AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

Characters in And Then There Were None

Anthony Marston is a rich, spoiled, athletic young man who loves to drive
too fast and appears to lack a conscience.

Mrs. Ethel Rogers is the housekeeper and an excellent cook. She is

described as being worried and frightened-looking.

General MacArthur is the oldest guest on the island. He is a retired World

War I hero.

Thomas Rogers is the butler and Mrs. Rogers’ husband. He treats his
guests in a respectful and dignified way.

Emily Brent is a rigid, repressed, elderly woman of harsh moralistic

principles who uses the Bible to justify her inability to show compassion or
understanding for others.

Dr. Edward Armstrong, a fussy middle-aged man, was a surgeon who

gave up surgery to specialize in treating people with nervous disorders.

William Henry Blore is a retired police inspector turned private

investigator.

Philip Lombard is a soldier of fortune, world traveler, and former military

man who had served in Africa.

Vera Claythorne, an attractive young lady, is a former governess who

works as a secretary.

Justice Lawrence Wargrave is a retired judge. He is an intelligent,

calculating and commanding person.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PART 1 SUMMARY

 Justice Wargrave, a judge, is sitting pretty in a train carriage and thinks about
Indian Island, the place that he’s headed thanks to Lady Constance Culmington’s
invitation.
 Vera Claythorne sits in a carriage as well, holding onto her very own letter, which
invites her out to be a secretary on Indian Island.
 She checks out the man across from her, who checks her out right back. His
name is Philip Lombard, and he’s been sent to Indian Island on some business,
though he’s not quite sure what that business entails.
 In another carriage is Miss Emily Brent, who is quite the old maid. She hates
anything modern. In her hand, she holds a letter from a mysterious “U.N. O—”
inviting her to Indian Island.
 General Macarthur is the next character who’s looking forward to arriving at
Indian Island to have a nice chat with some old friends.
 Not all of the guests are on the train: Dr. Armstrong drives his car across
Salisbury Plain and reflects back on what a very successful life he’s had. There
was something that could have ruined his career about fifteen years ago. The
details are vague, but it sure set him straight and made him quit drinking. Just as
he’s thinking this, someone passes him at a whopping 80 miles per hour.
 The speed demon is Tony Marston, who is young, rich, and handsome.
 Some fellow named Mr. Blore is on the slow train heading toward Indian Island
as well. He writes down the names of all the folks who are coming to the island
and shuts his notebook. A storm is coming and an old man tells Mr. Blore that
the Day of Judgment is coming.
 The people sit outside of Oakbridge a little confused that they’re all headed for
Indian Island but don’t know each other.
 In a couple of cabs, they make their way to the village on the coast, where they’ll
take a boat over to Indian Island.
 From a distance, Indian Island looks way more like a creepy death trap.
 At the last minute, Anthony Marston drives up in his very fast car in order to catch
the boat.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PART 1 – Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

Complete the following exercises in your counter books including the date, title,
and subheadings.

Vocabulary (1 mark each): Match up the term in the left column with its synonyms in
the right column.

Ex. 1. conscientiously – A. carefully, thoroughly

1. subsequent A. leaning, resting
2. publicity B. tiring, vigorous
3. strenuous C. following, succeeding
4. vague D. exceptionally, supremely
5. scrutinized E. wickedness, evil
6. recumbent F. walk, step
7. surreptitious G. unclear, imprecise
8. malevolence H. exposure, advertising
9. gait I. stealthy, furtive
10. superlatively J. inspected, examined

Critical Thinking: Answer the following questions.

11. Match the characters with their profession.

A. A physician (doctor) who had a drinking problem in his

 Philip Lombard
early days.
B. A retired judge, known as a "hanging judge" by the
 Emily Brent
press and the courts.
C. A soldier from the Great War, who has a rumor about
 Dr. Armstrong
him from 30 years ago, floating about.
D. A man who seems to be investigating the other nine
 Vera Claythorne
characters
E. A spinster (old, unmarried woman) in her mid-sixties,
 Anthony Marsten
with a disturbed and possibly dangerous mind.
F. An ex-governess, acquitted in the death of the child
 General Macarthur
Cyril,and now a secretary.
G. A young man in the prime of his life, he seems to like
 Mr Justice Wargrave
to drive cars fast and carelessly.
 Mr. Blore H. A soldier who is an adventurer and in it for the money.

12. To where have all the characters been invited?

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 2 & 3 SUMMARY

 The boat captain says that Indian Island can’t be reached in bad weather.
 When they arrive, the butler and the servant woman, cold and polite, let them know
that the host and hostess of the party are delayed and can’t greet them yet.
 Vera talks to Mrs. Rogers—the servant woman—and finds out that she and Mr.
Rogers (the butler) haven’t even met Mr. and Mrs. Owen.
 Framed in the room is an odd little nursery rhyme about ten little Indian boys…
 Dr. Armstrong drives up late and meets the different folks at Indian Island.
 The eight guests present eat their dinner and start getting friendly and relaxd.
 Miss Brent talks to Vera. They realize that people of different names invited them
here.
 Out of nowhere, a great voice calls out and charges each and every single person in
the room with a different crime leading to someone’s death.
 Mr. Rogers drops the serving tray and Mrs. Rogers collapses in fright.
 They go looking for the source of the voice and end up finding a gramophone set up.
Rogers admits to playing the record, but says he had no idea what was on it.
 No one knows who the Owens are and it’s soon clear that they aren’t real people.
 Mr. Blore had been posing as a Mr. Davis, but he’s forced to admit his real name
and tell everyone that he was hired by Mr. Owen to watch everyone at the party.
 Everyone brings up their letters asking them to come to Indian Island.
 Everyone immediately refutes the claims that they caused anyone’s death at all.
 Justice Wargrave starts off by saying that the man he’s accused of sentencing to
death unfairly was definitely guilty.
 Vera claims a child drown as she swam after him to try and save him.
 General Macarthur makes a similar excuse: his wife never cheated on him, so why
on Earth would he send her lover to his death?
 Philip Lombard, however, says that it’s true that he let the natives die. Everyone’s
suitably appallled at this admission, as they are when Anthony Marston admits that
he ran over a couple of people in his car.
 The Rogers say that they are not guilty of the crime they were accused of.
 Blore jumps on the innocent-train, saying that he didn’t do anything wrong, but he
got a promotion from putting a guy in prison.
 Dr. Armstrong denies that he knows the name Clees at all, while inside he’s thinking
that he operated on someone while he was drunk and they happened to die.
 Emily Brent refuses to say anything at all about what she did.
 Everyone determines they should definitely leave in the morning.
 Anthony Marston takes a drink; he chokes on the drink and dies.
 Dr. Armstrong inspects Anthony Marston’s drink and finds that there was cyanide in
his glass. They think that he must have committed suicide by putting the poison in
his drink.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 2 & 3 – Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

Complete the following exercises in your counter books including the date, title,
and subheadings.

Vocabulary (1 mark each): Choose the word in each group that is mostly nearly
opposite in meaning to the boldfaced word (ANTONYMS).

Ex. bewildered – clearheaded

1. ascended – rose, inclined, climbed, soared

2. cordial – unfriendly, amiable, affectionate, pleasant
3. fluent – confident, smooth, effortless, halting
4. quaint – charming, old-fashioned, modern, antiquated
5. indictments - exonerations, prosecutions, accusations, charges
6. adroitly - ably, dexterously, clumsily, competently
7. purported – supposed, claimed, denied, professed
8. verisimilitude - truth, credibility, authenticity, falsity
9. iniquitous - wicked, just, immoral, heinous
10. covertly - openly, furtively, stealthily, secretly

Critical Thinking: Answer the following in complete sentences. (2 marks each)

11. The gramophone recording accused all the guests of what crime?

12. What did the guests concluded about the name “Ulick Norman Owen”?

13. Who is the first member of the party to die and how did he/she die?

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 4, 5 & 6 SUMMARY

 After carrying Marsten into his bedroom, they decide to go to sleep and lock their
doors.
 In his room, General Macarthur sits down to do some thinking, during which he lets
us know that his wife, Leslie, had been sleeping with another man the whole time.
 Vera is lying awake too, thinking about Cyril and how she let him swim out too far. It
seems that her lover Hugo couldn’t marry her because he didn’t have any money,
but he was all set to inherit the money of Cyril’s family—right up until Cyril was born.
 Dr. Armstrong wakes up from a nightmare to find that Mr. Rogers is shaking him
awake all stressed out because Mrs. Rogers isn’t waking up. Mrs. Rogers is dead.
 Downstairs, everyone is up waiting for breakfast and looking out to see when the
boat will come. It doesn’t seem to be appearing when it should.
 Dr. Armstrong comes downstairs and informs them that Mrs. Rogers died in her
sleep.
 There are lots of opinions. Blore thinks that Mr. Rogers must have poisoned her,
while Miss Brent thinks that God struck Mrs. Rogers down for her sinfulness.
 Mr. Rogers lets Dr. Armstrong know that another odd thing has happened: the
Indians keep disappearing when someone dies. Now there’s only eight left.
 Miss Brent reveals to Vera that Beatrice Taylor was a girl who worked for her. When
the girl became pregnant, Miss Brent ended up firing her and casting her out.
 Dr. Armstrong and Lombard both agree that the deaths of Marston and Mrs. Rogers
may not have been suicides or accidents—they may be getting killed off.
 They choose this moment to realize that the nursery rhyme and the deaths of the
first two people are eerily similar to the lines in the poem.
 Lombard, Armstrong, and Blore search the island to find the killer.
 Along the way, they run into General Macarthur who’s sitting out and looking at the
ocean. He seems like he’s in an odd trance, and when they say hello to him he says
some mysterious vague things about running out of time.
 Vera goes for a little walk and comes across General Macarthur. He says that he’s
waiting for the end and admits that he sent his wife’s lover into battle to be killed.
 Blore finds a rope and Lombard uses it to climb down the cliff, but … nothing. And
that means that they now need to search the house.
 They go through the house but find nothing.
 Under questioning, Lombard reveals that he too was asked to come to Indian Island
and promised some money—and that’s why he brought the revolver to the island.
But now he thinks that he’s in it with the rest of them and that they’re in a trap.
 At lunch, General Macarther is missing. He is found dead, hit in the back of the
head
 Justice Wargrave goes about seeing if they can eliminate anyone as a killer -
everyone is suspect.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 4, 5 & 6 – Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

Complete the following exercises in your counter books including the date, title,
and subheadings.

Vocabulary (1 mark each): Answer each question in full sentences to show your
understanding of the term in bold.
Example: If someone uses figurative language, is she being metaphorical or literal?
Answer: When someone uses figurative language, she is being metaphorical.

1. If someone acquiesced to a request, would he submit or resist?

2. Would a chaotic thought be clear or confusing?
3. If a prospect is feasible, is it a possibility or impossibility?
4. Does a dubious answer imply certainty or doubt?
5. If a mission is futile, is it hopeless or successful?
6. Would an admonitory tone be congratulatory or reproachful?
7. What would a mirthless smile be lacking – gloom or cheer?
8. What would an overt gesture be – a slight twitch of the mouth or a generous wave?
9. If something is expressed succinctly, is it brief or long-winded?
10. Would someone use a truncheon as a weapon or a medicine?

Critical Thinking: Answer the following in complete sentences. (2 marks each)

11. What do Lombard, Armstrong, and Blore decide to do in PART 5 to discover what was
going on?
12. Two more people die in these sections – who were they?
13. What does the approaching storm in PART 6 symbolize?

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 7 & 8 SUMMARY

 Vera and Lombard sit in the living room and try to figure out who the real killer is.
Lombard says that it must be Justice Wargrave because he is a judge and enjoys
playing God. Vera, on the other hand, is certain that the killer is Dr. Armstrong
since two of the deaths happened due to poisonings.
 In the other room, Rogers and Mr. Blore are diskussing the same thing and so
are Dr. Armstrong and Justice Wargrave. Wargrave says that he has an idea of
who must be carrying out the crimes.
 They go downstairs to wait out the storm and with some tea. Mr. Rogers comes
in and asks if they’ve seen the bathroom curtain.
 After a quiet dinner, everyone goes to bed—except Mr. Rogers, who heads back
into the dining room where he decides to lock up the door to the pantry so that no
one can get to the china figurines.
 The next morning Philip Lombard wakes up at daybreak as usual and notices
that Mr. Rogers hasn’t knocked on his door to call him for breakfast.
 They find Rogers’ body in the wash house. He was killed while chopping up
wood in the morning.
 Vera gets a little hysterical and begins to laugh since the next line of the poem
states that a bee stings one of the little Indians. There are no bees on the island!
Dr. Armstrong slaps her.
 Everything is extremely polite and civil during breakfast, but inside, all the
characters are observing each other and trying to figure out who the true killer
among them is.
 After the meal is over, everyone rushes up to help clear the table and clean up,
but Miss Brent seems a little woozy and so she goes to sit by herself. Soon she
hears a buzzing sound, like a bee.
 Then she feels the prick in the side of her neck.
 Blore tells everyone that he thinks that Miss Brent is the killer, but when they go
to fetch her, she’s dead.
 Dr. Armstrong examines the body and finds the mark of a hypodermic syringe,
just the one he has with him that… has gone missing.
 The guests decide to pool together any lethal items and lock them all in a safe.
 Lombard objects to giving up his revolver, but it’s gone, too.
 They search everyone’s room, but they find no revolver.
 Now everyone is thoroughly terrified and there are no longer cheery tea times
and chats.
 When Vera goes to make tea, everyone watches her to make sure that she
hasn’t slipped anything in the tea.
 The lights go out and they have to take out candles in order to see.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 7 & 8 – Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

Complete the following exercises in your counter books including the date, title,
and subheadings.

Vocabulary (1 mark each): Choose the word from the list that makes the most sense
in each sentence, and rewrite the sentence with the chosen word.

1. The coffee ___ rushed by on a fancy motorcycle and snatched the frozen mocha from
my grasp!
2. It took two people to haul the ___machine into the garage.
3. The first time he spoke, I could not understand him, so I
politely asked him to ___ alibi
reiterate
4. They were determined to seize the boat, to take its freight
fiend
prisoners, and have them ___punished. tenacious
5. I ___added my prepared paper to the stack of completed surreptitiously
tests. abated
cumbrous
6. His father’s ___of knowledge caused the young lad to flunk veneer
his exam. tacit
7. David established a/an ___for himself by being at a public duly
restaurant at the time of the offense.
8. The traffic on the side street was ___by the building of a new road.
9. Athletes must be ___in the pursuit of excellence if they hope to become Olympic
champions.
10. She nodded her head in ___approval.

Critical Thinking: Answer the following in complete sentences. (2 marks each)

11. How does Miss Brent die?

12. List five words or phrases which tell the reader that the characters are very frightened.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 9, 10, 11 & 12 SUMMARY

 Vera decides that she is going to bed, even though it’s just past six p.m.
 When she feels something wet and cold on her throat and starts screaming
wildly.
 Everyone rushes upstairs to check on her and they offer her brandy. She looks
up at realizes that it wasn’t a cold hand at her throat after all—it was just a long
ribbon of seaweed.
 Then they realize that Justice Wargrave isn’t with them… how strange.
 They go downstairs to look for him and find his dead body. He’s sitting in a chair
with scarlet robes made from the missing bathrobe curtains, and he has a wig on
his head. He’s been shot clear through the forehead.
 They all go back to bed, though there are four of them now and they’re awfully
suspicious of each other.
 When Lombard opens the drawer in his room, he finds that the revolver is back in
its drawer.
 Vera considers just barricading herself in her room for the next few days until
help arrives, but then she thinks about how she’ll be stuck with the memory of
Cyril.
 Blore thinks he hears someone moving around outside in the hallway and he
goes to inspect. He doesn’t catch whoever is moving around, but then he decides
to knock on the doors to see who is still in their bedrooms.
 Lombard and Vera are in their rooms, but Dr. Armstrong is missing.
 Lombard and Blore go off to search the island for Dr. Armstrong while Vera stays
in her room.
 When they return, they tell her that they can’t find Dr. Armstrong anywhere.
 There is one clue though—one of the windows has been broken and another
china figurine has been smashed.
 The remaining three people are befuddled. They have breakfast and Blore tries
to convince Lombard to hand over the revolver (which he declines, of course).
 Vera reads the poem and says that in the latest line, there is a “red herring.” She
takes this to mean that Dr. Armstrong isn’t really dead and he’s hiding
somewhere waiting to kill the rest of them.
 They search the house and go around the island trying to flash mirrors at the
mainland again, but nothing happens and no one comes to save them.
 Blore decides to go back to the house while Vera and Lombard sit outside.
 Suddenly, they hear a loud noise like an earthquake. They run back to the house
to find that Blore has been killed. A large marble clock in the shape of the bear
was dropped out a window onto his head.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

 Vera and Lombard are now convinced that Dr. Armstrong really is hiding
somewhere and that he killed Blore, but then they look out to see and find Dr.
Armstrong’s body floating in the water.
 Now only Vera and Lombard are left and they’re both convinced that the other
person is the killer, which seems fairly logical actually.
 Vera helps Lombard move Dr. Armstrong’s body but in the process picks his
pocket and takes the revolver from him.
 When he comes towards her, she shoots him.
 She goes back into the dining room and throws away the remaining Indian
figurines and takes the last one up to her room with her.
 There is already a noose tied to the hook on the ceiling, and a chair beneath it as
well.
 Vera decides that Hugo must want her to kill herself, so she goes towards the
noose and hangs herself.
 In the epilog, the police just cannot crack the mystery of Indian Island.
 Even when they take into account that Vera was the last to die, she couldn’t have
been the killer: after she hanged herself, someone put away the chair that she
kicked out from underneath her.
 The police are just as baffled as anyone else.
 Later on, a fishing boat picks up a note in a bottle and sends it to the police. It’s
from Justice Wargrave, and in it, he confesses to all the murders on Indian
Island.
 Justice Wargrave is a man who craves justice but also finds great pleasure in
killing, He comes up with the idea of collecting a group of people who have
committed murders but couldn’t be touched by the law.
 He explains exactly how he carried out the murders, and how he used Dr.
Armstrong to fake his death because the man didn’t suspect him of anything.
 In the end, Wargave says that he wanted to create an unsolvable mystery, but
that he still wants credit for it.

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 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie

PARTS 9, 10, 11 & 12 – Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

Complete the following exercises in your counter books including the date, title,
and subheadings.

Vocabulary (1 mark each): Choose the synonym of the word in bold from the choices
provided.

1. vamoosed – revisit, escaped, returned, linger

2. stolidly – sensitively, expressively, impassively, emotionally
3. lassitude – indolence, energy, vigor, vivacity
4. raucous – wild, unruly, boisterous, subdued
5. adroitness – clumsiness, cleverness, dexterity, ability
6. savory – pleasant, acceptable, congenial, insalubrious
7. vindictive – compassionate, sympathetic, malevolent, merciful
8. sadistic – humane, vicious, friendly, peaceful
9. callousness – sensitivity, heartlessness, tenderness, compassion
10. fiends – comrades, villains, helpers, angels

Critical Thinking: Answer the following in complete sentences. (2 marks each)

11. Who is the last person on the island and how does he/she die?

12. Who was the murderer? Why did he/she do it?

13. Why did he/she confess the murders in a letter?

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