717 - March 24, 1969

[bunniefuu]

[Maggie narrating] - Collinwood in .

In the tower room of the great house

a tragic secret has been locked behind a door.

But a newcomer to Collinwood, spurred on by her own fear,

has inadvertently opened the door

and now a woman mad with grief roams the halls.

Knowing only that she has been hurt

and that she must hurt in turn.

- You are in this room, aren't you?

I know you are.

[door slams shut]

- [laughing]

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪

- My name is Jenny Collins.

I am your sister.

- Jenny, give me those scissors.

That's what you said, isn't it,

when he brought me home?

You kissed my cheek and said we would be sisters.

- Jenny, please.

- Did he tell you I was a singer?

Or is that one of the many things he kept from you?

- You used to sing for us, remember? - No.

- Grandmother always liked,

"My Love is like a Red, Red Rose."

[singing] - Oh, my love is like a red, red ro --

There was one person when I came,

she never smiled.

She always wore dark dresses.

She hated me!

Who was that?

- No one hated you.

- She did! She was jealous!

I remember now who it was!

- Who?

- You!

You! It was you!

- That's not true!

- That is why you keep me here.

I know it because you are jealous!

- Oh, Jenny, you don't understand.

You are here for your own good, believe me.

Only for your own good.

- When I came you stared at me.

You just kept staring!

- Because you were so pretty.

You wore a green dress, a pale green dress.

- And you were jealous

and you whispered and you waited

and then you locked me here.

- No, it wasn't that way at all!

- Yes, it was! I know it!

I have been waiting, too.

- We kept you here so I can take care of you.

- You said that we were sisters, didn't you? - Yes.

- When I first met you? - Yes, I did!

- If we are sisters, why do I have to stay here.

You can go anywhere in this house,

you go walking in the gardens.

I watch you. I watch you all the time.

And sometimes you wear my green dress.

It doesn't do you any good.

No, you still look like winter in it,

cold and dead like winter.

- Jenny, your clothes are here.

Here, I haven't taken anything.

- You said so, but I don't believe you.

I don't believe anything you say.

- I'll buy you more dresses, as many as you like,

please put down the scissors.

- Do you still think I'm pretty?

- Yes, of course.

- As pretty as when I first came here? - Yes! Yes!

- You're lying again, I know it!

- No, no!

- But you won't lie anymore.

No more.

- Jenny!

- She lied to me!

First, she locked me up here and then she lied to me.

- Jenny, listen.

- What?

- You know what?

Listen.

- Yes.

I hear it.

- They're crying.

Go to them now, Jenny.

- Oh, shhh.

Don't cry, please.

Oh.

I'm a very good mother.

- The best in the world.

- No one thought I would be.

After all, where I came from,

what I did,

when my babies came, suddenly it was all different.

- Yes, Jenny, dear, I know.

[singing] - Oh, my love is like a red, red rose --

hmm-hmm-hmm...

- Rachel?

Where are you going at this hour?

- Oh, just out for a little walk.

- How's Nora?

- Oh, she's fallen asleep.

- I think you should try to get some sleep, too.

- Yes, I tried, but I couldn't.

Sometimes the night air helps me workout my problems.

- What kind of problems?

- Well, my lessons tomorrow with Nora and Jamison.

I shouldn't admit this to you,

but I'm not terribly good at arithmetic.

- You're very quick about other things.

- Well, good night Ms. Collins,

and I hope you're feeling better.

- What a strange thing to say.

- Well, you seemed rather upset.

- Well, I'm not at all upset.

- A little pale then.

- Rachel, I think you tend to imagine and hear things

that don't exist at all.

- Goodnight, Ms. Collins.

- How is she?

- She's put the babies back to sleep.

- You fool!

- What's the matter?

- Well, don't you see what's happening?

We're all turning as mad as she is.

- What do you mean?

- They're not babies, they're dolls,

plain, ordinary, breakable dolls.

She has dozens of them

and can't tell the difference between them.

She can't tell the difference between anything anymore

including life and death.

And I won't have it.

Not now.

Not now that all this is mine.

- She said nothing against you.

It was - you just happen to find her there.

- How do I know that?

- All she's afraid of is that you'll take her babies away.

- Her dolls! Her dolls!

Beth, she must go.

- She has nowhere to go, you know that.

- And I also know

that Rachel is beginning to suspect more

than she should.

She mustn't know anything about Jenny.

Nobody must.

♪♪

- Oh, Barnabas, thank God you're here.

I need your help.

- What's wrong?

- Barnabas, someone tried to k*ll me tonight.

♪♪

Then someone lunged at me in the dark,

threw me to the floor and I fell unconscious.

Someone in that room was determined to destroy me.

- You have no idea who it was?

- No.

- All I do know is--

- What?

- That both Ms. Collins and Beth

claimed that it didn't happen.

But they're lying. I know they are.

Beth has lied to me before.

- What about?

- Once she told me that she'd been --

hadn't been to the tower room and I saw her there myself.

Beth has lied to me about other things, too.

Strange, silly, childish things.

- There's nothing childish about attempted m*rder.

- Then you do believe me?

- Yes, I do.

- Barnabas, they made me feel as if I --

- As if you were losing your mind?

- Yes.

- Well, these ladies seemed to be hiding a great deal.

Tonight, we'll find out what it is.

- Tonight? - Yes.

I am going back to Collinwood with you.

I have a plan.

Oh, I wish you'd come to me earlier,

you could have been hurt, badly hurt,

going to the tower alone.

- I felt that I had to after what Magda said

she'd read my palm.

- What did she see?

- A powerful enemy.

And I knew that it was that person in the tower room.

And I knew that I would have to face that person

and find out why I was hated.

There must be some mistake.

I have only just arrived here. I hardly know anyone.

Barnabas, surely no one could hate me.

- Yes, Rachel, someone could.

You see, here at Collinwood, old hates don't die.

They lie and wait for the innocent and unsuspecting.

When we go back to Collinwood,

you will bring me the key to the tower room,

do you still have it?

- Yes, I hid it in my room. - Good.

When everyone is asleep,

I'll go up and find out what this secret is.

This secret that seems worth k*lling for.

- Barnabas, that would be terribly dangerous for you.

- I've lived through danger before.

Now come.

And no one must know we are working together.

Do you realize that?

You see, you really can't trust anyone here.

No one is quite what they seem.

- Except you, Barnabas.

- Except me, of course.

For now, we must go to Collinwood.

Judith will have retired.

Such a lovely hand,

why would anyone want to harm you?

- Jenny, why did you go after her with those scissors?

You shouldn't have done it.

- She lied to me.

They all liked to me right from the beginning.

What color is a lie?

Is it blue?

Is it green?

Is it red like fire?

- I don't know.

Nobody knows.

- Blue.

Green.

Green like the dress I had.

Yellow.

The sun is yellow.

- Jenny, stop rambling.

You must listen to me.

It's important, it's very important.

If you do again what you did today,

Ms. Judith will send you away.

- Oh, Ms. Judith can't do anything, she's nobody.

- That's not true anymore.

It's not true anymore.

She owns this house now.

She owns everything.

She gives all the orders.

Even her brothers.

Everyone.

Everyone listens to her.

And you must listen to her too, Jenny.

You've got to be good

and quiet

and try to understand

or she'll send you far, far away.

- Will she let me take my babies with me?

- Yes.

Of course, she'll let you take your babies.

- Oh...

That's all that matters.

- No, that's not all that matters, Jenny,

try to understand.

You must be good.

Will you be good?

- Oh, yes, I'll be good.

Well, I used to live where it was warmer than it is here.

Well, I'm sometimes worry that my little babies

will get a chill.

Do you think they might?

- No, they'll be fine.

You're telling me the truth, aren't you?

You're not lying to me?

- No, Jenny.

I'm not lying.

- Beth.

Beth, I know what color a lie is.

It's red.

Red!

Like blood.

♪♪

- Are you sure you'll be all right going in alone?

- Yes, I'll just get the key and I'll come right out.

- You're a brave girl.

- No. I'm a coward.

But it's much easier with you here.

It's much easier.

Will you be here when I come out?

- Of course, I will.

- Oh, I didn't mean to do that.

Yes, I did.

- Go get the key.

- Yes, of course,

you can't get into the tower room without it.

- Rachel.

- Oh, Ms. Collins, you're still up.

- Yes, I am, why?

- Well, it's late, it's after midnight.

- I know it.

I will have a talk with you about the children.

- The children?

- Yes.

How they're getting on with their studies?

- Oh, very well, they're very bright.

- Do you enjoy teaching them?

I ask you if you enjoy teaching them?

- Well, yes, very much.

- Rachel, I think you're upset.

I don't think your walk did you any good.

- No. No.

I took a long walk down toward the cottage

and it was quite chilly, perhaps I should go to bed.

- No.

Nonsense, you mustn't go to bed with a chill,

it's bad for your health.

Come and have a drop of sherry with me.

- I'd be delighted.

- My grandfather was a collector of sherries,

I'm beginning to enjoy the delicacies

more and more of it.

When my grandmother was alive,

she always seemed to know to a drop what was left.

But now of course it's different.

Everything is different.

Let's drink a toast to the difference.

One more glass of sherry

and then I'm going up to my grandmother's room.

My room.

My grandmother is in her grave,

she doesn't need her room or bed anymore.

Although sometimes on nights like this,

it seems she's not quite willing to give them up.

- Hmm, well, I - I think I'll go to bed.

- No!

I haven't finished talking to you.

My grandmother enjoyed all kinds of music

especially singing.

I was a disappointment to her because I couldn't sing.

You think Jamison and Nora sing well?

- Oh, yes, I think they both sing very well.

- Are you teaching them songs?

- Well, yes, I do.

- What are you teaching them? - Well, right now --

- I think we'll finish this discussion in the morning.

Goodnight.

- Goodnight, Ms. Collins.

[thinking] - Why did the light go out?

I must know.

I don't need a key to open the tower door.

But I must do it Rachel's way.

I must use a key.

Where is she?

Where is she?

Are you all right?

- Yes but she wasn't asleep. She wanted to talk.

- I want you to go to bed and stay there.

No matter what happens, let me handle it.

- Barnabas, you will take care of yourself?

I never had many friends.

- Neither have I.

[clock chiming]

- Is it all finished?

- Yes.

- No slip-ups?

- No.

- You are sure?

- I am sure.

- Good. Go to bed now.

You mustn't tell anybody about this.

No one must know.

- Do you think I would?

♪♪

♪♪