North by Northwest Scene 7 Summary

  • Thornhill gladly leads the detectives, together with mummy and his lawyer, back to the Townsend residence.
  • The housekeeper who answers the door remembers Thornhill from the night before. She says Mr. Townsend's not in but Mrs. Townsend is. Thornhill asks to see Mrs. Townsend.
  • When everyone's shown into the library, Thornhill can't find any traces of his presence there the night before or ways to corroborate his story.
  • The cabinet that held liquor is now filled with books, and all other signs of his presence from the previous evening have mysteriously disappeared.
  • This is not looking good for our guy.
  • Mrs. Townsend comes in and greets Thornhill as "Roger," not "George."
  • Instead of corroborating his story, Mrs. Townsend goes on to contradict it, saying that Thornhill, an old friend of the Townsends, had too much to drink at the dinner party there the night before.
  • She says that Mr. Townsend's not there because he's going to be giving a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that afternoon.
  • Thornhill insists she's lying, but it prompts his mother to say that her son should just "pay the two dollars."