Episode #51 - Collinwood mansion, situated atop Widows' Hill, has a long history of sudden and violent death, and once again it strikes, this time under my very eyes.
Back in the drawing room, Roger pours another drink. Liz asks him if Carolyn and Miss Winters have come back yet. Roger says he wasn't aware they had gone out. Go outside and look, she suggests. You worry too much, he says, they're perfectly capable of looking out for themselves. Liz gazes out the window. I thought you'd gone up to bed, he says. I don't feel sleepy, she says--I do worry too much--right now I'm concerned about Bill Malloy--something has happened to him, I know it. You know nothing of the sort, insists Roger, does he have to ask permission every time he wants to stay in Bangor or with a friend? Of course not, says Liz, but he usually lets me know, especially since he's become manager of the entire plant--it's only natural in case I have to reach him. It's natural for you to be concerned about your daughter's behavior, but Bill Malloy is something else again, says Roger. Yes he is, says Liz, he's the most reliable man I've ever known--this is more than spending the night away--it's the first day he's ever missed at the office--I know he would have notified me if he could have. Do you think he's marooned somewhere where there's no phone or post office? asks Roger. I don't know, says Liz--I wonder if we should ask the police to make inquiries. Certainly not, says Roger--I'm sure he had a valid reason for disappearing. I should think you'd show more concern than you do, says Liz. Malloy's personal life is of no interest to me whatsoever, says Roger--however, he was away a whole day, and I think he did it deliberately. Roger downs more of his drink. What if something happened to him? asks Liz. Carolyn and Vicki race in, Carolyn launching herself into her mother's arms. They're both babbling at once. Roger asks what's the matter. Out there, at the bottom of the cliff, says Vicki--there's a dead man! Roger appears shocked; Liz asks what they're talking about. Carolyn assures her it's true--they did find a dead man out there. Out where? asks Roger. On the rocks at the foot of Widows' Hill, says Vicki. It was terrible! wails Carolyn. Liz orders both girls to calm down--she leads Carolyn to the sofa and asks exactly what they saw. We were on the ledge just below the top of Widows' Hill, looking for Carolyn's watch, explains Vicki--I looked over at the waves and just then the moon came out and that's when I saw it. What did you see? asks Roger. (How many times do they have to repeat the same questions?) A dead man! says Vicki. I saw it, too, says Carolyn, just as clearly! It's unbelievable! exclaims Liz. Who was it? asks Roger. You don't think we went down there and looked, do you? asks Carolyn, her voice ragged. Liz tells Roger to get a flashlight and go down there and look.
Why should I? asks Roger--it's ridiculous. It's not ridiculous! insists Vicki--there was a dead man, half in and half out of the water--won't you please go and look? It's the only way to settle the matter, says Liz. Why ask me? says Roger, what do we have Matthew for? (Coward, Roger!) He sits down (he isn't going anywhere!) Liz calls Matthew's cottage and tells him Carolyn and Vicki just had a bad scare--they were standing on the ledge of Widows' Hill just now. Why would they be doing a darn fool thing like that? he asks. It doesn't matter why they were there, says Liz, but they looked down and thought they saw a dead man--they're both terribly upset and I know they won't be able to sleep until we make sure--would you go check?--take a flashlight and be careful of the path. I'll do that, he promises. Then come to the house and tell me what they thought they saw, says Liz (what they THOUGHT they saw?--how will Matthew tell her that?). She hangs up. Mother, says Carolyn, you keep thinking it was something we THOUGHT we saw--it was REAL, horribly real! I know dear, says Liz, the light plays strange tricks with the water, and sometimes rocks appear to float. It wasn't a rock, says Vicki, it moved with the waves, back and forth. Like seaweed, perhaps, suggests Roger. I've lived here all my life, says Carolyn, kneeling beside Roger, I know what seaweed looks like! Then you should know that it can bunch up and take all sorts of shapes, says Roger--and move with the waves, as Miss Winters aptly suggested, back and forth. You don't suppose this is some trick of David's, do you? asks Vicki. Liz asks what she means. Vicki says he seems to have death on his mind. It sounds exactly like the type of joke that would appeal to my good-natured son, says Roger sourly--incorrigible monster. He pours another drink. This is no time for your sarcasm, Liz crisply informs him.
Matthew, flashlight in hand, looks over the edge of the cliff, carefully working his way down the slope.
I don't care what you think, cries Carolyn, what we saw was a dead man! Couldn't it have been a dead woman? suggests Roger--isn't that what our cliff is noted for?--don't we know that way back in time, a bride left, fell or was pushed to he death from Widows' Hill? That's what I told Vicki, says Carolyn. And sometime later, adds Roger, a young girl did the same thing--this one a governess who had come to tutor the son of the household. He directs this last to Vicki, who tells him she knows all about that, and that a third death has been prophesied. It's nothing but a local superstition, says Liz. They have a bad habit of coming true at Collinwood, remarks Roger. Why don't you girls go on up to bed? suggests Liz. I'd rather wait and hear that Matthew has to say, says Vicki. He did say he'd go look? asks Carolyn. Yes, Liz assures her. I couldn't sleep, anyway, insists Carolyn, I'd keep seeing that...thing down there. At least we've made some progress, says Roger--this corpse of yours has turned into a thing. It wasn't a very pretty sight, Vicki says--and I know it was a dead man! Go into the kitchen and make some cocoa, says Liz, it might make you sleepy. How can anybody sleep when there's a body floating around down there? asks Carolyn--Vicki, can I bunk in with you?--I know it's the only way I'll get any sleep. Sure, agrees Vicki--how about the cocoa? The girls go into the foyer. Carolyn wipes her eyes with her hand, asking Vicki, "You did see the same thing I saw, didn't you?" I'm afraid I did, says Vicki. Who do you suppose it was? asks Carolyn. A stranger, I hope, says Vicki. They go into the kitchen.
I won't even venture a guess as to the identity of this mysterious corpse, says Liz. Perhaps Burke Devlin drowned himself in a pit of depression, suggests Roger. (You WISH, Roger!) I hardly think so, says Liz--until Matthew tells us otherwise, I'd prefer to think Carolyn and Miss Winters are mistaken. She sits down. What if they should turn out now to be mistaken? he queries, sitting on the sofa across from her. Can't we change the subject? asks Liz--before they came bursting in here, we were discussing your meeting with Bill Malloy. Don't be tiresome, he says, I thought we'd finished that discussion. You said he disapproved, she says. He's old-fashioned and hide bound, says Roger--he wouldn't recognize an idea if it were formally introduced to him. I realize he lacks initiative, says Liz, and intuition--I suppose you ought to know, I asked Ned Calder to take back his old job. Calder? asks Roger, what for?--if I were given free reign around here... If you were given free reign, says Liz, the Collins Fishing Fleet and Cannery would disappear forever! (Ouch, Liz, that's cold!) Roger looks at her and asks how she knows--he's never been given a chance to prove one idea--"And now with Calder breathing down my neck..." He won't be, says Liz. Oh yes he will, says Roger, I know his type. He refused the offer, she says. Oh, he refused, did he, says Roger--maybe I'll have an opportunity after all. If Bill Malloy approves, says Liz. If you think he's so great, says Roger, why did you call Calder in the first place?--or did you call him for some personal satisfaction of your own? (Hmm, a candidate for Vicki's papa?) Why should I? asks Liz, don't be silly. There's loud, insistent knocking at the door. They both rise and Liz answers and asks Matthew to come in. I went to the ledge and looked down at the water, he says, shined my flash down on the rocks--there wasn't much moon to see. Speak up, orders Roger--what did you see? Just to make sure, I climbed down the path all the way to the rocks and walked along the water's edge. (This guy tells it in his own sweet time.) Carolyn and Vicki come running in. Did you find what we saw? asks Carolyn anxiously. I walked from one end of the property to the other and back again, he says--there was nothing there. But we SAW it! wails Carolyn--didn't we, Vicki? Yes we did, says Vicki. You don't suppose all those old wives' tales about ghosts aren't tales at all? suggests Carolyn--that they're true? Roger looks shocked and relieved, somehow (because he had something to do with this)?
Matthew says he's heard tales about Collinwood all his life--he's heard people laugh, but he's seen too much to laugh. Liz says she's sure he has and thanks him for his trouble. Are you absolutely positive there was nothing down there? asks Carolyn. Positive, says Matthew. Then your corpse was nothing more than your overactive imaginations after all, says Roger, putting a hand on Carolyn's shoulder. Vicki asks if it couldn't have been washed out to sea. Impossible, says Roger, not in the few minutes it took Matthew to get down there. Around Collinwood, says Matthew, nothing is impossible. Liz tells Matthew that will be all--thank you. Yes, Mrs. Stoddard, he says, and leaves the house. Now that your mystery has been solved, says Liz to the girls, why don't you both try and get some sleep--Roger, I want to talk to you--and she goes into the drawing room. Roger follows. Vicki asks Carolyn if she did see what she saw. Carolyn shakes her head and says she isn't sure anymore. Would Matthew have any reason to lie? asks Vicki. (An excellent question.)
Do you think Matthew is telling the truth? Liz asks Roger from behind the closed drawing room doors. Why on earth should he lie? asks Roger. I don't know, she says, he acted very strangely. Nonsense, says Roger, I tell you, they saw a bunch of seaweed or perhaps an old sail--you know the kind of flotsam and jetsam that washes up around here! He drinks.
It's not usually human, says Liz. You heard what Matthew said, Roger reminds her. I heard what he said, she agrees, but I don't know what he thought. Probably that we were insane for waking him up this hour of the night, says Roger--did I say the girls had an overactive imagination?--I should have included you with them--why don't you follow your own prescription and go up to bed? Liz gives him a dirty look and opens the double doors. Roger, very upset, and finishes his drink. He goes to the phone and dials, calling Evans--I know you're a night owl so I won't apologize for calling you so late, he says quietly--I wanted to know if you had any word from our friend, Malloy?--no?--neither have I--and he hangs up. (What the heck?)
Matthew sips tea or coffee in his cottage. He has just turned off the light when Liz comes to the door. He invites her in and turns the light back on. Is there something wrong? he asks. I don't know, she says, is there? Not that I know of, he says. She sits in a rocking chair and says it seems odd--Carolyn and Miss Winters were so positive. It's tricky light, says Matthew, at first glance, I thought I saw what they were taking about--even with the flashlight, I couldn't tell from the top of the hill--that's why I went all the way down--t'wasn't easy, not knowing what I'd find there. What did you expect to find? asks Liz. To tell you the truth, says Matthew, I expected to find Mr. Malloy. Liz sits up in he chair--why? she asks. His disappearance isn't exactly a family secret, says Matthew, siting across from her--he has lots of friends in Collinsport--all of them wondering. What are they saying? she asks. Not much of anything, just wondering, says Matthew. Don't they simply assume he's away on business? asks Liz. No, says Matthew, they don't, he was a man of habits--one of them was to drive into Bangor in his own car, yet it's sitting in front of his house. Where do you imagine he might have gone? asks Liz. I couldn't say, says Matthew. It doesn't make sense, she says, he was looking into something very important for me--he wouldn't just walk off without saying anything. No, he wouldn't, agrees Matthew. Then what do you think what has happened to him? she asks. I'd like to know that myself, he says, I'd like to find out before they start making a lot of inquiries at the house, tromping on the grounds and takin' pictures and messing around with things that don't concern them. I suppose we have to expect that if Mr. Malloy doesn't come back soon, says Liz--he must have known his absence would cause people to wonder--why do you suppose he's staying away like this? Maybe he was kept away by something he couldn't help, suggests Matthew. Maybe, says Liz--would you mind very much showing me what it was you saw, so I can at least get rid of Carolyn's fears? He goes to find the flashlight and they leave the cottage.
Vicki and Carolyn come downstairs. Come on, says Vicki, who is already in her coat. Do we have to go there and look? asks Carolyn. You said you couldn't sleep until we were doubly sure, says Vicki. I didn't mean for us to go, says Carolyn, holding her coat over her arm. Who else? asks Vicki. I thought maybe Uncle Roger, says Carolyn. He thought it was a waste of time before, Vicki reminds her, he'd think so even more now. Carolyn goes into the drawing room, Vicki behind her. I thought you'd gone up to bed, says Roger. What would be the sense of that? asks Carolyn, I wouldn't sleep a wink. Afraid of the dark? he teases. No, of what I might dream about, she says. You, too, Miss Winters? Roger asks her. We thought it might set our minds at ease, says Vicki, if we went back and looked at the water--we might see what we saw before, but think it perfectly natural. Well, says Roger, wouldn't it be perfectly natural if a body was washed ashore on our property? Carolyn asks him to please not talk like that. He says he's sorry. We thought perhaps you'd come with us, says Vicki. I told you before, he says, I have no interest in going out to Widows' Hill and staring out at the water--are you intimating I would be afraid something?--of what? Of nothing, says Carolyn, sitting beside him on the sofa, so would you please come with us? If you'll give me one good reason, he says.
Matthew and Liz have arrived at the edge of the cliff. This is where they were standing when they looked down, he says--down there--he points. Liz gasps. No wonder they were frightened, she says. To tell you the truth, I was startled myself, he says--there was more light then, and it was plainer to see--I couldn't be sure until I got all the way down. That's settled, says Liz, and I can tell the girls they don't have to worry anymore--just a clump of seaweed. You can tell 'em they needn't talk anymore, too, says Matthew--few words dropped in the wrong place and another superstition is added to the legends of Collinwood--before the week's out, it will spread all over the county--another ghost seen at Collinwood. I imagine it would draw more attention to us, agrees Liz.
The newspapers rehash every little thing that every happened in a lifetime, something I wouldn't like to see, says Matthew. Nor would I, agrees Liz--I'll go put the girls' minds at ease. They leave the cliff's edge.
Do you want us to have this doubt in our minds? Vicki asks Roger--not being sure? Well I'm sure, he says, my sister is sure, as is Matthew--isn't that enough? Why don't you come with us? asks Carolyn, an arm around her uncle, it will only take a moment. It will only be admitting there's a slight chance that what you say is true, says Roger, and that I will absolutely refuse to believe--I would prefer this be forgotten--I don't want any of this mysterious death getting back to David--as his governess, you are certainly aware it could cause irreparable harm. You're perfectly right, says Vicki, he is preoccupied with death, earlier this evening, when I went back up to my room, I found he'd written death all over my mirror. I hope you didn't let him get away with it, says Roger. I didn't, Vicki assures him. Carolyn begs her uncle to please come with them. You're beginning to annoy me--run along, he says. I have to go myself, I guess, says Vicki. Merely to satisfy a morbid curiosity? asks Roger. No, says Vicki, merely to reassure myself. No need to go to Widows' Hill and look, says Liz, joining them--I've just been there. By yourself? asks Carolyn. No, says Liz, with Matthew--he took me to the same spot on the ledge where you stood--I stood on the rocks and looked down--there was nothing to see--absolutely nothing--just a clump of seaweed, as Uncle Roger suggested. I'm glad you give me credit, he smirks, it's the first time we've agreed on anything in years.
That's a relief, says Carolyn--I could have sworn...but if it wasn't there, we didn't see it! I'm sorry, says Vicki--I guess if I'd stayed a little longer little longer, I would have seen--I guess I had death on my mind. Of course you did, says Roger, my delightful son had warned them they were about to meet death, he tells Liz--my son, the crystal ball gazer. It wasn't just what he wrong on my mirror, says Vicki. What did he write? asks Liz. The word death, says Vicki. I'll speak to him in the morning, says Liz. I wish you wouldn't, says Vicki, I don't want him to have any reason to think I'd told on him--but it was more than that--when we were doing his lessons, he stopped and looked in his crystal ball--and he said that he could see Bill Malloy was dead--and that you (Roger) had killed him. Roger, stone-faced, doesn't says anything, but the women turn all stare at him.
NOTES: It sounds like Sam and Roger had something to do with getting rid of Bill. Is this just a red herring? Matthew is acting oddly, too.
Sometimes scenes in these early shows just seem to go on and on, with everyone rehashing what they said before. How many times did Vicki and Carolyn have to tell Liz and Roger that they saw a dead man down in the water? It was making me crazy, typing that over and over!
The mysterious call Roger made to Sam was certainly odd. They robbed Burke of five years of his life; did they steal away the rest of Bill Malloy's life? It's all very odd.
I don't blame the girls for being skittish. WE saw what lay on the shore, and it certainly did look like a dead man. What did Matthew see? He is determined to keep scandal away from the Collins family--did he think Bill some sort of danger to them in that way? Did he perhaps get rid of him?
Episode #52 - I originally came to Collinwood hoping to solve the mystery of my past--but the mystery of the present has overshadowed that for the moment.
Carolyn knocks at Vicki's door. Once inside, Carolyn asks if Vicki doesn't lock her door--and locks it herself. Sometimes I forget, says Vicki. If I were in here alone, says Carolyn, I'd lock it, put a chain on it and shove the dresser up against it--and still be shaking. I thought ghosts could get through anything, teases Vicki, brushing her hair. You can laugh all you want, says Carolyn, you haven't lived in this house as long as I have. I know, says Vicki, it's funny, so much has happens here, it's hard for me to realize I've only been here a short while--has it always been like this? No, it was always strange, the way my mother never goes anywhere, she says, and sometimes people drive by and stop at the haunted house, hoping to get a look at the witch and her daughter--but things didn't really start to hum until you...until Burke Devlin came back. You were gong to say until I arrived, weren't you? asks Vicki. You arrived and he came back the same day, says Carolyn. True, says Vicki. Had you ever met him before? asks Carolyn. Nope, says Vicki, I met him at the Collinsport station for the first time--I saw him there and asked him how to get a taxi into town--and he told me I should get back on the train and go home. I bet you wish you had, says Carolyn. Nope, says Vicki, no matter what happens, I'm staying right here until I find out what I came here for,. How can you stand it? asks Carolyn--you can leave anytime you want to
--I can't--and no matter what my mother says, or Matthew, or Uncle Roger, what we saw out there tonight was the body of a dead man.
What we saw did look like the body of a dead man, agrees Vicki. Yes it did, says Carolyn. But Matthew said he walked up and down the shore and there was nothing there, replies Vicki. It could have been there, then washed away again before Matthew went to look, says Carolyn. He didn't seem to think so, says Vicki. If the tide brought it in, then the tide could carry it out again, says Carolyn. I don't know anything about tides, says Vicki. They're fierce along this coast, explains Carolyn, coming in very fast--but they go out just as fast. Fast enough to carry a body away? asks Vicki. Sure, says Carolyn, gazing out the window, especially down along this coast--that's why mother would never let me swim here--because of the tide and the undertow--she always said it was too dangerous. That might be it, says Vicki--if it was a dead man we saw. You just don't want to think it was, says Carolyn. I guess I don't, admits Vicki. I wonder who he was? asks Carolyn. Maybe we'll never know, says Vicki. I bet we will, says Carolyn, somebody has to report him missing. There's only one person I know of missing from Collinsport, says Vicki. He doesn't have to be from here, says Carolyn--he could have been from way down the coast, or fallen off a boat at sea. But it could be, starts Vicki. No it couldn't! cries Carolyn--you do think it was Mr. Malloy, don't you? All I've heard for the past 24 hours, says Vicki, is where's Bill Malloy? I'd have known if it was! says Carolyn. We could hardly see the body, much less recognize it, says Vicki. I still would have known, says Carolyn--Bill Malloy is the closest thing to a father I ever had--it wasn't Bill--it couldn't have been. Of course, you are right, says Vicki. I guess that'll be just one more ghost to add to our collection here, jokes Carolyn. Don't be so morbid, says Vicki. Isn't that why ghosts haunt places? asks Carolyn--because they're looking for something? There's no such thing as a ghost, says Vicki. You just wait until you've lived here a little bit longer, says Carolyn, they you'll change your...did you hear that? What? asks Vicki. I could have sworn I heard something, says Carolyn.
Evans cottage - Did you hear me?--Pop? says Maggie, shaking her father by the arm. He's lying on the sofa and he asks what it is. It's almost one in the morning, she says. I didn't know it was that late, says Sam. Why don't you go to bed? she asks him. For what? he asks--to toss and turn?--it's no use, I've got too much on my mind. What's bugging you? she asks, sitting on the sofa beside him--do you want to talk to me about it? I don't want to worry you, he says, with my petty little problems. It would be worse if you didn't, says Maggie. All right, if you're so inquisitive, he says--I'm worried about Bill Malloy. He's a big fella, he can take care of himself, points out Maggie. Normally, agrees Sam, I'd say yes, but these aren't normal times--there are forces loose in Collinsport that frighten me to think of--evil forces--you can smell it in the very atmosphere. Maggie laughs--this must be the purest atmosphere in the country, she says--why do you think all those summer people come up here every year?--to get away from the air pollution, that's why. This pollution lies in the souls of men, not the air, says Sam. I've never seen you so gloomy, she says. I've never had as much to be gloomy about before, he says. Is it money? she asks. No, he says. What then? she asks. I told you--Bill Malloy--this man made an appointment with me and never showed up, says Sam--I went to the meeting, even though I didn't want to--went to meet him--he just never appeared--he pours a drink. Where was this? asks Maggie. At his office, says Sam, almost saying Roger's office--something must have happened to keep him from meeting me. He drinks. Are you afraid for yourself? she asks. No, he says, nothing could hurt me worse than what I've done to myself--besides I've got a safeguard against it--that letter I have you--you put it in a safe place? The safest, she assures him--it's in the safe at the hotel. Good, he says, I've let it known such a letter exists--it won't be opened unless something happens to me. What do you think could happen? she asks fearfully.
I don't know, says Sam, downing his drink, just like I don't know what happened to Bill Malloy.
Carolyn and Vicki are turning down the bed. (Vicki's wearing a nightgown, not PJ's.) I heard it again! says Carolyn. Must have been one of the shutters, says Vicki--the wind's come up. Carolyn shakes her head--it wasn't a shutter. She says--I know the sound every single shutter in this house makes. There's a banging sound. There it is again, says Carolyn. Sounded like it came from the drawing room, says Vicki--has your uncle come upstairs yet? I heard them come up not long after we did, says Carolyn. Then it must have been David, says Vicki, unlocking the door. Don't unlock the door! says Carolyn; however, Vicki says she's going to catch a live little ghost. Carolyn watches her go into David's room, but Vicki reports he's sound asleep--poor David gets blamed for everything that happens in this house. They return to Vicki's room and Carolyn locks the door. That's usually right, says Carolyn, David usually is to blame--but if it wasn't David, who was it? I don't know, says Vicki, grinning, but I'm not going into your mother's room or your uncle's room and ask if they happened to knock over something downstairs. I can, says Carolyn--if you go with me. I don't know, says Vicki--they already think we're seeing things, now they're going to think we're hearing them. We ARE hearing things! says Carolyn--and we did see a dead man at the foot of Widows' Hill tonight--nobody can convince me differently. Well, says Vicki, climbing on the bed, you're going to have a hard time convincing someone else. Oh I wish I'd never lost that watch, says Carolyn, sitting on the bed beside Vicki, then we never would have gone out, seen what we did. What are you going to do when Joe sees you're not wearing it? asks Vicki. He won't, she says, I'll find it in the morning--anyway, I'm not sure any birthday present is worth this! I think it would have been to me, says Vicki, I've never had a birthday. Carolyn laughs--you had to be born! she says. I don't know on what day, says Vicki--the foundling home gave me a birthday, but nobody knows if it's right. (How sad!) When you haven't had something, adds Vicki, it becomes important. (They really do paint a sorrowful picture of sad orphan Vicki. No birthday? How awful!--but do any of the Collinses celebrate birthdays, except in bizarre dreams?)
Maggie points out to her father that he's not doing himself any good just sitting here worrying--go to bed and rest, even if you can't sleep. Never mind me, says Sam--you're the one with a job--you go to bed. What good is sitting here worrying? she asks. None, he admits. You're just borrowing trouble, she says--you don't know if anything happened to Bill Malloy--he probably had to leave town for a few days-he'll be back. Will he? asks Sam. Of course, she says. Burke Devlin's a harsh man, says Sam. I like him, says Maggie, besides, what does he have to do with Malloy's disappearance? Burke's not a one to forgive and forget, says Sam, sounding far away. You're holding something back from me, says Maggie--remember the other day when you said you could see death staring you in the face?--was it his death? I don't remember saying it, says Sam. Or your death? asks Maggie. If I did say it, I don't know what I meant, insists Sam--I'm just so confused, I don't know what I do from one day to the next (the booze doesn't help)--why don't you go to bed--please. OK, she says, kissing his head. He drinks, then rises from the chair and picks up the phone.
Vicki and Carolyn are lying side by side in bed, listening to the wind. They hear the phone ring. Vicki rises, turns on a light, and goes into the hallway, grabbing her robe on the way. Carolyn, left alone, hears a window banging. She walks over to close it, then follows Vicki--wait for me! she cries. Vicki answers the phone down in the foyer. Collins? asks Sam. Who is this? asks Vicki. Sam hangs up. Hello? calls Vicki. Carolyn asks who it was, but Vicki says she doesn't know--he hung up. They hear a banging sound coming from the drawing room and look fearfully at each other, frozen.
This is silly, says Vicki, I'm going in there to find out what it is. I know there are no such things as ghosts, says Carolyn, but what if there are? Then, says Vicki bravely, I'll see something I've never seen before. She enters the dark drawing room and turns on a lamp. Carolyn has followed her in. Who's in here? asks Vicki, then strides over to the open window and closes it. Must have been the wind, she says with a nervous chuckle. Carolyn spots something on the floor--a book. She picks it up and drops it, and they both hear the odd sound they'd heard upstairs. That's it, says Vicki. Yes, it is, agrees Carolyn--but who did it? It must have fallen off the table, says Vicki--she observes the distance from the table to where it was located on the floor and remarks that she guesses it couldn't have gotten all the way over here, though. Not by itself, says Carolyn--now do you believe what I was saying? No, says Vicki, placing the book on the desk--there has to be a logical explanation! Yes, agrees Carolyn. Maybe a cat got in the window and knocked it off, suggests Vicki. In all my life in this house, I have never seen a cat in here, says Carolyn--anyway, a cat couldn't get that book from that table to here--it's very heavy. You're right, says Vicki. So if there isn't a logical explanation, says Carolyn, there's only one other possible explanation, and I don't even like to think about that one--please, let's go back upstairs--I feel a lot safer there--at least we can lock the door. Vicki agrees. She turns off the lamp and they exit the drawing room. The book opens by itself to a page with a bookmark.
The bookmark slides off to reveal a page. JOSETTE COLLINS, it says, Born 1810, died 1834.
Evans cottage - Maggie stands looking at her father. She puts her hands on his shoulders and asks him to stop kidding around--what is it? I thought I told you to go back to bed, he reminds her. You did, but I'm not a child, she says, sitting on the sofa, so stop treating me like one--I heard you on the phone and you asked for Collins--the only Collins I know is Roger--why did you ask for him? It wasn't anything important, says Sam--he's been after me, trying to get me to change my mind about doing Burke's portrait. What does Roger have to do with Burke's portrait? asks Maggie. He just doesn't want me to do it, that's all, says Sam. But why? demands Maggie shrilly--does he want to hire you on an exclusive basis for the Collins family? No, says Sam, he's only anxious that nothing keep Devlin in Collinsport--doesn't want anything to keep him here--you know how long it takes to do a portrait--the sittings and all, I haven't done one in years--maybe he's just worried about that--see? He's gazing at a canvas. Maggie rises from the sofa and says he's not a very good liar. No, I'm not, he agrees. We used to trust each other and confide, she says, taking the same picture into her hands. That was before, he says. Before what? she asks. A long time ago, he says--things were different then. What changed them? she asks. Yesterday Burke said he wasn't going to pose, says Maggie, yet he was here--he was here to ask questions--did he get all his answers?--you've got to tell me!
Carolyn and Vicki return to the latter's bedroom. If only that telephone hadn't rung, says Carolyn, locking the door--then we wouldn't have had to go down there. What about the sound you heard? asks Vicki. I would have been very happy to go on pretending it was a shutter banging somewhere, says Carolyn. They once again sit on the bed. You never did tell me who it was that called, Carolyn says. I did tell you--I don't know, says Vicki. Did you recognize the voice? asks Carolyn. No, it was kind of muffled, like a whisper, says Vicki--he just said Collins. Uncle Roger? says Carolyn. I guess so, says Vicki--that's all he said, then the phone went dead. Could it possibly have been Bill Malloy? asks Carolyn hopefully. That's what I've been trying to think, because I want it to be, says Vicki--but I think I would have known his voice. If it had been Malloy, he would have asked for Mother, says Carolyn--and he wouldn't have hung up. Hey, says Vicki, this sounds like the kind of thing a drunk would do--calling from some bar, then forgetting why he was calling. Did you hear music in the background? asks Carolyn. No, says Vicki--dead silence. You know, says Carolyn, that's the second time you've used that word--I wish you wouldn't. All right, says Vicki, smiling--COMPLETE silence. It couldn't have been Bill Malloy, says Carolyn--he usually shouts a lot. I know, agrees Vicki. He shouts at Uncle Roger a lot, says Carolyn. He certainly was doing a lot of that last night, says Vicki. Don't let that scare you, says Carolyn--he's a softy under those whiskers--he's really soft as far as Mother is concerned--I think he's always had a crush on her. Why shouldn't he? asks Vicki. (Why would she say that?) What I mean is, says Carolyn, that's why it's so strange he hasn't called--it's not like him to do anything to hurt her or even make her worry--he's really a very nice man. You're not the only one that thinks that, says Vicki--Burke Devlin was here the other day asking about him. Why didn't you tell me Burke was here? demands Carolyn. Because he came to see your uncle, says Vicki. As long as he didn't come just to see you, says Carolyn. (Still so jealous!) No, he had a lot of other things on his mind, says Vicki, turning off the light--I think he's very anxious about Mr. Malloy. Old chin and whiskers, says Carolyn--I wonder where he is right now?
Then where is Bill Malloy? Maggie asks Sam. I wish I knew, says Sam, I wish he were right in this room, there are so many things I want to ask him. Not nearly so many things as he wants to ask you, she says--he tried to put me through the third degree yesterday. What did he say? asks Sam. He seemed to think you had some important information, says Maggie. Did he say what kind of information? asks Sam. No, that's what I've been waiting for you to tell me, she says. I tried, he says, believe me I tried, I wanted to tell him a thousand times, but I just can't. You can't say it, Maggie reminds him, but you did write it down, didn't you? Yes, I did, he says. You wrote it in that letter you gave me, she says--then I'm going to read that letter! No, I forbid it! says Sam. It's addressed to me, she says. That doesn't matter, he says, growing agitated, it's my personal property and you have no right to go prying into it. If it will get you out of the trouble you're in, I have every right in the world, she asserts. I want that letter, insists Sam, where is it--you give it back to me so I can destroy it. I told you, she says, it was in the safe at the hotel. Then you get it tomorrow, he says--en empty envelope is just as good as a letter. Puzzled, Maggie looks at him. It will do the same thing, rants Sam, nobody will know there's a letter in there I destroyed. That isn't why you wrote it, says Maggie. No, I wrote it so if anything happened to me, it would at least be told, says Sam. What would? she asks--so help me, Pop, I'm just going to read it myself! He grabs hold of her and demands she swear she won't do that. Pop, you're hurting me! she cries. Swear on your mother's name! he shouts, still holding her in a painful grip. I won't read it, she says. SWEAR! he insists. I don't have to, she says, I've never lied to you in my life, Pop, never broken a promise, either.
He releases her and sits down, head in hands, absolutely miserable.
NOTES: So Josette's spirit has made a ghostly appearance here! How exciting! We've heard about her, and of course her dates of birth and death are wrong in light of what happens later, but this is her ghost paying a visit to Collinwood. Was she trying to introduce herself to Vicki? That was actually creepy, and gave me chills! Everything that happened to Vicki and Carolyn in this ep was frightening, except their teasing each other.
This whole business is destroying Sam's once-wonderful relationship with Maggie. How sad for both of them! You wish he would just come out and confess and make it right. Somehow, you know she would forgive him anything.
Also scary was the scene in which Vicki and Carolyn spotted a body. It sure did look like a body, even to Liz, and we wonder--was it? Did Matthew actually find a body, perhaps Bill Malloy's, and dispose of it for some bizarre reason of his own?
Ned Calder loved Liz and proposed. Bill Malloy loved Liz but apparently didn't get to her in time because Paul Stoddard beat him to the punch. Matthew Morgan appears to have an almost worshipful attitude toward the great lady. And yet, she's alone, chained to the house--why?
Have a great week!
Love, Robin
