376 - (Joan Bennett) - Time has been suspended at Collinwood. It awaits the completion of an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the year 1795. There in the old Collins mansion, one person has set in motion an evil plan, designed to prevent an impending marriage.
Natalie has arranged for her brother Andre to meet her in the same gazebo where she saw Jeremiah trysting with Josette. She tells him there is evil in the house, and that someone is trying to prevent Barnabas and Josette from marrying. He can't figure out why; the Collinses have everything to gain from this liaison. Then she tells Andre exactly what she witnessed and overheard. He still proclaims it ridiculous. But it did happen, Natalie assures him. Natalie is sure Josette loves Barnabas, and Andre wonders how she can love both men? Natalie said Josette was behaving strangely when she met Jeremiah, as if in a trance. Andre calls it mumbo jumbo,
but Natalie insists Josette is a lady, and wouldn't deceive, and she is going to find out what force is manipulating her niece! Andre tells Natalie he will make sure this doesn't happen again, and angrily stomps away.
Drawing room - Jeremiah comes in, sees Naomi drinking and suggests it's too early for it. She's bored, Naomi informs him, since Joshua says she must be a lady of leisure. With nothing else to do, she drinks. She asks Jeremiah why he isn't at work, and he says he wasn't feeling well. She offers to help, seems eager to, but he says he'll work it out himself. When Andre comes in and says he must speak to Jeremiah, Naomi leaves. Andre demands an explanation for Jeremiah's tryst with Josette, but he doesn't have one. It just happened; it was all very strange, but that wasn't a pre-arranged meeting. Andre rips into Jeremiah about not wanting a family scandal (he says perhaps they aren't as puritanical as they want outsiders to believe), nor does he want to see the families ripped apart.
Andre loves his daughter and wants Jeremiah to stay out of it; Jeremiah promises that he will not ever be alone with Josette again. Andre considers the matter fixed--and closed.
Outside the Old House - Natalie ponders--she knows Jeremiah and Josette don't love each other, why did they say it? Someone is trying to draw Josette away from Barnabas, but why? And who? She must find out before it's too late. She finds Naomi sipping the sherry in the drawing room and offers to read the tarot for her. Natalie gasps in horror after she's laid out the cards--it's bad! Naomi demands to know the details,
and Natalie explains that the inverted lover is the sign of a separation, the death card is the end of a love, and the chariot indicates a betrayal. Upset, Natalie ends the reading, announcing that someone is trying to destroy the natural order of things! Naomi can't think of a candidate, but Natalie starts questioning her about Vicki. Naomi defends Miss Winters, although she admits her arrival was under strange circumstances, and she was wearing an immodest dress. Where did she get such clothing, Natalie wonders. She sees a disaster deliberately caused, and Miss Winters might be considered a possibility--think about it, she advises Naomi soberly.
Naomi sleeps, dreams, follows Natalie's tarot cards (and Natalie's voice, like that of a narrator) out of her bedroom and into the living room. She follows Jeremiah, who won't pay attention to her calling him, into the drawing room, where he begins kissing a faceless, dark-haired woman. She hears them saying they don't know what's happening (and the voice isn't that of KLS), but they do know they love each other. Naomi spots a pitchfork on the unseen woman's hand. That woman is possessed by the devil, warns Natalie, and will bring death and destruction down on them! Naomi advances on them, trying to catch Jeremiah's attention, but he's still kissing the woman, and his voice tells her to go away.
Naomi grabs the woman's hand and the entire arm comes off! Naomi screams shrilly.
377 - (Nancy Barrett) - Time has been suspended at Collinwood while one woman makes an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to 1795, to discover this house, and in it, an evil force who can shape nightmares and then bring them to life.
Drawing room - Naomi is upset and distracted when Angelique comes downstairs searching for Natalie's fan, and when Angelique shows Naomi the Tarot cards on the fan, she is even more worried. She asks Angelique is she's seen Jeremiah, and as Naomi heads to his room to speak to him, Angelique knows what she has set in motion cannot be stopped--not even by her.
Jeremiah's room - Naomi and Jeremiah discuss her disturbing dream of the previous night, and she refers to his love for the faceless woman as obsessive and wrong. She tells him about the pitchfork she saw on the woman's hand, and asks if he knows what it was she was attempting to stop him from doing.
Jeremiah assures her he'll be fine once Josette and Barnabas are married. When she tells him she had her dream after Countess duPres read the Tarot, he puts her dream down to that and nothing more. Blame the Countess for her dream, he suggests, and forget it. Naomi's face says that would be impossible.
Drawing room - Nathan kisses Josette's hand, envying Barnabas for his beautiful (and I'm sure rich) fiancee. He is also introduced to the giggly Millicent, who tells him being on the ocean makes her seasick. Nathan goes into the study to speak with Jeremiah, and Millicent proclaims the Lieutenant handsome. As Josette is handing her a cup of tea, Naomi spots the pitchfork on Josette's hand. "It's you!" Naomi cries, then begs illness and leaves. Millicent and Josette study the pitchfork on the latter's hand.
Jeremiah's room - Nathan asks Jeremiah about Vicki, but his interests turn elsewhere when he learns Millicent is very wealthy--seasickness notwithstanding. After Nathan leaves, Naomi tells Jeremiah she saw a pitchfork on Josette's hand--just like the one in her dream! This upsets Jeremiah, but he insists it's a coincidence. Jeremiah orders Naomi not to mention this to anyone, then apologizes and makes a joke. He reminds her how much this would upset Josette, and Naomi agrees to keep silent. Jeremiah, however, is still disturbed.
Josette, in her room, fearing the pox, desperately tries to wash off the brand, but it doesn't come off until Angelique,
who claims she had a similar mark, uses the rosewater, which easily removes it. Josette hugs her maid, grateful, and asks Angelique what she would do without her. Angelique, hugging back, her eyes cold, tells her mistress she will never let her find out.
Drawing room - Forbes flirts with Millicent, who is clearly innocent of the wiles of handsome men. Yes, she knows her broker, banker and lawyer, but that's about it. He promises to teach her about men, and she calls him wicked. He admits he is, and she likes his honesty. Nathan pours it on thick, telling her SHE made him honest just by looking at him. He showers her with outrageous compliments, she calls him forward,
and he laughs and takes her hand in his, promising to show her a whole new world. Jeremiah intervenes, but that doesn't prevent Nathan from asking Millicent to see him. Millicent gives Jeremiah money to get her cough medicine for Daniel, and spots the same pitchfork brand on his hand. He hastily claims a bruise, and Nathan tells Millicent they will have tea together tomorrow.
Josette's room - Josette applies some of Angelique's special perfume, and when she answers her door, finds Jeremiah there. He swears he didn't want to be alone with her, but her flirtatious manner assures him she's very glad he stopped by. He's angry with himself, but she insists their matching brands are the result of Fate, and they should stop hiding what they feel for each other. She caresses him, and even though he shakes her and reminds her, roughly, that she loves Barnabas, they end up in a passionate clinch. She tries the rosewater on his hand, to no avail, and he tells her Naomi dreamed of this "brand for lovers." Their hands touch, they kiss again.
He walks away, tells her that when he's alone in his room, he doesn't feel this fever for her; then returns to her side and kisses her face. Let everyone in the house know, insists Josette. we must be together! Jeremiah succumbs, then cries out this can't be--he is leaving Collinsport, now, tonight. He races from the room. Josette is upset and confused.
NOTES: This is going to destroy poor Barnabas! How could Angelique, a woman who claims to love him so much, do this to him?
Love, Robin
