Golding (quoting): “I shall take steps to see that justice is done not only upon it but upon yourself.” Can you describe the nature of the letters you had received before this one?
Major: Certainly. Same thing. Threats.
Golding: To you personally?
Major: Saying that my dog ought to die and if I didn’t act smartly we both would.
Golding: And it was after the death of the dog and in consideration of all these circumstances, Major, that you decided to go to the police?
Major: Precisely. Decided she meant business and that I was at risk personally. My wife urged me to act.
Golding: Thank you, Major Ecclestone. (Golding sits down. Defense Counsel rises.)
O’Connor: Major Ecclestone, would you describe yourself as a hot-tempered man?
Major: I would not.
O’Connor: As an even-tempered man?
Major: I consider myself to be a reasonable man, sir.
O’Connor: I said “even-tempered,” Major.
Major: Yes.
O’Connor: You get on well with your neighbors and tradesmen, for instance? Do you?
Major: Depends on the neighbors and tradesmen. Ha!
O’Connor: Major Ecclestone, during the five years you have lived in Peascale you have quarreled violently with your landlord, your late doctor, the secretary of your club, your postman and your butcher, have you not?
Major: I have not “quarreled violently” with anyone. Where I encounter stupidity, negligence and damned impertinence I made known my objections. That is all.
O’Connor: To the tune of threatening the postman with a horsewhip and the butcher’s boy with your Alsatian dog?
Major: I refuse to stand here and listen to all this nonsense. (He pulls himself up, looks at his watch, takes a small container from his overcoat pocket, extracts a capsule and puts it in his mouth.)
Judge: What is all this? Are you eating something, Major Ecclestone?
Major: I suffer from duodenal ulcers, my lord. I have taken a capsule.
Judge (after a pause): Very well. (He nods to Defense Counsel.)
O’Connor: Major Ecclestone, was the liver the only thing in the safe that evening?
Major: No, it wasn’t. There was stuff for a mixed grill on Thursday. Chops, kidneys, sausages. That sort of thing.
O’Connor: And these had been delivered with the dog’s meat that afternoon?
Major: Yes.
O’Connor: Did you have your mixed grill?
Major: No fear! Chucked it out. Destroyed it. Great mistake, as I now realize. Poisoned like the other. Not a doubt of it. Intended for me.
O’Connor: And what about Mrs. Ecclestone?
Major: Vegetarian.
O’Connor: I see. Can I have a list of complaints, please? (Solicitor gives him a paper.) Major Ecclestone, is it true that, apart from my client, there have been five other complaints about the character and behavior of your dog?
Major: The dog was perfectly docile. Unless provoked. They bated him.
O’Connor: And is it not the case that you have received two warnings from the police to keep the dog under proper control?
Major: Bah!
O’Connor: I beg your pardon.
Major: Balderdash!
O’Connor: You are on oath, Major Ecclestone. Have you received two such warnings from the police?
Major (pause): Yes. (Nods.)
O’Connor: Thank you. (He sits down)
(Dr. Swale is called to the stand. Prosecution Counsel rises.)
Golding: Dr. Swale, you were called into The Elms on the evening of 4th April, were you not?
Swale: Yes. Mrs. Ecclestone rang me up and sounded so upset I went round.
Golding: What did you find when you got there?
Swale: Major Ecclestone was in the yard near the dog kennel with the Alsatian’s body lying at his feet.
Golding: And Mrs. Ecclestone?
Swale: She was standing nearby. She suffers from migraine and this business with the dog hadn’t done anything to help her. I took her back to her room, looked at her and gave her one of the Sternetil tablets I’d prescribed,
Golding: And then?
Swale: I went down to the Major.
Golding: Yes?
Swale: He, of course, realized the dog had been poisoned and he asked me, as a personal favor, to get an analysis of what was left of the liver the dog had been eating and of the contents of the dog’s stomach. I arranged this with the pathology department of the general hospital.
Golding: Ah yes. We’ve heard evidence of that. Massive quantities of potassium cyanide were found.
Swale: Yes.
Golding: Did you, subsequently, discuss with Major Ecclestone the possible source of this cyanide?
Swale: Yes.
Golding: Dr. Swale, were you shown any letters by Major Ecclestone?
Swale: Yes. From the defendant.
Golding: Are you sure they were from the defendant?
Swale: Oh yes. She had in the past written to me complaining about the National Health. It was her writing and signature.
Golding: What was the nature of the letters to Major Ecclestone?
Swale: Threatening. I remember in particular the one that said his dog ought to die and if he didn’t act smartly they both would.
Golding: What view did you take of these letters?
Swale: A very serious one. They threatened his life.
Golding: Yes. Thank you, Dr. Swale. (He sits.) (Defense Counsel rises.)
O’Connor: Dr. Swale, you have known the Ecclestones for some time, haven’t you?
Swale: Yes.
O’Connor: In fact you are close friends?
Swale (after a slight hesitation): I have known them for some years.
O’Connor: Would you consider Major Ecclestone a reliable sort of man where personal judgments are concerned?
Swale: I don’t follow you.
O’Connor: Really? Let me put it another way. If antagonism has developed between himself and another person, would you consider his view of the person likely to be a sober, fair and balanced one?
Swale: There are very few people, I think, of whom under such circumstances, that could be said.
O’Connor: I suggest that at the time we are speaking of, a feud developed between Major Ecclestone and the defendant and that his attitude towards her was intemperate and wholly biased. (Pause) Well, Dr. Swale?
Swale (unhappily): I think that’s putting it a bit strong.
O’Connor: Do you indeed? Thank you, Dr. Swale. (Defense Counsel sits.)
Judge: You may leave the witness box, Dr. Swale.
(Thomas Tidwell is called to the stand. Prosecution Counsel rises.)
Golding: You are Thomas Tidwell, butcher’s assistant of the West End Butchery, 8 Park Street, Peascale, near Fulchester?
Tidwelclass="underline" Yar.
Golding: On Friday 4th April, did you deliver two parcels of meat at The Elms, No. 1 Sherwood Grove?
Tidwelclass="underline" Yar.
Golding: Would you describe them please?
Tidwelclass="underline" Aye?
Golding: How were they wrapped?
Tidwelclass="underline" In paper. (Judge looks.)
Golding: Yes, of course, but what sort of paper?
Tidwelclass="underline" Aye?
Golding: Were they wrapped in brown paper or in newspaper?
Tidwelclass="underline" One of each.
Golding: Thank you. Did you know, for instance, the contents of the newspaper parceclass="underline" what was in it?
Tidwelclass="underline" Liver.
Golding: How did you know that?
Tidwell (to Judge): It was bloody, wannit? Liver’s bloody. Liver’ll bleed froo anyfink, won’t it? I seen it, din’ I? It’d bled froo the comics.