One of the best episodes ever, with great work by everyone!
Judith overhears everything when Aristede stumbles into the Great House and tells Gregory that Evan is dead. Angry at first that Aristede didn't wait at Evan's, Trask agrees to hide Aristede until he can put his plan in motion. Judith goes upstairs and uses a phone in her room to tell Tim that she has to see him right away. (For plot purposes in this episode, there are no phones in the foyer or the drawing room!)
When Judith gets to the hotel, she tells Tim that Evan has been murdered. A man who lived as he did must have had many enemies, she muses. How did he fool them all? I’ve found out that lots of men live that way. Turning to the topic at hand, she says, Evan told me that you hate my husband. He used me to kill Minerva, Tim replies bitterly. What about the results of your investigation? Judith asks. Tim's story is pretty terrible: Trask was visiting a Mrs. Curry in Fall River. The respectable widow of a clergyman, Mrs. Curry fully expected to marry Trask herself--but when she found out that he was already married, she killed herself before Tim got to speak to her. Judith exclaims in pity and horror. This is the last death he will cause! she declares. I will see to it--perhaps with your help, if I can trust you. Tim reminds her about how much he hates Trask, and Judith tells him to listen carefully to her plans.
Meanwhile, up in Judith’s bedroom, Trask is finalizing his own plans with Aristede. (The firelight is reflected on the shiny headboard, making it look like the bed is on fire!) Trask hasn't bothered to find out where Judith is, but it makes things easier for him now. He instructs Aristede to hide behind the drapes, then gives him a detailed description of Judith's unvarying bedtime routine: First she’ll take off her jewelry, then open the window because she has an obsession with fresh air. After tonight, he notes, she won’t need any. (Perhaps, like Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, she has a fear of being buried alive!) What about my payment? Aristede asks. Take the jewelry to make it look like an interrupted robbery after you finish with her, Trask replies. Leave the window open to make it look as though you left that way. He holds out a gun, which Aristede takes with a trembling hand. If all goes well, Trask tells him, we will not meet again. A carriage will be waiting for you by the gate to take you to Portland, where you can catch the train to New York. Aristede reminds Trask about his promise to exorcise the ghost of Garth Blackwood. If you succeed, the ghost will disappear, Trask replies. But if you fail, your friend Blackwood will find you no matter how much you try to avoid him. I will see to that.
Waiting for Judith to return, Trask opens the front doors of the house. (For no apparent reason, the foyer tables are pushed against each other by the wall.) When he hears the sounds of her approaching carriage, he hurries into the drawing room and pretends to have been reading for a long time. I’ve been terribly worried! he exclaims. There’s a madman loose in the area, and Evan Hanley is dead. I heard it in the village, Judith replies. I’ve been planning a surprise for you. She coyly refuses to say what it is. You don’t have to give me a surprise, Trask says fulsomely. You’ve given me quite enough. I have found the peace that I have always searched for and never could find, here in this house with you. I will grow old here with you. Judith smiles sweetly and says, It’s nice you feel that way. Trask suggests she go upstairs and rest, but she says she has to write to her lawyers in Boston about Evan and suggests that he finish reading in the study. Trask takes his book and goes off to meditate. Judith lets the smile fall from her face as she steps into the foyer. When she hears the study door close, she lets Tim into the house and takes him into the drawing room. She too has prepared a plan of the upstairs, indicating her room. With absolute sang-froid, Judith gives Tim the details: He is reading, so you have about an hour. Go to Quentin’s room first. After that, give me fifteen minutes, then come to my room. I’ve had all of Quentin’s belongings removed. A curtained alcove in the corridor holds all the things we need. I haven’t had a chance to tell Quentin--he is in town--but I’m not worried about that. As Tim is about to leave the drawing room, Judith asks, Do you think me mad? He answers firmly, I should think you mad if you continued to live with Trask. That is what I have decided, Judith says, and warns Tim to go quietly. He rushes up the stairs almost noiselessly. Judith waits a moment, then returns to the drawing room to turn out the lights. She is unaware that Garth Blackwood is watching through the french windows, but his argument is not with her.
Judith goes upstairs to her bedroom, then closes the door. Unaware that her life is in danger, she begins her unvarying routine, just as Trask described, while Aristede watches from his concealment. She takes off her earrings and puts them on the dressing table. She moves to a small table that holds a tray with a brandy decanter and glasses, smiles at the thought of-- something, and checks the clock on the mantel.
Downstairs, Garth Blackwood opens the door (naturally without bothering to knock), checks the drawing room, and starts lurching upstairs, dragging his chain behind him.
Gun in hand, Aristede presses farther back into the shadows as Judith opens the window. She is about to open the decanter when Aristede steps out from behind the curtain. She gasps when she sees his reflection in the full-length mirror (later inherited by Carolyn!). Who are you? she asks faintly. She starts to walk toward him, even though he’s pointing the revolver at her. I have come here to kill you, Aristede announces. No! she cries. Yes! Aristede insists, but suddenly we can hear the distinctive sounds of Blackwood’s approach. Judith dashes away from Aristede toward the fireplace, but terror overwhelms Aristede as he comes face to face with the master of Dartmoor for the first time in many years. Like many a villain before and after him, Blackwood takes the line of regret as he limps toward Aristede: You learn little, Aristede! Crime after crime... It saddens me, as it always saddens me when one of my boys refuses to learn! He slams his chain on the floor. Frozen with fear, Aristede gabbles, Please, sir, please! But Blackwood lifts the chain and limps closer. It’s too late for excuses, Blackwood replies implacably. Justice must be done! Justice at last, Aristede! Bitter justice for your crimes against the state, against me, and against this poor woman. Justice! He aims the chain at Aristede, who ducks under it, rushes over to the window, and jumps out. Blackwood roars, You shall not escape me. He is on his way out of the room when Trask arrives, but Blackwood ignores both Trask and Elizabeth as he lurches out in pursuit of his quarry.
After ascertaining that Judith is unhurt, Trask wants to go downstairs and call the police. Despite her close shave, Judith exerts herself to keep him with her. (Perhaps Judith has never told him there’s a telephone in the bedroom.) There were two men, she says, one who was after the other. Trask looks out the window and sees that Aristede has gotten away. Judith says she could recognize him and then, pretending to be much weaker than she is, asks for some brandy. As Trask obliges, she points out, The first man at least wasn’t a robber, since my earrings are still on the table--he must have been in the room when I returned. Trask brings her the brandy. Please have one with me, Judith insists--for your sake. Judith watches intently as he pours himself a glass. When he drinks it all off at once, she can barely conceal her triumph. Once again he wants to call the police. She pleads nervousness. I hope this doesn’t affect your nerves, Trask lies. You have improved so much since leaving the sanitarium. You must try harder to control yours-- Suddenly he starts to feel strange. What’s the matter, Gregory? Judith asks smugly. I feel so peculiar, he answers. He stumbles toward the bed. What is happening to me? he gasps. The next moment he falls to the floor unconscious, still gripping the bedclothes. Judith smiles down at him as Tim comes into the room, but she is terribly angry. He tried to have me killed! Judith cries in outrage. Tim seems unsurprised--perhaps he thinks Trask capable of anything. I don’t need your help, he assures Judith. Good--I actually do feel rather faint, she realizes. However, she refuses to let herself succumb. We will go ahead with our plans, she declares. Tim smiles in anticipation.
Most of the furniture in Quentin’s room has been changed, but despite Judith’s statement, his photo of Jenny still sits on the mantel. This makes no difference to Gregory Trask, who wakes from an obviously drugged slumber in a chair. He is certainly surprised to find himself here, still more to find the door locked. He pounds on it and calls to Judith, but Tim steps out from the alcove. With a slight bow, he says politely, I bid you a final goodnight. Stop this nonsense! Trask blusters. Tim calmly points out, These quarters are certainly more comfortable than Minerva’s coffin. He points a gun at Trask. You are going to stay here, he says. What is happening here? Trask asks in disbelief. I should think that you would have sensed that by now, Tim answers. You made me murder Minerva--you and Evan Hanley. Well, he has been paid. But you, sir, have yet to receive your reward. He backs toward the door, taking the key from his pocket: How wise of you not to move. So often I have been tempted to kill you. Trask rages, You will spend the rest of your life in prison! How appropriate that you use that image, Tim comments as he leaves the room and slams the door. We can hear him lock the door as Trask rushes over and starts pounding on it, calling for Judith.
Meanwhile, the resourceful Judith turns even her own attempted murder to her advantage. Talking on the phone to the sheriff, she tells him about the two men. My husband went after them, she says. He’s been gone for an hour, and I’m terrified that something has happened to him.
Judith! Trask shouts. Is anyone out there? He receives no reply but the steady sounds of metal scraping stone. He decides there must be a key, and searches the room. He opens a box on a table, and beneath some old letters he finally finds the key. Excited, he uses it to open the door--and is confronted by a brick wall, solid except for two bricks at eye level. (Since the mortar is still fresh and hasn't set, he could easily knock the whole thing down, but that doesn’t seem to occur to him or the writers.) Judith is in the corridor, watching Tim’s bricklaying prowess, and Trask spots her through the hole. You can’t do this to me! he shouts. Oh, can't I, Gregory? she answers mildly. Perhaps you don't know me as well as you thought you did. Trask is at last beginning to be frightened. You’re not going to leave me in here? he asks. Smiling sweetly, Judith answers, That is exactly what I’m doing, Gregory. I simply came to say goodbye. Now you can have all the time you want to meditate. No! Trask screams, but Judith only nods to Tim, who sets the last two bricks in place. Trask continues to scream at Judith as Tim trowels more mortar around the last brick. Then Tim and Judith exchange very satisfied smiles.....
