386 - (Grayson Hall) - A seance was held in the great house of Collinwood, a seance which sent Victoria Winters back on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the Collins family who lived in the year 1795. An evil woman is at work in the old Collins mansion. She has sown the seeds of intrigue and deceit within the family. She has aroused suspicions of witchcraft, and those suspicions have been directed at one who is innocent.
Drawing room - Angelique brings Natalie her deck of Tarot cards and comments about how distracted she seems. Natalie says she wants to do a reading to find out where Vicki is. Angelique asks no further questions and goes upstairs. Barnabas and Nathan come in and ask Natalie to describe Trask's interrogation of Miss Winters. Natalie explains exactly what happened, and how Vicki refused to cooperate with Trask. Nathan and Barnabas agree that, for her safely, Vicki must leave the house, but Natalie informs them it's too late--Trask forcibly took her away! She regrets allowing it, she confesses, and tells them how Trask hopes to prove by morning that Vicki is a witch. Natalie accepts blame for what happened and asks them to look for Vicki--she fears Trask is torturing the girl. Nathan and Barn resolve to search for Vicki, but Barnabas first tells Natalie that she and Abigail should be ashamed of themselves. She complains that they've had nothing but misfortune since coming to Collinsport and she wishes they'd stayed in Martinique.
Trask returns, but steadfastly refuses to tell Barnabas where he took Miss Winters. He shouldn't be interfering in his fight with Satan, warns Trask--and besides, why is Barnabas defending this woman, a stranger who harmed his family? Barnabas curtly reminds Trask that they just fought a war that established certain rights, one of which--that a person is innocent until proven guilty (yes, Frid bobbled the line and said innocent until proven innocent, but we know what he meant)--applies to Miss Winters. He and Nathan head out to find her.
Then Trask spots Natalie's Tarot cards and takes her to task for claiming to be a religious woman. Those cards are the devil's playthings! Essentially, Natalie tells him to screw off. Angelique brings in tea as the two of them are discussing the "tree test" to which he's put Vicki. You can see Angelique has an idea, and, looking like Little Blue Riding Hood in a hooded cloak, she heads out of the house. Vicki, tied to the tree, cries weakly for help. Barnabas and Nathan, searching with a llantern, hear her and head in that direction, Angelique following, maintaining her distance. They untie Vicki, and Barnabas wants to take her back to the Old House, but Vicki is petrified at that idea-she doesn't want Trask near her! Nathan suggests hiding her at the new house, and Barnabas agrees.
Angelique, after they've gone, sets a small tree aflame on a rock. It burns steadily, and soon, the tree to which Vicki was tied begins to burn, too. At dawn, Trask leaves the house and Natalie follows him.
Nathan and Barnabas bring Vicki to Collinwood. They promise to bring her blankets and food. Vicki says she never wants to see Trask again, and assures her if he has his way, Trask will be sent away soon. Natalie catches up to Trask in the woods--she wanted to see if Vicki was safe. Trask muses on how powerful Miss Winters is--everyone feels sorry for her. She tells him she didn't approve of the way he treated Vicki. He wants her to return to the house, and she suggests he is afraid he's failed in proving Vicki a witch and doesn't want her to be witness to that fact. He's sure he's right, and when they go to the tree, Vicki is gone, but the tree is now a charred, smoking stump!
NOTES: Gotta love that Reverend Trask! Whatta guy!
Now that Angelique has used witchcraft to make Vicki look guilty, what is going to become of the poor girl? Will Barnabas and Nathan be able to keep her safe, or will she be discovered in her hiding place? Will Trask's determination to capture her, coupled with Angelique's desire to prove her a witch end up being Vicki's undoing?
387 - A seance was held in the great house of Collinwood, a seance which sent Victoria Winters back on an uncertain and frightening journey into the past, back to the Collins family who lived in the year 1795. It is a time of intrigue and terror in the old Collins mansion. The family fears the presence of a witch in the house, and the decision has been made to find and destroy her.
Drawing room - Trask tells Joshua and Andre that there might well be a coven of witches, since SOMEONE freed Victoria Winters from that tree. Angelique, doing some chores, listens to this with interest, and some trepidation, I'm sure. Trask asks Joshua permission to interrogate everyone, but the family patriarch orders caution and judgment--the Collins family oretuge ge is at stake, after all. Andre, who Trask says is either protecting himself or someone else, is miffed to be included amongst the interrogatees, calling Trask a self-styled witchhunter, and only after Joshua insists does he agree to be questioned--but let it be known that he is doing it under duress and being questioned by a complete idiot!
You go, Andre!
Angelique catches Nathan leaving the back servants' entrance bearing a shirtful of food. He claims he was going to burn the shirt, but has to change his story when she smells the food inside. He then says he was going on a picnic and invites her to join him. She's puzzled by the December picnic, but he asks her to keep her knowledge that he "borrowed" food from the kitchen a secret. She agrees, but after he leaves, thinks that he's a conceited fool--she knows damn well he's bringing that food to Victoria Winters.
Drawing room - Trask, annoyed that Angelique is late for his interrogation, calls the duPres' and their servants sacrilegious and arrogant. When Angelique enters, she is polite and forthcoming, but he manages to make her solitary walks in the woods sound like meetings with the devil. It doesn't help that she admits she wasn't baptized, and claims it's because her parents died when she was young. She claims to fear the Almighty and assures him she knows nothing of sorcery. The devil has never tempted her because she has such a strong loyalty to her (?) God. Angelique drops to her knees, clasps her hands together, and claims she wants to be a child of religion. Suddenly, she has a vision, which she claims is thanks to Reverend Trask's influence. Joshua enters while Ang is having her spiritual revelation--she hears voices, a man and a woman. They are in a big, new house, and no one is there. Joshua recognizes the description as Collinwood, the house being built, and Trask immediately wants to hasten there and find the witch! Angelique, still kneeling, grins.
Collinwood drawing room - A hungry Vicki devours the food Nathan brought her. He tells her Angelique saw him with the food, but Vicki is sure she won't say anything. She thanks him and expresses a hope he isn't endangering himself by helping her. Then, foolishly, she begins to talk about getting back to her own world, her own time. Nathan warns her that talk like that will begin to make even her friends doubt her. She apologizes--does Nathan think her a witch? No, but he does think her strange. He likes her and wants to help her, he assures Vicki. They hear voices in the foyer--Trask and Joshua! Oh, yes, there's definitely an evil spirit in this house, says Trask, and they'd better get rid of it before the family moves in. They hear a noise and Nathan comes out. He was checking out the house, he tells Joshua, who says he should have asked permission first. Trask asks Nathan where the witch is, and when Forbes says he has no idea, accuses him of lying--they'll search the house, Trask insists. When the enter the drawing room, Vicki has fled; the window is open. Trask finds the fresh food on top of a crate and gazes with suspicion at Nathan.
NOTES: Angelique is such a hoot in this ep! She really knows how to play Trask like a fish on a hook, with her kneeling and swearing she wishes to be a child of God. Too bad Vicki can't take lessons from her.
Love, Robin
