461 - (Nancy Barrett) The great house of Collinwood stands in the 20th century as it did in the 18th, a silent witness to the tragedies of the Collins family, then and now. For time has been suspended here. The hands of the clock are stopped as a result of a seance and the girl who is missing, whose journey to the year 1795 began in this room, at this table--that girl is about to die, convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to hang. And now, two moments in time are parallel. During one tick of the clock in 1968, months have passed in 1795. Now only seconds remain. One woman stands at the gallows, her death nearer and nearer. Now two moments in time are parallel and the great clock suddenly starts again. The members of the seance stare in horror and disbelief, for where Victoria Winters was, there is a stranger on her way to this estate 170 years ago, a stranger to all except one man, who lived then as well as now.
We once again see those who participated in the seance in their original positions--Barnabas, Carolyn, Roger, Julia, Elizabeth and Phyllis Wicke.
Roger races out of the drawing room, looking for Vicki. Barnabas looks terrified. "What are you doing here?" he demands of Phyllis, who grabs her throat, in pain. Vicki is being hanged, but, lucky for her, she and Phyllis trade places at just the right moment. Phyllis is screaming, grabbing her throat, and falls out of the chair. Barnabas and Carolyn trade looks of concern. Back in 1796, the jailer examines the dead woman--it's not the prisoner, not the one they hanged! they realize in consternation.
Vicki, back in her own time, screams shrilly and passes out. Roger and Barnabas help her to her feet. They wonder where Miss Wicke went. They assist her to the sofa and Liz suggests calling a doctor. Julia, kneeling, takes Vicki's pulse--she's alive, says Dr. Hoffman, though her pulse is slow. Julia also takes this moment to reveal that she's a doctor, startling Barnabas. Julia promises to provide explanations later. She asks for smelling salts and Carolyn volunteers to get them. Julia asks if she can trust her, and Carolyn nastily asks why she shouldn't. Roger wants to search the house for Miss Wicke. Vicki wakes up muttering that Millicent was right--she said he wasn't dead. She's so glad. Barnabas turns away, terrified of being exposed. Why didn't you want anyone to know you were alive? persists Vicki. She calls Liz Mrs. Collins, then spots Julia and Roger. This jolt clues her in--I'm back. I didn't die! cries Vicki, ecstatic. Roger asks Barnabas to find out what this is all about. Julia wants Roger to help her take Vicki, who's apparently in some kind of shock upstairs--she wants to give her a sedative. Barnabas volunteers to help her take Vicki upstairs, but Julia asks Roger to assist her. Vicki's arm hurts, and Julia notices rope burns on the girl's throat. Vicki remembers nothing. "Barnabas," says Vicki. Roger points out she mentioned Millicent, who died 200 years ago. Vicki gets upset--she doesn't know. The dress, asks Roger, but Julia says this isn't time yet for questions. Barnabas says he wants to talk to Julia later, but she says that isn't necessary, for the moment she's in charge. They give each other a long look as Roger assists Vicki upstairs; Vicki calls Carolyn "Millicent" along the way. Julia says she'll send for Liz as soon as she thinks it wise, and Barnabas seems very nervous. Liz asks Barn if he had a premonition about tonight. He walks away. He didn't want to have the seance. He figures she's back in the time where she belongs. She was coming to care for Sarah Collins, remembers Liz, and was in a carriage accident. Sarah died in 1795, says Barnabas. Liz wants to consult the family history book, but it's gone. Barnabas feels there are more important things going on than the loss of a book. Liz says he sounds like he knows what happened--tell. He implied Miss Wicke was living back in the past--does the past repeat itself constantly? Barnabas can't believe it, doesn't want to. Perhaps their time is different, suggests Barnabas.
Liz thinks he believes Vicki saw Millicent Collins, she can tell by his face--you always have knowledge we don't--you knew Miss Hoffman was a doctor. He found it out, yes, Barnabas admits. Why didn't you tell us? drills Liz--for the same reason you aren't telling her what you felt happened this evening? Julia enters and says she gave Vicki a sedative, but "she wants to see you." Barnabas assumes this means him, but Julia sarcastically says no, it's Liz Vicki asked for. Left alone, Julia and Barnabas square off. He advances on her and accuses her of not allowing him to see Vicki. She teases him that he's worried, and he accuses her of enjoying it.
You really believe she was in the past, says Julia. What will I do, frets Barnabas, if Vicki is telling Mrs. Stoddard the truth about me right now? You're not in control of everything and everybody here, says Julia, who finds that interesting. She turns on her heel and, smiling, walks away. Barnabas stares after her with blazing eyes.
Liz watches over the sleeping Vicki. Julia enters. Liz says tonight isn't the time to explain Julia's story, but Julia insists, explaining that she needed a change, she felt she was in danger of having nervous breakdown if she continued to work. Dr. Woodard knew of her interest in history of the area and the Collinses'--she IS writing a book, that much is true (no it's not!)--she hopes Liz will let her stay and finish it. Vicki moans in her sleep. Julia assures her she's OK. It hurts, complains Vicki. Julia says there was a bullet wound, an ancient bandage, no tape. How could she have been shot? asks Liz, and Julia says the wound wasn't made from a modern bullet, is about 3 weeks old. Liz is confused; she sees her every day. Vicki screams for Peter, asking Mrs. Collins to save him from hanging, then cries out that her own throat hurts. The mask, Vicki says, she heard Peter calling to her, and they put the rope around her neck, she was on the gallows, and the man said, "Victoria Winters, may God have mercy on your unrepentant soul!" and she began to drop! Liz and Julia assure her she's OK, back at Collinwood. Who is Peter? asks Julia. Vicki knows the name, but not from where--she doesn't remember what happened to her, but continues calling for Peter to help her. A dog howls, and a bat hangs suspended outside the window. Barnabas hides in the shadows of Vicki's room as Liz and Julia watch over Vicki. Liz offers Julia a cup of tea, then asks her to go tell Barnabas and Roger what's going on--Julia is so definite about what happened. Being definite is her cross in life, chuckles Julia, but she wants to stay with Vicki right now. Liz asks her to do it as a favor, and Julia complies, feeling she owes Liz a great deal. The bat squeaks, and Barnabas calls to Vicki from the corner of her room. Wake up, my dear, he orders, walking around her bed--it's Barnabas. Vicki murmurs his name and he stands over her. She wakes up. I was concerned about you, she says--why did Josette come to the jail and tell me you were dead? Why was I in jail, wonders Vicki. Barnabas assures her she's safe at Collinwood. I'm confused, she says. Why? he asks. About you, she responds--when Josette came to the jail, she blamed me for killing you--I would never put a curse on you, you would never believe that, would you? Never, he says, and he didn't know there WAS a curse on him. Poor Josette, laments Vicki, I tried to stop her death, told the Countess. . .told her she would lose a ring the day she would die, a black onyx ring like Barnabas', but they told me he was dead.
She doesn't remember anything else, only that he wasn't dead, but that's a secret Millicent told her. She was there! Does you know why it's a secret, he demands of Vicki. Julia enters and orders Barnabas to get out--he's disturbing her patient and if he doesn't go, she'll tell Roger and Liz--oh, and don't come back again--she won't be alone all night. Barnabas rises from the bed and gives Julia an angry look before leaving. Vicki realizes she frightened Barnabas, but she was in another time with people she'll never see again--what am I going to do--what? she begs Julia.
When Carolyn sees Barnabas in the drawing room, he orders her to divert Julia tomorrow evening--he doesn?t care how. Carolyn says she isn't sure she can, but Barnabas insists that he be with Vicki alone. He was tonight, she points out. Yes, but not long enough, he says--I'll do what I must, Barnabas continues-- Vicki must speak with him alone, or she'll never speak again.
NOTES: I always thought it was rotten luck for poor Phyllis to die in Vicki's place that way, but I gather she did in the original story as it played out before Vicki went back in time.
The final scene between Barnabas and Joshua tore me up. It was so very sad. That poor man lost everything in the space of a few short weeks, and was left with a madwoman and an adopted son to raise--tough breaks all along the way.
(I was using the 1795 Concordance, as a source for the opening voiceovers, but the 1968 Concordance does not feature them, so, sorry to say, neither will I. Thank you for your patience and understanding!)
462 - Looks like Barnabas is losing his hold over the SYT, doesn't it? That must sting a whole lot!
Julia sits on Vicki's bed, hypnotizing her, sending her back in time, twirling her medallion in front of her face. Vicki doesn't want to go back, but Julia promises protection. Vicki thinks Julia is Abigail, and talks about using the book in the trial. Peter says they should use it--it will make the judges believe she came from the 20th century. Where is that book? asks Julia.
Vicki wishes Barnabas were here, he'd help, he'd get Peter out of jail. It's important, coaxes Julia, try to remember, but Vicki says she doesn't. The bat, says Vicki, Josette said the bat at the window had. . .she won't help her, she thinks she's a witch, too. Then Vicki says the Countess doesn't think she's a witch, and begs her to help Peter. She must go to him, cries Vicki. Julia swirls the medallion, trying to wake Vicki, but Vicki persists in saying she has to help him, don?t stop her.
Julia continues to swirl the medallion; Vicki calls to Barnabas, to Jeremiah, for help. Julia tells her she isn't the Countess, she's Julia Hoffman, and finally gets Vicki to close her eyes and remember nothing of this. Vicki opens her eyes to the snap of Julia's fingers and smiles. Vicki feels a bit better. Julia advises her to stay in bed, but Vicki feels she must find something, make sense of what happened. It wasn't a dream, says Julia, but Vicki must prove it to herself. Julia promises to help her, and gives her a sedative. Julia has business in town. Vicki fears sleep, she might be returned to the past, but Julia assures her Liz will sit with her (and how will that help?. Don't talk to either Barnabas or Carolyn says Julia, she doesn't want to answer all the questions they'll ask. Vicki settles to sleep, but dreams of someone calling her name,--Victoria Winters!--You said I could help you--let me help you! She sees Jeremiah's tombstone. He's watching her, even now, he says, and his hand thrusts out of the earth, reaching Vicki, in the dream, screams "Jeremiah, no, no!" He orders her to come to him, not to be afraid, he'll help her. He is the first he killed, says Jeremiah, the first but not the last says Jeremiah's ghost. Many will die at his hands! Vicki refuses to believe, but Jeremiah says he's heard them crying in their graves, so shall Vicki--he grabs her shoulders--for the last he will kill is. . .Don't fear him, says Jeremiah, look and see the truth. Vicki screams and runs, but Jeremiah says she is running from the wrong one, the one she should run from is Barnabas. You will end as I, warns Jeremiah.
Vicki cries out NO in her sleep and twists her head on the pillow.
In the gazebo, Barnabas stares at the fountain, looking disconsolate. Julia, sporting a gorgeous new haircut, joins him, calling the 'do an impulse. Barnabas tells her he likes her hair--"You're changing your image completely, no longer here under false pretenses." She couldn't tell the complete truth, they agree, or it would have endangered him, and he thanks her for that. She feels his compliments mean he wants something from her, and he says her directness makes him out to be more devious than he is. She refuses to tell him what Vicki has told her, and he says she's placing Vicki in danger. Blackmail, says Julia. Why won't she tell him, he demands, does she enjoy torturing him? No, she says. She won't let him see Vicki. She wants to protect both of them, says Julia, but he says not to protect him. He offers a bargain--help him and he'll leave Vicki alone. He realizes she doesn't trust him. She says she'd be a fool to. He explains the seance changed him--the panic he felt when he recognized Phyllis Wicke, Sarah's governess until tried for witchcraft. Julia asks if she was hanged. Barnabas says she was due to hang the day his coffin was carried to the tomb in chains. Vicki took her place, realizes Julia, and Phyllis knew his secret--and so does Vicki, finishes Barnabas. Julia says Vicki only remembers moments, fragmented, she seems afraid to remember all of it. Barnabas fears Vicki does know about him, why else is she afraid? He kneels on one knee (such a submissive posture!) and begs her to help him as he did before. Can't they be friends again? She doesn't know. She was ready to save him then, he points out, and his life depends on what Vicki knows.
If Julia won't let him, she must find out. She says she's trying to. Will she use what she learns to help or hurt him, he asks, and she says that depends entirely on him. (GOOOO, Julia!) She leaves him, still kneeling, and he decides he can't count on Julia--he must do what he can himself.
Julia goes upstairs to Vicki, who sits on the window seat. She compliments Julia's chic, lovely hairdo, too. The haircut doesn't make her feel all new, says Julia. Vicki tells Julia she rested poorly, but she needs a sedative that rids her of dreams. What is your subconscious mind telling you? asks Julia. Vicki says she saw Jeremiah in her dream, not Peter. Vicki minds talking about Bradford, it's weird to hear someone else say his name. She sometimes feels like she made him up. You didn't, says Julia. She went to town to see if there was a Peter Bradford in 1795. He was a jailer, says Julia, but she's reluctant to reveal the rest. Vicki prods. He was tried for the murder of Noah Gifford, a seaman, admits Julia. Vicki tells Julia SHE killed Noah, not Peter, but Julia says there's no way to let them know that, it happened so many years ago. Julia tells her Peter was hanged, upsetting Vicki terribly. She offers her another sedative, but Vicki doesn't want it--she loved Peter!
On the terrace, Julia tells Barnabas Vicki loves Peter Bradford. He's a dead man, protests Barnabas. "You love Josette," Julia retorts. He doesn't want her to say that name, says Barnabas, but Julia persists--Josette is dead, death doesn't stop love, which he knows quite well. Vicki will forget Peter, comforts Julia, but Barnabas is worried about what other memories might be unearthed--he has no time. He has to leave before the storm, he says, and tells her to say goodbye to Liz. She reminds him he promised her he would do nothing; she knows what she's told him is upsetting, but she can handle her as she did Maggie--whatever Vicki remembers, she'll make her forget--for him, she promises. He walks off without another word.
Barnabas goes to Vicki's room and recalls his conversation with Julia. He pushes her hair from her throat and she awakens. He observes she's frightened of him. She apologizes, saying she shouldn't be, he's her only link to what happened to her. How am I a link? asks Barnabas, but she refuses to talk about it. He insists he wants to know tonight. He sits on her bed?he wants to help her. She used to talk of the past with him so much, she loved it and wanted to live there, but she was wrong. She saw all the terrible things that can happen to people "All the terrible things," echoes Barnabas. Vicki learned too much about Joshua, Naomi, Josette. What about Josette, he asks. He didn't tell the story the way it happened, says Vicki--she didn't come to marry Jeremiah, she came to marry you. "Me?" asks Barnabas, and she says she's confused. She dreams of them, Barnabas, Jeremiah, whose ghost came to her tonight, warning her--she doesn't want to talk about it. Barnabas insists.
Jeremiah warned her about Barnabas, which is ridiculous, the one person who has always been kind to her, always wanted to help. Will you let me help you? asks Barnabas. He rises from the bed and backs away. "Come to me," he says, "Come." He stares at her, asks if something is stopping her from trusting him. No, says Vicki. He wants to prove his trust, and again tells her to come to him. She rises from the bed, walks to him, gazes into his eyes. He offers her peace. She says she would like that. He can make her forget, make everything seem far away. "Please. . .please," begs Vicki, and sinks against his shoulder. He pushes her hair out of the way and bites into her throat.
NOTES: Very sexy, that last scene. Barnabas finally overcame his aversion to biting Vicki. How will this change their relationship? If Julia finds out, she's going to be very pissed--and she offered to help him, be on his side!
Love, Robin
