681 - January 31, 1969

[bunniefuu]

[Carolyn narrating] - There was never a greater fear

than that which one young woman will experience tonight

in the great house at Collinwood.

Maggie Evans knows that the two children in the house

have changed mysteriously,

where once they were carefree and innocent,

now they seemed constantly uncertain and terrified.

Tonight, Maggie Evans will attempt,

for the first time, to find out why.

- I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.

The reason why, I cannot tell.

But this, I know, and very well.

I do not like thee, Dr. Fell.

- Ah!

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪

Ah!

Ah!

- Oh, good evening, Mrs. Stoddard.

- Good evening, Chris.

We haven't seen you in several days.

Where have you been keeping yourself?

- He and I just had a long conversation about that.

- What do you mean?

- Well, it seems he got very sick and just decided to

suffer through it alone down at the cottage.

- Well, why didn't you let us know?

- Carolyn is making it sound more serious

than it actually was.

- Well, I hope you called a doctor.

- Luckily, I didn't have to.

Dr. Hoffman happened by on her way to the old house.

- What did she say it was?

- Just a bad case of food poisoning.

- It wasn't as bad as you thought.

- I still think you should have notified someone -- - Mrs. Stoddard!

Mrs. Stoddard! - Maggie, what's the matter?

- There's a man! A strange man!

- What are you talking about?

- I've never seen him before,

but I just opened the door and - and there he was!

- Maggie, try to get a hold of yourself and tell me.

- I was looking for David and I ran into this man.

He just kept staring at me

with the most evil eyes that I had ever seen!

- Where did you see this man?

- In the West Wing. - But the West Wing is closed.

No one could be there.

- There is. I saw him!

- Mrs. Stoddard, do you want me to take a look? - Yes, please.

- I'll get the flashlight and come with you.

- Sit down.

Catch your breath and tell me what you can.

- I'll be all right, Mrs. Stoddard,

in just a minute.

Who could it be?

It couldn't be a prowler or a burglar.

- How do you know?

- Because of the way he was dressed.

He was wearing a long old-fashioned frock coat.

- Well, what is it?

- That man that Mrs. Johnson saw in the cottage.

- Mrs. Johnson saw a strange man, too?

- Yes.

She described him in the same way.

- When did she see it?

- It was early last week.

- She didn't tell me.

- I thought she had. - No.

Maybe that accounts for her strange behavior

earlier this evening.

Now, don't worry, Maggie. You're going to be all right.

Just try and relax.

- Aren't there any lights in the West Wing?

- Nobody has lived in this part of the house for years.

- How big is it?

- I have no idea how many rooms there are.

- Meaning, someone could hide up here very easily.

- Are you feeling a little better?

- Yes, a little. - That's good.

Here, drink this.

Tell me something.

How did you happen to go to the West Wing?

- Well, earlier this evening, David disobeyed your orders

and left his room.

Well, I saw him leave and I followed him to the West Wing.

And then, I saw him go into a room.

And I followed him inside,

but when I got inside, he wasn't there!

He - he vanished completely.

- Maggie, how is that possible?

- I don't know.

I couldn't find him, so -

so I went back and I waited for him

and then, when he returned, I had it out with him

and I extended his punishment.

Well, that's when he threatened to get even with me.

And this is the way he's chosen to get even with me.

- What are you saying?

- Mrs. Stoddard,

I am certain that David had something to do

with the appearance of that man in the West Wing.

- Maggie, you can't be serious.

- Yes, I am.

I went to David's room a second time,

not more than minutes ago, and he was gone again.

- Do you think he went upstairs, knowing a strange man

was lurking there and told him to frighten you?

- I don't know, but - but David has changed.

Something has happened to him.

He is not the same as when I first came here.

- How has he changed?

- Well, he's - he's not as open as he used to be.

I've had the feeling lately

that he is terribly frightened of something.

- What?

- I don't know.

- Maggie, I - I can't dismiss the fact

that a strange man possibly got into the West Wing,

but I can't - and I - I intend to get to the bottom of it,

but I can't possibly believe that David

had anything to do with it.

- Mrs. Stoddard, when I questioned David earlier,

he just wasn't himself.

He was like a child I had never met before.

You said you went to his room minutes ago,

didn't you? - Yes.

- And he wasn't there? - No.

- Are you quite sure?

- I'm positive!

- And then, you went to the West Wing to look for him?

- Yes.

- Maggie, a little while ago,

I went to David's room to say good night.

I stayed for about minutes.

Don't you see, all the time you were looking for him

in the West Wing,

he was in his room and I was with him.

♪♪

- What's this door right here?

- I think it's a storage room.

- There's nobody in here. What do we do now?

- I don't know.

It's not possible to cover the whole West Wing.

Chris, we might as well go back downstairs.

♪♪

- I don't understand it, Mrs. Stoddard.

I know David wasn't in that room when I went there.

- Perhaps he was hiding from you.

- He didn't expect me to go to his room.

Why would he hide?

- I don't know.

Frankly, I'm quite disturbed by the incident.

- Perhaps David did expect me.

Maybe he did hide from me,

knowing that I would look for him in the West Wing,

and knowing what I would find there.

- That's wonderful, Quentin!

Wonderful!

Only, we're just going to scare her, right?

I mean, we're not - we're not going to hurt her,

just teach her a lesson, right?

Good.

I don't like it when people get hurt.

That's why after tonight,

I'm not going to play the game anymore.

Do you understand?

Well, maybe we could keep playing it

just for fun, Quentin.

I really wouldn't mind that.

Where is Mr. Juggins, Quentin?

Don't you think we better get him ready?

Mr. Juggins, how did you ever think of that?

[knocking on door]

- We heard you laughing and talking to somebody.

- Oh, I was telling myself a joke

and I thought it was funny.

- David, don't be absurd.

- Well, what do you expect?

Aunt Elizabeth won't let - let me play with anyone,

so I have to find some way to keep myself amused,

don't I?

- Well, it's getting very late.

I suggest you get ready for bed.

- Get ready for bed. It sounds so exciting.

- David.

- Oh, all right. I'll get ready for bed.

- I'll see you tomorrow. - Good night, David.

- Good night.

- Mr. Juggins met Ms. Evans

on a darkened night.

The poor girl fainted dead away,

he gave her such a fright.

Mr. Juggins, keep it up,

Mr. Juggins, keep it up,

Mr. Juggins, keep it up

until Aunt Liz believes me.

♪♪

- We covered as much of the West Wing as we could,

Mrs. Stoddard, didn't find anyone.

- I see. - I don't understand it.

- Maggie, did you take a flashlight up there with you?

- No. Why?

- Well, it's pretty dark in the West Wing.

- Mrs. Stoddard, I didn't imagine all of this.

The man I saw was there and he was real,

not more than three or four feet in front of me.

♪♪

- Where is Mr. Juggins, Quentin?

Oh.

Don't you think we better bring him out here?

I haven't got much time.

I'm really supposed to be in my room.

- Maggie, I know you had a bad scare

and I don't doubt for a minute that you saw someone.

- I think that David must have some secret up in the West Wing,

otherwise, why would he go there this evening?

- It's not as though it were the first time he's ever been there.

- But why would he risk going there tonight?

- Well, perhaps, what seems important to him

is trivial to us.

- Perhaps.

But there must be something up there that David wants to see

because David was confined to his room.

Now, he knew that if he got caught,

his punishment would be extended.

So, something up there must be terribly important

to make him go up there to find it.

- Mother, I think Maggie may be right.

David really hasn't been himself lately.

And I think that for his sake, and as well as for Maggie's,

you ought to try to find out what's bothering him.

- All right. We'll go up now.

♪♪

[knocking on door]

- Come in.

I was just getting ready for bed, Aunt Elizabeth.

Is that what you came for? - No, that's not why I'm here.

- Oh. Is something the matter?

- Well, yes.

Maggie went looking for you in the West Wing

and she saw someone there.

- A prowler?

- She has no idea who or what it was,

but she seems to think that you do know.

- Me? - David, if you do know what it is,

I want you to tell me right now.

- I don't know, Aunt Elizabeth,

and I don't know why Maggie thinks I do.

- David, when I talked to you earlier tonight,

you threatened to get even with me.

- Well, you know, I was mad at you.

I didn't really mean it.

- Well, I'll take your word for it, David,

but if I find it out later that you haven't told the truth --

- Well, I have, Aunt Elizabeth!

Honest. I wouldn't lie to you.

- David, you lied to me earlier when -

when I asked you about the West Wing.

- Did you, David?

- Well?

- Well, so I did go up there tonight.

- What for?

- I just got bored of staying in my room, that's all.

- David, you must have had more reason than that

for going there.

- No, I didn't.

I wasn't supposed to leave my room,

so the West Wing was the only place that I could go

where no one would see me.

- Well, then, you did go to the storage room.

- Yes.

- David, how on earth did you get out of the storage room

without my seeing you?

- I didn't.

- David, when I went inside, you had completely vanished.

- I was hiding!

- David, you couldn't have been hiding.

I looked everywhere.

- You just don't know the right places to look.

- I don't care what you say,

you were not in that room when I was there.

- This isn't fair, Aunt Elizabeth.

I'm telling the truth and she doesn't even believe me.

- Well, how can I believe it, Mrs. Stoddard?

That room is small and I did look everywhere.

- No, you didn't, and I can prove it.

- You don't have to prove anything.

- Yes, I do, Aunt Elizabeth.

I don't want you thinking that I'm a liar.

- I don't think you're a liar.

- Let me just take you up there,

then I'll show you where I was hiding

and no one will have any doubts.

- Mrs. Stoddard, I'm willing to go up there with you,

if you're willing.

If David has found a hiding place

that I wasn't able to find,

then I'll be glad to admit that I was wrong.

I'll apologize to David.

- All right, David.

You can take us up there now.

♪♪

- I wonder how David is doing under the third degree.

- Well, if I were making a book on it,

I would say he's probably holding his own pretty well.

- What do you mean?

- David is not your ordinary kid, you know.

He has at least one very special quality.

Intelligence.

He keeps his eyes and ears open

and I have an idea

that that little brain of his stores information

like a computer.

- When did you get to know David so well?

- He dropped by the cottage the other morning to see me.

- While you were sick?

- No. Before.

But, you know, I've been wondering about

his visit ever since.

- Why?

- Because of the reason he gave for dropping by.

He was surprised to see me,

almost as though he expected something

to have happened to me.

Nothing had, of course,

but hours later, something did,

something that almost k*lled me.

- Wait a minute, David. - What is it, Maggie?

- The man that I saw was behind that door.

- Well, Chris and Carolyn searched every room up here.

I - I don't think he's there now.

Open the door, David.

- There he is!

- Oh, don't be afraid of him.

That's only Mr. Juggins.

- Mr. Juggins?

- Yes.

He's an old friend of Amy's and mine.

- Could this be the man you saw?

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪