“Very well, I know who did it.”
Why it's great
After all the chaos, one calm sentence flips the whole scene into a reveal.
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Neutral
Use it yourself
Very well, I know what broke the build.
00:00 / 03:08
00:00 / 03:08
Wadsworth Reconstructs the Evening, Explained
Clue · 1985
Chapter 12 of 17 · 3'08"
Having announced "I know who did it," Wadsworth walks the guests room by room, reenacting the whole evening step by step. The others squirm as he narrates doorbells, coats and champagne — and beg him to "get on with it." The polite tour is really an accusation in slow motion.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:46–1:10
❝ Monologue · 7 lines I Know Who Did It
24s - 1:17–2:35
Rewalking the Whole Evening
78s
Wadsworth Reconstructs the Evening, explained
What happens
Wadsworth announces that he knows who committed the murders and offers to show how it was done. He leads the guests through the house, narrating the evening in order: Yvette with the champagne, the doorbell, each guest's arrival. The group grows impatient and urges him to get to the point.
What's really going on
The scene is a reconstruction, and its pleasure is watching Wadsworth control the room. He begins with an offer no one can refuse — 'Very well, I know who did it' — and then turns the guests into an audience, moving them from room to room step-by-step. The details sound innocent (champagne, coats, a doorbell), but each stop quietly places someone. Wadsworth's calm narration is the opposite of a confession, yet it does the same work. The others can feel the trap closing, which is why they keep interrupting with 'Get on with it!' — impatience and dread sounding exactly alike.
Key lines & what they mean
- “Very well, I know who did it.”
- Wadsworth's announcement that he has solved the case, delivered with the confidence of someone who has been holding it back.
- “At the start of the evening, Yvette was here by herself, waiting to offer you all a glass of champagne.”
- The reconstruction's opening beat: an ordinary detail that fixes exactly where the evening began and who was present.
- “And the cook was in here, alive, sharpening knives, preparing for dinner.”
- A deliberately mundane line that recalls the cook alive in the kitchen, making the later murder feel closer.
- “And I prevented you from telling me your real name because I didn't want any of you to use any name other than your pseudonym.”
- Wadsworth explains that keeping everyone's fake names was his doing, a reminder that he has controlled the evening from the start.
Theme
- Power — Wadsworth commands the room, moving the guests through the house and doling out information on his own schedule.
- Secrets — The walkthrough quietly places each guest at the scene, exposing details they would rather leave unexplained.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level4/7
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“At the start of the evening, Yvette was here by herself, waiting to offer you all a glass of champagne.”
Why it's great
The quiet opening picture makes the violence that follows feel even colder.
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literary
Use it yourself
At the start of the night, the guard was here by himself.
“And the cook was in here, alive, sharpening knives, preparing for dinner.”
Why it's great
The word alive lands like a knife because the audience knows how the evening ends.
Register
literary
Use it yourself
He was in here, alive, telling his usual jokes.
“And I prevented you from telling me your real name because I didn't want any of you to use any name other than your pseudonym.”
Why it's great
He explains a strange rule as if it were obvious, and the calm delivery hints this meeting was planned.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
I didn't want any of you to use a nickname other than the one on your badge.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ Wadsworth's reconstruction
In order to help you understand what happened, I shall need to take you through the events of the evening step-by-step. At the start of the evening, Yvette was here by herself, waiting to offer you all a glass of champagne. I was in the hall. I know because I was there. Then I hurried across to the kitchen. And the cook was in here, alive, sharpening knives, preparing for dinner.
He stages the whole night again, placing every guest exactly where they stood.
Up next · 13get your hands onThe scene: Wadsworth Reveals the Secret PassageTakeaways
What you walk away with- Reconstruction turns a crowded room into a map of the crime.
- Step by step is how you retell a messy night without losing anyone.
- In order to marks a formal purpose, not a casual one.
- A flinch can be a confession without words.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does Wadsworth walk everyone through the house?
He says he knows who did it and wants them to understand how it was all done, so he reenacts the evening step by step, using each room as evidence.
How many murders are there?
The guests count them up: 'Two murders,' then three, until someone says 'Six, all together,' and another adds, 'This is getting serious.'
Did the murderer escape through the front door?
That's the guests' first theory — someone heard the front door slam, and one says the murderer 'must've run out.' Wadsworth's reconstruction means to replace that guess.
Who is Yvette?
The maid. Wadsworth's account begins with her alone in the room at the start of the evening, waiting to offer the guests champagne.