the murderer, with a motive of insanity. She shows Lord Rancour's will to Hope, revealing her parentage and fortune. Delighted, Geoffrey and Hope ask Miss Tweed how she solves her cases. Miss Tweed replies that all her knowledge comes from reading mystery novels. ("I Owe it All") However, as she thinks over the facts while painting Geoffrey's portrait, she declares that Flint was not the killer. Before she can tell who the true murderer was, she is strangled with her own scarf by a mechanical ornamental spear. Geoffrey and Hope turn on each other, each suspecting the other of being the killer. However, the portrait of Lord Rancour opens to reveal a victrola, which contains the confession of Lord Rancour. He himself had planned the murders, all in order to let Hope inherit her fortune. He had killed her parents and himself so that she would never have the burden of a guardian, Clive because he had known of the existence of a child, Doctor Grayburn because he had delivered her, and Miss Tweed because she had been Hope's nanny. Rancour assumed that if the truth were revealed, the three of them would stand in her way. Nigel had been killed because he would have contested the will, Lettie because she was blackmailing Rancour, and Flint simply because he was "a gripper." Rancour explains that each murder was planned according to the victim's habits: Clive punctually announced dinner on the stairs at 7:15, for example, when the bomb was to be set off. Grieved, Hope stops listening. She and Geoffrey drink a toast to the new world that awaits them. ("New Day") However, they begin to feel ill as Rancour explains that Flint's death was meant to come from poisoned wine, which they have evidently just drunk (rather than the accidental gas explosion, which Rancour could not have anticipated). Hope and Geoffrey fall dead, thus ending the play. Characters The cast is a set of British stock characters typically found in the works of Agatha Christie. They are as follows (in order of appearance): Lettie – "The saucy maid" Flint – "The caretaker" Clive – "The fussy butler" Hope Langdon – "The Ingenue" Dr. Grayburn – "The family doctor" Nigel Rancour – "The black sheep nephew" Lady Grace Manley-Prowe – "The Grande Dame" Colonel Gillweather – "The old army man" Miss Tweed – "The tweedy, elderly amateur detective" Geoffrey –