How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
“A conjuring trick, my dear—a very good one…” (16.16)
Lombard always manages to keep his cool in tricky situations (like ones involving abandoning “natives” to die. He’s totally fine with lying to Vera about having killed Blore, even though there are literally no consequences at this point. In our book, that makes him almost as much of a sociopath as Judge Wargrave.
Quote #8
“So that’s the reason for your womanly solicitude! You wanted to pick my pocket.” (16.55)
Vera may be scared, but she sure can care of herself. She tricks Lombard at the very end and picks his pocket for the revolver. We like to imagine this part with song and dance.
Quote #9
“You can go to the rock, Cyril…”
That was what murder was—as easy as that! (16.131-132)
You could argue—and, actually, we did: see our “Character Roles” section for more—that the whole book is really about getting Vera to admit the truth. Here, she’s finally stopped lying to herself, which is always a good move. Bad move: her next step, which is hanging herself.