24-02-23 II The voice had stopped. There was a moments petrified silence and then a resounding crash! Rogers had dropped the coffee tray! At the same moment, from somewhere outside the room there came a scream and the sound of a thud. Lombard was the first t...

24-02-23 Three I D inner was drawing to a close. The food had been good, the wine perfect. Rogers waited well. Every one was in better spirits. They had begun to talk to each other with more freedom and intimacy. Mr. Justice Wargrave, mellowed by the excelle...

24-02-23 XII In her bedroom, Emily Brent, dressed in black silk ready for dinner, was reading her Bible. Her lips moved as she followed the words: The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lor...

24-02-23 XI As the gong sounded, Philip Lombard came out of his room and walked to the head of the stairs. He moved like a panther, smoothly and noiselessly. There was something of the panther about him altogether. A beast of preypleasant to the eye. He was...

24-02-23 X General Macarthur was frowning to himself. Damn it all, the whole thing was deuced odd! Not at all what hed been led to expect. For two pins hed make an excuse and get away Throw up the whole business. But the motorboat had gone back to the mainla...

24-02-23 IX Mr. Blore was tying his tie. He wasnt very good at this sort of thing. Did he look all right? He supposed so. Nobody had been exactly cordial to him Funny the way they all eyed each otheras though they knew. Well, it was up to him. He didnt mean...

24-02-23 VIII Anthony Marston was in his bath. He luxuriated in the steaming water. His limbs had felt cramped after his long drive. Very few thoughts passed through his head. Anthony was a creature of sensationand of action. He thought to himself: Must go t...

24-02-23 VII Mr. Justice Wargrave thought to himself: Armstrong? Remember him in the witness-box. Very correct and cautious. All doctors are damned fools. Harley Street ones are the worst of the lot. And his mind dwelt malevolently on a recent interview he h...

24-02-23 VI Dr. Armstrong came to Soldier Island just as the sun was sinking into the sea. On the way across he had chatted to the boatmana local man. He was anxious to find out a little about these people who owned Soldier Island, but the man Narracott seem...

24-02-23 V Vera had followed Mrs. Rogers upstairs. The woman had thrown open a door at the end of a passage and Vera had walked into a delightful bedroom with a big window that opened wide upon the sea and another looking east. She uttered a quick exclamatio...