speaker 2: Sam Smith.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Breen drawing the chocolates nearer her.
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  Speaker 8: We should like to hear about him, if it isn't
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  Speaker 8: too sad.
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  Speaker 2: Would you? He was many years my junior, and as
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  Speaker 2: attractive as I am commonplace. He died in a foreign land.
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  Speaker 2: Natural causes were certified, but there were suspicious circumstances, and
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  Speaker 2: I went out there determined to probe the matter to
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  Speaker 2: the full. I did too.
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  Speaker 3: You didn't say where the place was.
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  Speaker 2: It was Monte Carlo.
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  Speaker 1: He pauses here as if to give time for something
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  Speaker 1: to happen. But nothing does happen except that miss is.
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  Speaker 1: It's wine glass slips from her hand to the floor.
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  Speaker 2: Dolphin another glass for missus.
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  Speaker 3: It do go on.
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  Speaker 2: My inquiries were slow, but I became convinced that my
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  Speaker 2: brother had been poisoned.
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  Speaker 5: How dreadful you, poor man.
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  Speaker 9: I hope Sam Smith, that you got on the drug
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  Speaker 9: of the criminals.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yes, a chair creaks.
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  Speaker 2: Did you speak, missus?
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  Speaker 10: It did? I I think not? What did you say
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  Speaker 10: about the criminals?
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  Speaker 2: Not criminals? There was only.
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  Speaker 3: One man or woman.
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  Speaker 2: We are not yet certain. What we do know is
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  Speaker 2: that my brother was visited in his rooms that night
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  Speaker 2: by someone who must have been the murderer. It was
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  Speaker 2: someone who spoke English and who was certainly dressed as
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  Speaker 2: a man, but it may have been a woman. There
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  Speaker 2: is proof that it was someone who had been to
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  Speaker 2: the tables that night. I got in touch with every
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  Speaker 2: possible though I had to follow some of them to
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  Speaker 2: distant parts.
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  Speaker 12: It is extraordinarily interesting outwardly, many of them seemed to
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  Speaker 12: be quite respectable people.
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  Speaker 4: Oh one can't go by that, Sam Smith.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't. I made the most exhaustive inquiries into their
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  Speaker 2: private lives. I did it so cunningly that not one
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  Speaker 2: of them suspected why I was so anxious to make
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  Speaker 2: his or her acquaintance. And then when I was ready
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  Speaker 2: for them, I invited them to my house for a week.
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  Speaker 2: And they are all sitting round my table this evening.
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  Speaker 1: As the monstrous significance of this sings into them, there
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  Speaker 1: is a hubbub at the table.
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  Speaker 2: You wanted to know why I had asked you here,
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  Speaker 2: and I am afraid that in consequence I have wandered
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  Speaker 2: a little from the toast. But I thank you, sir Joseph.
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  Speaker 2: I thank you all for the too kind way in
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  Speaker 2: which you have drunk my health.
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  Speaker 1: He sits down as modestly as he had risen, but
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  Speaker 1: the smile has gone from his face, and the curious,
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  Speaker 1: which includes all the diners, may note that he's licking
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  Speaker 1: his lips in the bable that again breaks forth. Dolphin,
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  Speaker 1: who has remained stationary and vacuus for the speech, goes
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  Speaker 1: around to the table refilling glasses. Preen the first to
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  Speaker 1: be wholly at tickled.
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  Speaker 3: In the name of every one of us. Mister Smith,
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  Speaker 3: I tell you that this is an outrage.
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  Speaker 2: I was afraid you wouldn't like it.
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  Speaker 4: May I ask, sir, whether all this week you have
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  Speaker 4: been surreptitiously crediting into our private affairs, perhaps even rammaging
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  Speaker 4: our trunks.
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  Speaker 1: Host Brightening, That was it?
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  Speaker 2: You remember how I pressed you all to show your
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  Speaker 2: prowess on the tennis courts and the golf links while
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  Speaker 2: I stayed at home. That was my time for the trunks.
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  Speaker 11: Was there ever such a man? Did you open our letters?
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  Speaker 2: Every one of them, and there were some very queer
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  Speaker 2: things in them. There was one about a luncheon at
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  Speaker 2: the Ritz. You will know me, the man wrote by
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  Speaker 2: the guardina I shall carry in my hand. Perhaps I
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: shouldn't have mentioned that, But the lady who got that
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  Speaker 2: letter need not be frightened. She is married and her
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  Speaker 2: husband is here with her.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: But I won't tell you any more.
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  Speaker 10: I think he should be compelled to tell ray.
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  Speaker 3: They there are only two ladies here with their husbands.
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  Speaker 2: Yours are mine, Breen, Joseph, I don't need to tell
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  Speaker 2: you it wasn't your wife.
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  Speaker 8: It certainly wasn't yours.
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  Speaker 1: Willie.
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  Speaker 3: Of that I am well assured.
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  Speaker 4: Take care what you say, Preen. That is very like
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  Speaker 4: a reflection on my wife.
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  Speaker 9: Let that pass. The other is the serious thing, so
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  Speaker 9: serious that it is a nightmare. Whom do you accuse
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  Speaker 9: of doing? Away with your brother?
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  Speaker 3: Sir?
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  Speaker 9: Out with it?
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  Speaker 2: You are not all turning against me, are you? I
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  Speaker 2: assure you I don't accuse any of you yet. I
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  Speaker 2: know that one of you did it, but I'm not
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  Speaker 2: sure which one. I shall know soon soon, how soon,
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  Speaker 2: soon after the men join the ladies tonight. I ought
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  Speaker 2: to tell you that I am to try a little
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  Speaker 2: experiment tonight, something I have thought out which I have
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: every confidence will make the guilty person fall into my
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  Speaker 2: hands like a ripe plum.
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  Speaker 1: He indicates rather horribly how he will squeeze it, Lady Jane,
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  Speaker 1: hitting his hand. Don't do that, so, Joseph, voicing the
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  Speaker 1: general unrest.
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  Speaker 4: We insist Smith on hearing what this experiment is to be.
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  Speaker 2: That would spoil it. But I can tell you this.
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  Speaker 2: My speech had a little pit in it, and all
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  Speaker 2: the time I was talking, I was watching whether any
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: of you would fall into that pit.
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  Speaker 1: Missus preen rising, I didn't notice any pit.
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  Speaker 2: You weren't meant to, Missus preen.
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  Speaker 3: May I ask, without pressing the personal note, did anyone
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  Speaker 3: fall into your pit?
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  Speaker 2: I think so.
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  Speaker 6: Smith. We must have the name of this person.
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  Speaker 12: Missus Preyne has fainted.
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  Speaker 1: Prene hurries slowly to his wife's assistance, and there is
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: some commotion.
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  Speaker 8: Hi, what who? I'm all right now? Willie go back
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  Speaker 8: to your seat? Why are you all staring at me?
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  Speaker 10: So dear Missus preen We are so glad that you
• 15:22
  Speaker 10: were better. I wonder what.
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  Speaker 1: Upset you, Preene imprudently.
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  Speaker 3: I never knew her faint before.
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  Speaker 1: I expect it was the heat, Preene nervous.
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  Speaker 3: Say it was the heat, Emily, No, it wasn't the heat,
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  Speaker 3: miss is it It was mister Smith's talk of a pit,
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  Speaker 3: My dear.
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  Speaker 8: I suddenly remembered how as soon as that man mentioned
• 15:48
  Speaker 8: that the place of the crime was Monte Carlo, some
• 15:50
  Speaker 8: lady had let her wine glass, for that was why
• 15:54
  Speaker 8: I fainted. I can't remember who she.
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  Speaker 12: Was it was, miss Is it really?
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  Speaker 10: There is a thing called the law of libel. If
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  Speaker 10: Lady Rathie and missus Preen will kindly formulate their charges.
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  Speaker 9: Oh come, let us keep our heads, That's what I say.
• 16:15
  Speaker 9: What about the motive? Scotland Yard always seeks for that first.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: I see two possible motives. If a woman did it, well,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: they tended to run after my brother, and you all
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: know what a woman scorned is capable prem reminiscent. Rather,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: then again, my brother had a large sum of money
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  Speaker 2: with him which disappeared.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: If you could trace that money, it might be a help.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: All sorts of things are a help. The way you
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: are all pretending to know nothing about the matter is
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: a help. It might be a help if I could
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: find out which of you has a clammy hand that
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: at this moment wants to creep beneath the table.
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  Speaker 1: Not a hand creeps.
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  Speaker 2: I'll tell you something more. Murderer's hearts beat differently from
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: other hearts.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: He raises his finger.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Listen, they listen. Whose was it.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: A cry from miss Vale brings her into undesired prominence? Hah,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Miss Veal, explaining.
• 17:26
  Speaker 13: I thought I heard it. It seemed to come from
• 17:28
  Speaker 13: across the table.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: This does not give universal satisfaction.
• 17:33
  Speaker 13: Please don't think because this man made me scream that
• 17:36
  Speaker 13: I did it. I never was on a yacht in
• 17:38
  Speaker 13: my life, at Monte Carlo or anywhere else.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Nor does even this have the desired effect. Veil sharply, Bella,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: have I said anything odd a yacht?
• 17:52
  Speaker 9: There has been no talk about a yacht.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Miss Veale shrinking, hasn't there?
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Perhaps there should have been. It was on his yacht
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: that my brother died.
• 18:05
  Speaker 14: You said in his rooms.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, that is what I said. I wanted to find
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: out which of you knew better, and miss Vail.
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: I can explain it all if if.
• 18:18
  Speaker 10: Yes, give her a little time, Perhaps you would all
• 18:22
  Speaker 10: like to take a few minutes.
• 18:24
  Speaker 13: I admit that I was at Monte Carlo with my
• 18:26
  Speaker 13: brother when an Englishman died there rather mysteriously, on a yacht.
• 18:31
  Speaker 13: When mister Smith told us about his brother's seth, I
• 18:34
  Speaker 13: concluded that it was probably the same person.
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: I presume that you accept my sister's statement absolutely.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: She is not the only one of you who knew
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: that yacht. You all admit having been at Monte Carlo
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: two years ago. I suppose one.
• 18:53
  Speaker 6: Of us wasn't Lady Jane was never there?
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Host with beady eyes?
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: What do you say to that, Lady Jane.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Lady Jane folders tell him, Jane, Yes, tell.
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: Me you never were there?
• 19:10
  Speaker 11: Say sir, why shouldn't I have been there?
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: No reason? But when I happened to dimension monteclou To
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: the other day, I certainly understood, Jane. I'd never forget
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: a word you'd say. And you did say you had
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: never been there.
• 19:28
  Speaker 11: So you, you Jack, you accuse me?
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: You me, I haven't. I haven't You have all.
• 19:38
  Speaker 11: Heard that Captain Jennings and I are engaged. I want
• 19:41
  Speaker 11: you to understand that we are so no longer Jane.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: She removes the engagement ring from her finger and hesitates
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: how to transfer it to the donor, who's many seats
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: apart from her. The ever resourceful Dolphin goes to her
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: with a tree on which she deposits the ring, and
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: it is thus conveyed to the unhappy Jennings. Next moment,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Dolphin has to attend to the maid, who makes an
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: awable gurgle of sympathy with love, which is a breach
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: of etiquette. He opens the door for her and she
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: makes a shameful exit. He then fills the captain's glass
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: host in one of his nicer moods.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Take comfort, Captain. If Lady Jane should prove to be
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: the person wanted, mind you, perhaps she isn't. Why then
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: the ring is a matter of small importance, because you
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: would be parted in any case. I mean by the handcuffs.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: I forgot to say that I have them.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Here he gropes at his feet, where other people merely
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: have a table napkin.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Pass them round, Dolphin, perhaps some of you have never
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: seen them before.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: A pocket edition of Pickwick, we called him. He is
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: more like a pocket edition of the Devil.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Please a little courtesy, ah all, I am your host.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Dolphin goes around the table with a handcuffs on the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: tray that a moment ago contain a lover's ring. They
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: meet with no success.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Do take a look at them, Missus Castro. They're an
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: adjustable pair, in case they should be needed for small wrists.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Would you like to try them on, Sir Joseph? They
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: close with a click, a click.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Said Joseph pettishly. You quite understand, missus bland rises.
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: How stupid of us we have all forgotten that he said,
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: the murderer may have been a woman in man's clothes.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: And I have just remembered that when we played the
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: charade on Wednesday, he wanted the ladies to dress up
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: as men. Was it to see whether one of us
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: looked as if she could have passed for a man
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: that night at Monte Carlo?
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: You've got it, Missus Bland, Oh, none of you did
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: dress up at any rate.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Missus Blend distrusted.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: Oh, Sir Joseph, some of us did dress up in private,
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: and we all agreed that, of course there's nothing in it.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: But we all agreed that the only figure which might
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: have deceived a careless eye was Lady Ratty's.
• 22:21
  Speaker 12: I say, Choseph, do you sit there and permit this?
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: Now?
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Now there is nothing to be touchy about. Have I
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: not been considerate?
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: Smith? I hold you to be an impudent scoundrel?
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: May not I, who lost a brother in circumstances so painful,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: appeal for a little kindly consideration from those of you
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: who are innocent shady characters.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Though you be, I must say that rather touches me.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Some of us might have reasons for being reluctant to
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: have our pastored monte inquired into without being the person
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: you asking for.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Precisely, I am presuming that to be the position of
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: eleven of you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 12: Joseph, I must ask you to come upstairs with me
• 23:10
  Speaker 12: to pack our things.
• 23:12
  Speaker 10: For my part. After poor mister Smith's appeal, I think
• 23:15
  Speaker 10: it would be rather heartless not to stay and see
• 23:18
  Speaker 10: the thing out, Especially, mister Smith, if you would give
• 23:22
  Speaker 10: us just an inkling of what your little experiment in
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: the drawing room is to be.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I can't say anything about it except that it isn't
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: to take place in the drawing room. You ladies are
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: to go this evening to Dolphin's room, where we shall
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: join you presently, even.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Dolphin is taken aback.
• 23:42
  Speaker 8: Why should we go there?
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Because I tell you too, missus preen, I go.
• 23:48
  Speaker 12: To no such room. I leave this house at.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Once, I also all of us.
• 23:55
  Speaker 11: I want to go home.
• 23:57
  Speaker 8: Joseph, come, I'm ready. I wish you along. Goodbye, mister Smith.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Their dignified advance upon a door is spoiled on opening
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: it by their finding a policeman, mister Norman Forbes, standing there.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: They glare at mister Smith.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: The ladies will now adjourn to Dolphin's room.
• 24:20
  Speaker 12: I say no, let us.
• 24:23
  Speaker 14: Why shouldn't the innocent ones help him?
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: She gives Smith her hand with a disarming smile.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: I knew you would be on my side, Missus castro,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: cold hand, warm heart. That's the saying, isn't it.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: She shrinks.
• 24:41
  Speaker 12: Those who wish to leave this man's house follow.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Me host for her special benefit.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: My brother's cigarette case was a faded green leather and
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: a hole had been burned in the back of it.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: For some reason. This takes the fight out of her,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and she'd hearts for Dolphin's room, tossing her head and
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: followed by the other ladies veil. Seeing Smith drop a
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: word to Miss Vale as she goes, What.
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: Did you say to my sister?
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: I only said to her that she isn't your sister.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: The last lady to go is miss Is it so you.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Never met my brother, Missus?
• 25:19
  Speaker 10: It not that I know of mister Smith.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: I have a photograph of him that I should like
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: to show you.
• 25:26
  Speaker 10: I don't care to see it.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: You are going to see it.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: It is in his pocket, and he suddenly puts it
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: before her eyes. Miss isid surprised. That is not She
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: checks herself, No.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: That is not my brother. That is someone you've never seen.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: But how did you know it wasn't my brother?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: She makes no answer.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: I rather think you knew Dick. Miss is it?
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Miss isid dropping him a curtesy.
• 25:54
  Speaker 10: I rather think I did, mister Smith? What then?
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: She goes impudently. Now that the ladies have left the room,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the men don't quite know what to do except stare
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: at their little host decanter in one hand and a
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: box of cigarettes in the other. He toddles down to
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: what would have been the hostess's chair had there been
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: a hostess.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Draw up closer, won't you?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: They don't want to, but they do, with the exception
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: of Veil, who is studying a picture very near the door.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: You are not leaving, as Veil, I thought, host sharply
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: sit down?
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: Oh quite, you.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Are not drinking anything. Go al eh, Captain, The port
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: is with you.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: The wine revolves, but no one partakes preene heavily, Psmith.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: There are a few words that I think it my
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: duty to say. This is a very unusual situation.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, you'll have a cigarette, preene.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: The cigarettes are passed round and share the fate of
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the wine.
• 27:00
  Speaker 9: I wonder why miss Bland, she is the only one
• 27:03
  Speaker 9: of them that there seems to be nothing against a
• 27:06
  Speaker 9: bit fishy that.
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Preying, murmuring it was rather odd, my wife fainting.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Captain Jennings, who has been a drooping figure since a
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: recent incident.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: Hey, yees, say the ladies are saying the same sort
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: of thing about us.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: He lights a cigarette, one of his own. Dolphin is
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: offering them liqueurs. Preen sulkily, no thanks, but he takes one.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: Psmith, I am sure I speak for all of us
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: when I say we would esteem it a favor if
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: you ask Dolphin to withdraw.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: He has his duties.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Gir lay pettishly to Dolphin.
• 27:46
  Speaker 9: No thanks. He gets on my nerves. Can nothing disturb
• 27:50
  Speaker 9: this man?
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Captain Jennings, also refusing no thanks. Evidently nothing, Suggess, reverting
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: to a more hopeful subject.
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: Everything seems to point to which, being a woman, wouldn't
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: you say? Smith?
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say everything, said Joseph. Dolphin thinks it was a.
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: Man one of us here.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Smith nod and they surveyed their friend Dolphin with renewed distaste.
• 28:21
  Speaker 9: Did he know your brother?
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: He was my brother's servant out there.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Veil rising what he wasn't.
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: The fellow, who who? What?
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: Veil?
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I say, veil hotly?
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: What do you say?
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Nothing?
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Doggardly? But I say, though Dolphin is now a center
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of interest, no one seems able to address him personally.
• 28:47
  Speaker 9: Are we to understand that you have had dolphins spying
• 28:50
  Speaker 9: on us here?
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: That was the idea? And he helped me by taking
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: your fingerprints?
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: How can that help?
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: He sent them to Scotland Yard.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Said Joseph vindictively.
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: Oh he did, did he?
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: What shows finger marks best?
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Glass?
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I believe Preen put him down his glass?
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Now I see why the Americans went dry?
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: Smith, how can you be sure that Dolphin wasn't the
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: man himself?
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Mister Smith makes no answer. Dolphin picks up Sir Joseph's
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: napkin and returns it to him.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: Somehow, I still cling to the hope that it was
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: a woman.
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: If it is a woman, Smith, what will you do?
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: She shall hang by the neck until she's dead. You
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: won't try the Benedictine veil.
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: No thanks.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: The maid returns with coffee, which she presents under Dolphin's superintendence.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Most of them except the cups, are already full. Sir Joseph,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: in a lighter manner.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: Did you notice what the lady is doing in Dolphin's room.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Lucy made in a tremble and wishing she could fly
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: from this house.
• 30:06
  Speaker 13: Yes, Sir Joseph, they are wondering, Sir Joseph, which of
• 30:11
  Speaker 13: you it was that did it?
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: How like women?
• 30:15
  Speaker 9: By the way, Smith, do you know how the poison
• 30:18
  Speaker 9: was administered?
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: In coffee?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: He's about to help himself.
• 30:24
  Speaker 11: You are to take the yellow cup, sir?
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Who said so?
• 30:29
  Speaker 11: The lady who poured out this evening.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: Sir Aha? Who was she?
• 30:34
  Speaker 12: Lady Jane Ray?
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: Sir, I don't like it.
• 30:38
  Speaker 9: Smith, don't drink that coffee.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Captain Jennings in Wrath, Well.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: Shouldn't he drink it?
• 30:45
  Speaker 9: Well? If it was she a desperate woman, it was
• 30:48
  Speaker 9: given in coffee the other time, remember, but stop, She
• 30:51
  Speaker 9: wouldn't be likely to do it the same way a
• 30:53
  Speaker 9: second time.
• 30:55
  Speaker 7: I'm not so sure. Perhaps she doesn't suspect that Smith
• 30:59
  Speaker 7: knows how it was given the first time. We didn't
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: know till the ladies had left the room.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Preene admiring him at last.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: I say, Veil, that's good.
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: I have no doubt she merely meant that she had
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: sugared it to his taste.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Veil smiling sugar, Preene, penning his faith to Veil sugar.
• 31:23
  Speaker 9: Couldn't we analyze it?
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Captain Jennings, the one who is at present looking most
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: like a murderer.
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: Smith, I insist on your drinking that coffee.
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: Lady Jane, who would have thought it?
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Preene? Becoming a mere echo of Veil?
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: Lady Jane, who would have thought it?
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: Give me the yellow cup?
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: He drains it to the dregs.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: Nobly done in any case, Look here, Jennings, you're among friends.
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: It hadn't an odd taste, had it not a bit?
• 32:00
  Speaker 7: He wouldn't feel the effects yet, he.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: Wouldn't feel them yet they ought to know. Vele knows
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: why Veil to know?
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: Smith?
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: He used to practice as a doctor.
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: You never mentioned that to me, Beil?
• 32:15
  Speaker 7: Why should I?
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Why should he? He's not allowed to practice.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Now we now see that Veil has unpleasant teeth.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: Our doctor poison. He is off access.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: His passion for Veil is shattered. He gives him back
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: the ring, as Captain Jennings might say, and wanders the
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: room despondently.
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: We are where we were again.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Dolphin escorts out the maid, who is not in a
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: condition to go alone.
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: At any rate, that fellow has gone.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Gurley the first to laugh for some time.
• 32:54
  Speaker 9: Excuse me, I suddenly remembered that Ravey had called this
• 32:57
  Speaker 9: the end of a perfect day.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: It isn't ended yet.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Mister Preen, in his wanderings towards the sideboard, encounters a
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: very large glass and a small bottle of brandy. He
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: introduces them to each other. He swirls the contents in
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the glass, as if hopeful it may climb the rim
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and so escape without his having to drink it. This
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: is a trick which has become so common with him that,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: when lost in thought, he sometimes goes through the motion
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: though there is no glass in his hand. Preen communing
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: with himself.
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: I feel I am not my old bride self.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: SIPs.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: I can't believe for a moment that it was my wife, SIPs.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: And yet SIPs that fainting you know, SIPs. I should
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: go away for a bit until it blew over.
• 33:49
  Speaker 6: SIPs.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: I don't think I should ever marry.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Again, SIPs and sibs and becomes perhaps a little more
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: like his old bride self.
• 34:00
  Speaker 9: There is something shocking about sitting here suspecting each other
• 34:03
  Speaker 9: in this way. Let us go to that room and
• 34:05
  Speaker 9: have it out.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: I am quite ready, nothing more to drink. Any one,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: bring your cigarette, Captain.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Said Joseph hoarsely.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: Er Smith, Sam, before we go, can I have a
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: word with you alone?
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Sorry Joseph. And now shall we join the ladies?
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: As they rise, a dreadful scream is heard from the
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: direction of Dolphin's room, a woman's scream. Next moment, Dolphin
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: reappears in the doorway. He is no longer the imperturbable butler.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: He is livid. He tries to speak, but no words
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: will come out of his mouth. Captain Jennings dashes past him,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and the others follow. Dolphin looks at his master with
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: mingled horror and appeal, and then goes. Smith sits down
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: again to take one glass of brandy. Where he's we
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: cannot see his face, but his rigid little back is merciless.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: As he rises to follow the others. The curtain falls
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: on Act one and of Shall We Join the Ladies?
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: By J. M. Barry