707 - March 10, 1969

[bunniefuu]

[Maggie narrating] - Barnabas Collins remains in a deep trance.

He has employed the mysterious powers of the I Ching,

and in the basement of the Old House,

has gone through the door to the infinite

hoping to find and defeat the spirit

that haunts Collinwood.

But, beyond the door,

he has been transported back in time

to the year ,

a time of intrigue and terror

for all who lived at Collinwood.

- Ah!

[laughing]

- I have been waiting for you to do that

ever since you got back.

- Have you indeed.

If you have any more dreary little contraptions

hidden in this room,

I wish you would tell me about them now.

- Oh, but that would take all the fun out of it,

wouldn't it? - For you, yes.

But then, you are so easily amused, Carl.

You must be a frightfully happy person.

- Yes, I guess I am, most of the time.

Well, perhaps we can arrange for you to be happy all of the time

in a sanitarium

where you can regale your fellow inmates

with one prank after another.

- Now Edward, wait, wait just, just, just a minute.

Any man who plays a buffoon

the morning after a member of his own family

has passed on.

- Now, just a minute, Edward.

I have just as much respect for the dead as you do

and don't you ever forget it!

- Then I wish you would observe a period of mourning

in a proper manner.

- Edward, I know something you don't know.

- I beg your pardon?

- Grandmother died without telling you the secret,

didn't she?

- What if she did?

- And now you think no one will ever know it.

But you are wrong, Edward.

- What are you talking about?

- Someone knows the secret, Edward.

Someone right here in this house.

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪

- Edward, what is this all about?

- Just go into the drawing room and wait.

Where is Quentin?

- He is just getting up.

He will be - he will be down in a minute.

- Just go into the drawing room.

- Edward, up --

- There are things to be settled now, Carl.

Just go in.

- Edward, you are as predictable as the morning sun.

- And what does that mean?

- Calling a family council

before grandmother is even buried yet,

but you never did like to let the grass grow,

as they say?

- Inside, please.

♪♪

As you all know, grandmother died

before she was able to tell me the secret.

But before she died, she told one of you three.

- One of us?

- Whatever gave you that idea, Edward?

- Tell them what you told me, Carl.

- I was with Magda last night.

She knew the exact moment grandmother died.

She also knew that grandmother did not tell Edward the secret,

but then she said,

"Someone else knows it."

- Now, it is inconceivable

that she would have told any of the children

and she certainly didn't tell anyone outside of the family.

I am positive she didn't tell me.

That leaves you three.

- Maybe you mean those two.

If it were I, why would I have told you what I did?

- Why not?

It would have been a clever way to cast suspicions elsewhere.

- What do you think I am, crazy?

- There are times, Carl,

when you are as crazy as a fox.

It could easily be you and you know it.

- Well, I hardly saw the old lady the last week.

- But you did see her, didn't you? - Yes.

- And you were alone with her?

- Now, look, for the last time, I don't know the secret.

I'll - I'll swear an oath on it.

- Splendid! Go and get the good book, brother,

and let him take the oath.

- This is not a matter to be treated lightly, Quentin.

- That's right.

- Nor does it call for a minor inquisition.

I mean, the answer to who knows the secret

should be painfully obvious.

- Who is it?

- Our dear sister, Judith, who else? - That's a lie.

- My Lord, would you direct the defendant to keep quiet

while the prosecution states its case?

- Edward, make him stop carrying on like this.

- For once, I want to hear what he has to say.

- Who in this house, in the past week,

saw more of grandmother than anyone else?

And who did their upmost to prevent others

from seeing her?

Dear Judith.

- Edward, I swear, she did not tell me the secret.

- And would you admit it if she had? - Of course, she wouldn't,

but the fact is she had the best opportunity

to worm the secret out of her.

And she did. - I did not.

- Look at her, Edward. She never could lie very well.

- When it comes to straight-faced lying, Quentin,

it's impossible to compete with you. - Touché!

- And, as long as you are reviewing the events

of the past week,

why don't you tell Edward about your visit to grandmother?

- There's nothing to tell. - I think there is.

He went to grandmother's room and tried to force

the secret out of her last night.

- Quentin! Is that true?

- Now, that you have done your duty, Judith,

do you feel cleansed?

You haven't answered my question! - Yes, it's true.

I tried to force the secret out of her.

It happened in a weak moment.

- Then, you must be the one.

- I fail to follow that logic.

- You terrorized her.

You probably told her, you would k*ll her

if she didn't tell you.

So, she gave up and told you.

- I'd like to be able to say that you were right, Edward

but, alas, the old lady was too much for me.

The regrettable fact is she wasn't afraid of dying.

- Very well.

Each of you denies being the one.

That means that one of you is lying.

We are not leaving this room until I find out who it is!

- Oh, come now, Edward, I have things to do.

- Your practical jokes can wait until this is settled, Carl.

- Edward, what if she didn't tell any of us?

After all, you only have the word of a gypsy to go on.

- Now, we all know that grandmother didn't mean

to go to her grave with that secret.

She meant to tell someone and she told one of you three.

- Not necessarily. - What does that mean?

- We are all forgetting that Judith let one other person

in to see grandmother.

Barnabas Collins. - She would have never told him.

- Why not? He is a relative.

- Or claims he is.

- Carl, go to the old house

and tell Barnabas to come here at once.

- Why - why does it always have to be me?

- Just go, Carl and don't come back without him.

- Yes, I believe Barnabas Collins

is a very real possibility.

He could have forced it out of her.

- If force didn't work for you, it wouldn't work for him.

She either told him or she didn't.

It's a simple matter.

♪♪

[wind howling]

- Cousin Barnabas?

Are you here?

Cousin Barnabas?!

Cousin Barnabas?!

♪♪

What - what are you doing here?

- I live here.

- Why, you're living in the cellar?

- What do you want?

- I - I was looking for my cousin, Barnabas.

- He ain't here today.

- Where is he? - I don't know.

- How come you people are still living here now

that Barnabas has moved in?

- We made a bargain.

In exchange for certain duties, he lets us stay.

- Oh, you mean he has hired you as his servants?

- Yes, you could say that.

[laughing]

- How do you like that?

He is a weird one, isn't he?

Oh, no offense.

Now listen, when will my - my Cousin Barnabas be back?

- Tonight.

- Oh, I can't wait that long.

- You could then go away and come back again tonight.

- I can't do that either. - Is something wrong?

- There will be if I go back to Collinwood without Barnabas.

- Just tell whoever wants him that you couldn't find him.

- That won't work. He wouldn't believe me!

- Why not?

- Why - why should he believe that?

He doesn't believe anything I'd say.

- [laughing]

There must be gypsy blood somewhere in your family.

[laughing]

- What are you talking about?

- No one in the family trusts anyone else!

- Oh, I know what I'll do, I'll take you back with me.

You can tell Edward that Barnabas is away.

- Good afternoon.

- Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Collins.

I was just looking over the grounds.

- What about the house?

Have you seen all of it yet?

- No, I - I think that's going to take me quite some time.

- Not if you let me conduct the tour.

I know Collinwood more intimately

than anyone else in the family.

I'd consider it an honor to let me show it to you.

- Oh, that's very kind of you, Mr. Collins.

- There's no need for you to be so formal with me.

My name is Quentin.

- Well, I - I don't think that your brother would approve

of such familiarity.

- If you called me Quentin?

No, I suppose he wouldn't.

But then, he doesn't have to know about it.

Does he, Rachel?

- No, I suppose not.

- Are you frightened of me? - No! Of course not.

- Of the house? - No.

- What then? - Nothing.

- Hmm? - Well, if anything,

perhaps it's - it's just because I am so new and -

and still so unsure.

- Well, you can forget all about that right now.

In me, you found a friend and a confidant.

Shall we begin tomorrow?

- Begin what?

- Showing you through the house, of course.

We'll start with the main structure,

and then, tomorrow, we'll cover the West Wing.

That's where I live.

- The tower --

the tower, is that a part of the West Wing?

- Well, the tower, I'm afraid, is one place

we'll have to stay away from.

- Why?

- Well, no one in the family has been in the tower room

in over a hundred years.

- Why not?

- Oh, it's an old family legend

that a woman committed suicide in that room

back in .

- And ever since then,

people have been afraid that it's haunted?

- Yes.

- Well, do you think it is?

- I think it's an interesting legend,

but that's all.

- You don't believe in ghosts?

- Do you?

- I don't know.

- I think you do.

- Maybe, that's what frightened you about this house.

- Don't worry, Rachel.

You will be perfectly safe here.

- I know that.

But, thank you for being so concerned.

- I like you, Rachel.

You are shy and innocent and very beautiful.

- Well, thank you.

And I feel that we are going to be very close friends.

You and I.

- Edward!

Edward!

Edward, are you here?

Edward!

- Stop shouting, you fool. I can hear you.

- Oh.

You tell him exactly what you told me.

- Mr. Barnabas left the old house early this morning.

He'll be back after sundown.

- Where could he have gone?

He doesn't know anyone in Collinwood.

- He said he had some business to look into.

- What kind of business?

- He told me not to answer no questions.

So, I can't tell you what you want to know. - Ah!

- Oh, Edward, please, don't - don't get upset.

It will be , listen, we will be able to find out

when he gets back tonight...

- Sandor! Wait a minute.

- You want to talk to me, Ms. Judith?

- I do indeed.

You may know that my grandmother passed away last night.

- I was sorry to hear that.

- I imagine you were.

- While she was still alive, you and your wife were firmly

entrenched here, weren't you?

- I don't understand, Ms. Judith.

- I think you do. But I'll tell you anyway.

I want you to go back to the old house

and tell Magda that you and she have hours exactly

to get off the Collins property.

Is that clear?

♪♪

- I told the servants I didn't wish to be disturbed.

- I'm sorry, Edward, but I must speak with you.

- Well, what is it?

- May we go to the study?

- If it's privacy you want, you may have it here.

Just close the door.

Please be brief.

I'm trying to get these notes out.

- I simply want to tell you that your instructions

have been carried out to the letter.

- What instructions?

- Concerning the tower room.

- I thought we had agreed

that we would never refer to that room again.

- Well, I can't really give you a report

without referring to it.

- I told you before I left,

that you didn't have to give me a report.

- But Edward, I'll need your guidance

and advice from time to time.

- I don't see why.

I've laid the arrangements in your hands.

You may dispatch them with your usual efficiency.

- But there are certain risks involved.

- Has something gone wrong, Judith?

Is that what you are trying to tell me? - Not at all.

Everything has gone very smoothly, so far.

Beth visits the room three times a day

and pays the weekly installments to Mrs. Filmon.

- I don't see why you are bothering me with all of this.

- Well, I thought you'd want to know.

- I told you, I have washed my hands

of the entire affair!

I want nothing more to know about it.

Is Beth satisfied with her end of it?

- She should be. You are paying her enough.

In fact, I think too much!

- Silence and loyalty cannot be bought cheaply.

I should think you would know that, Judith.

- She'd serve you even if she were getting less.

- Well, you may consider the excess amount

as a form of insurance.

Is that all you have to say to me? - Yes, that's all.

- Good.

From this day on, I want neither to be told

or reminded of that problem.

I am not interested in it at all.

Is that clear? - Yes.

[knocking on door]

- Mr. Collins!

- Now, what is it, Ms. Drummond?

- Well, I was standing out on the terrace

just a while ago and I -

I saw a light in the tower room!

- That's impossible. - But I saw it.

- Well, it seems to have disturbed you.

May I ask why?

- Well, yes.

I - I was talking to your brother, Quentin,

a short time ago and --

- Ah, yes, he must have told you about the legend

of the tower room.

- Yes, he said nobody had been in that room

in over a hundred years and --

- Yes, that is quite true,

but I'm afraid he made a mistake in telling you

because it seems to have stirred your imagination.

- Oh, forgive me, Mr. Collins, but I didn't imagine it.

I'm afraid you did, Ms. Drummond.

There just is no light in the tower room.

- But there was.

- What kind of light was it?

Was it the light of a candle or an electric light?

- Well, it seemed too bright for a candle.

So, it must have been an electric light.

- Mmm, well, you see, that proves that you are wrong. - Why?

- There is no electricity in the tower room.

Now, to put your mind at ease,

I will take you back to the terrace

and you can look and see for yourself.

Now, tell me, what do you see?

- The room is dark!

- That's right.

Just as it was dark before

and has been dark for over a hundred years.

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪