“It's a pleasure to do business with you.”
Por qué es buena
A polite business line dropped over traded coffee and sugar makes barter feel tender.
Registro
Neutral
Úsala tú
It's a pleasure to do business with someone who pays on time.
00:00 / 03:00
00:00 / 03:00
Vole Tells How He Married Christine, Explained
Witness for the Prosecution · 1957
Capítulo 13 de 27 · 3'00"
Vole recalls his courtship of Christine through a wartime black market — sugar and milk traded across a table, "a pleasure to do business with you" — and the flat where she broke down crying at her first solid home. Then Wilfrid says he will not put her in the witness box, and Vole protests, "Without her I'm sunk."
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:02–0:38
Vole's Black Market Courtship
37s - 1:30–2:48
Without Christine, Vole Is Sunk
78s
Vole Tells How He Married Christine, explained
What happens
Vole continues the story of how he met Christine: in wartime Germany they traded on the black market, and after a ceiling collapsed in her room he offered to fix it. They married quickly, and after the war he brought her to London. Wilfrid then says he will not call Christine as a witness, and Vole protests he cannot face the trial without her.
What's really going on
The romance is told as a series of small deals, and that is the point: Vole's charm is that he turns poverty into courtship. He trades sugar and milk, offers to fix a broken ceiling, and marries a woman who "broke down and cried" not over love but over a solid roof and a British passport. Wilfrid hears the story and quietly decides Christine will never take the stand — "She's a foreigner, unfamiliar with the subtleties of our language." What he does not say is that he trusts her even less than the prosecution would. Vole's reaction is pure dependence: "Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk." His need is real, and it is also exactly what makes him easy to manipulate.
Key lines & what they mean
- “It's a pleasure to do business with you.”
- Part of the black-market courtship: a polite, salesman-like line that turns a small barter into a friendly deal between two people who are clearly flirting.
- “First time she saw it, she was so happy she broke down and cried.”
- Vole remembers Christine's reaction to their first flat. The tears show how much a safe home meant to a displaced foreign woman.
- “For no other reason than I'm a mean, ill-tempered old man who hates to lose.”
- Wilfrid's dry answer to why he will take the case: not justice or pity, but the pride of an old lawyer who cannot bear to lose.
- “Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk.”
- Vole's plea reveals how completely he depends on his wife — the emotional truth of the marriage, and, to the lawyers, a dangerous weakness.
Theme
- Marriage — The scene tells how a wartime barter turned into a marriage built on a roof and a passport as much as on love.
- Trust — Wilfrid refuses to put Christine on the stand, and Vole's desperate dependence on her becomes the case's weak point.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel1/6
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“First time she saw it, she was so happy she broke down and cried.”
Por qué es buena
Joy arrives as tears, showing what a home means to someone who had none.
Registro
Neutral
Úsala tú
She was so happy she could not stop crying.
“For no other reason than I'm a mean, ill-tempered old man who hates to lose.”
Por qué es buena
He calls himself mean and bitter, which is exactly how he promises to fight.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
I'll help for no other reason than I hate loose ends.
“Look, I can't face this without Christine. I tell you, I need her. Without her I'm sunk.”
Por qué es buena
Short repeated bursts turn plain need into panic, and the last word seals his fear.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
Without my notes I'm sunk in that meeting.
Siguiente · 14to a pointLa escena: Leonard Vole Pleads Not GuiltyIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- A flat and a passport can be its own kind of love story.
- Sir Wilfrid hides his loyalty behind self-mockery.
- Vole's need for his wife reads as both tender and dangerous.
- Barter makes two strangers easy with each other.
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy does Wilfrid refuse to let Christine testify?
He says she is a foreigner who does not know the subtleties of English, and that the prosecutor, Mr Myers, could easily trip her up. He would rather build the defence without her.
How did Vole and Christine meet?
On the black market in wartime Germany, trading sugar, milk and other goods. After a ceiling collapsed in her room and he offered to fix it, they quickly married and later moved to London.
Why did Christine cry when she saw the flat?
For a displaced woman with no home, a small flat in Edgware Road meant security: a solid roof over her head and, with marriage, a British passport.
What does "a pleasure to do business with you" reveal?
It shows how Vole's charm works even in a black-market barter: he makes a small trade feel warm and personal, which is exactly how he wins Christine over.
Why do the lawyers call Vole's dependence on Christine dangerous?
Because his whole case seems to rest on her, and she is precisely the witness Wilfrid refuses to use. The dry image is a drowning man clutching at a razor blade — a grip that cuts as it saves.