Summary: Chapter IX
Mr. Owen could only come to the island
in one way. It is perfectly clear. Mr. Owen is one of us.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Blore, Lombard, and Armstrong become argumentative. Blore
suggests that Armstrong gave Mrs. Rogers an overdose of sleeping medication
either by accident or on purpose. Lombard tells Blore not to be
offensive, and Blore demands to know why Lombard carries a gun.
Lombard explains that he was hired to do a job by Isaac Morris,
who implied that he might find trouble of some sort on the island.
The bell rings, announcing lunch. Everyone troops in for the midday
meal except for Macarthur, whom Armstrong goes to fetch. Rogers
serves a makeshift lunch of cold ham and tongue along with a few
other items, anxiously expressing his hope that the food will satisfy
the guests. People make small talk about the approaching storm and
then hear the doctor returning at a run. He bursts into the dining
room, and Vera immediately surmises aloud that Macarthur is dead.
Armstrong confirms this fear, stating that Macarthur was killed
by a blow to the head. Blore and Armstrong retrieve Macarthur’s
body, and the storm breaks as they bear the corpse into the house
and place it in Macarthur’s room. Vera and Rogers notice that only
seven statues remain on the dining-room table.
Everyone except Rogers gathers in the drawing room, and
Wargrave takes charge of the meeting. He says he has come to the
conclusion that the murderer is one of the guests. The others, except
for Vera, agree with this theory. He then asks if anyone can be
cleared of suspicion. After some initial objections, including discussions
of whether women and professional men can possibly be suspected
of such crimes, it is agreed that they must proceed as if any of
them could be the murderer. The guests then review their movements
of the past two days to see if anyone’s actions made it logistically impossible
that he or she committed all three murders. No one has a foolproof
alibi. Wargrave warns everyone to be on his or her guard, and dismisses
them as if adjourning a court.
Summary: Chapter X
Vera and Lombard talk in the living room. They agree that
they do not suspect one another. Lombard remarks that Vera seems
very levelheaded for a woman. He then tells her that he suspects
Wargrave; perhaps, Lombard suggests, years of playing God as a judge
have driven him mad and made him want to be both judge and executioner.
Vera says she suspects Armstrong, because two deaths by poison sounds
like a doctor’s handiwork. She suggests that he might have killed
Macarthur when he went down to fetch him for lunch. She also points
out that since Armstrong is the only member of the group with medical
knowledge, he can say what he likes about the manner of death and
no one can contradict him.
Rogers, polishing the silver, asks Blore if he has any
suspicions. Blore says he suspects someone, but he will not say
whom. Meanwhile, Wargrave and Armstrong talk. Wargrave strikes Armstrong as
eager to hold on to his life. Armstrong worries that they will all
be murdered in their beds, and Wargrave thinks to himself that Armstrong
can think only in clichés and that he has a “thoroughly commonplace
mind.” Wargrave then says that while he has no evidence that would
stand up in a court of law, he thinks he knows the identity of the
murderer.
Emily sits in her room, writing in her diary. She begins
to feel groggy and writes in a shaky hand that the murderer is Beatrice
Taylor (the pregnant maid she once employed who killed herself).
She snaps to her senses and cannot believe she could have written
such a thing. She thinks that she must be going mad.
Later that afternoon, everyone gathers in the drawing
room. The normalcy of teatime makes them relax a bit. Rogers rushes
in to announce that a bathroom curtain made of scarlet oilsilk has
gone missing. No one knows what this absence means, but everyone
feels nervous again. The guests eat a dinner consisting mostly of
canned food. They retire to bed soon after eating, locking their
doors behind them. Only Rogers remains downstairs. Before he goes
to bed, he locks the dining-room door so that no one can remove
any of the remaining Indian figures during the night.
