1145 - November 13, 1970

[bunniefuu]

[eerie music]

NARRATOR: The great house at Collinwood in the year .

A time of intrigue and peril,

a time when the evil force of one man

came eventually to dominate all who lived here.

Another day will soon be over,

and the search for Julia Hoffman will go on to no avail.

Meanwhile, in a house near the edge of town,

two men discuss the subject of witchcraft.

Lamar Trask has been made to believe

it is being practiced at Collinwood.

As he speaks to Gerard Stiles,

he does not know that this is the man

who plans to take over the great house and all in it.

But Gerard has been taken over by the warlock,

Judah Zachary.

As I believe, our talk has been fruitful, Gerard,

but I still believe we should be moving ahead

faster in this matter.

Lamar, we must execute with all extreme caution.

Now, witchcraft is a very serious offense.

If it be proven to be unfounded.

There is a certain chance--

Yes, but in matters of good and evil,

I trust my instincts, and they tell me that

Quentin and Barnabas are up to no good,

with Quentin the guiltier of the two.

By the way, I was invited by Quentin

to come to his house at Collinwood later this evening.

Splendid.

I urge you to keep your eyes and ears open.

And come to see me tomorrow at the chapel.

Yes, I will.

Ow!

What's the matter?

I seem to have gotten something in my eye.

It's not as painful as it is annoying.

Do you have a handkerchief or something?

Yes, of course.

Oh, it's terrible.

Lamar, may I keep this until tomorrow,

I'll return it to you.

Well, that's quite all right.

Well, good night, Lamar, and pleasant dreams.

Thank you, Gerard, but I never have dreams.

GERARD VOICEOVER: You will tonight, Mr. Trask.

You will tonight.

[eerie music]

[suspenseful music]

Quentin, I've never seen you so excited about something.

What is all this mystery about?

I'm going to show you.

[suspenseful music]

Now, Gerard,

what would you think if I told you that by going

up those stairs, you could actually travel in another time?

GERARD: Well, I'd say you're having a minor pipe dream.

But it's true.

This is my staircase in time.

Quentin, are you, are you really serious about all this?

I've never been more serious

about anything in my life, Gerard.

I've been working on this principle for years.

And now, I'm ready to put principle into practice.

You see, I believe that time is extremely

fluid and accessible.

And now I'm ready to prove it.

Tell me, Quentin, do you have the theories

towards this staircase written down anywhere?

Yes, upstairs in my room, along with the plans.

Would you like to see all of it?

Very much so.

I'll bring them.

Okay, I'll wait right here.

[suspenseful music]

All right, Mr. Trask,

it is dream time.

You are a man looking for the word Trask.

Well, that word will be revealed to you

in a dream that I have chosen.

A dream that I have chosen.

Dream.

The word is witchcraft.

And in this dream you will see an act of witchcraft.

[eerie music]

Quentin Collins!

I have borne witness to an act of evil.

QUENTIN: Trask.

I charge you with the practice of witchcraft!

You are guilty of m*rder!

And you shall be made to answer

to the Almighty for your sins.

Take a good look at her Trask.

She's dead.

LAMAR: m*rder*r.

Warlock!

[Quentin laughs evilly]

And now I want you to take a good look at this ring,

because you are next Trask.

In a moment, you are going to be as dead as she is.

Here you go.

Oh, fine, thank you.

What page is it?

QUENTIN: .

.

Here we are.

Time.

There is no such thing as time.

There is only space.

Physical space.

And it's space that measures the distance

between the points which we insist are points of time.

And it is physical space that can be used

to make all the time immediately accessible.

Do you think I'm mad?

GERARD: [chuckles] On the contrary, I'm rather curious,

how long will it take for you to finish this staircase?

Just a few more days.

And then, I've got to find a place

in this house ideally suited for it.

Quentin, I insist you stop working long enough

to talk to me about that governess.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were alone.

I'll talk to you after he leaves this house.

I'm sorry.

Well, I wish there was something that I could do.

There's nothing anyone can do.

Let's just not let it ruin a friendship.

[door knocking]

SAMANTHA: Yes?

My apologies for arriving so late, Samantha.

But I come on a matter of utmost importance.

What is it, Mr. Trask?

I've come to warn you.

You must leave Collinwood tonight.

[suspenseful music]

SAMANTHA: Leave Collinwood, Mr. Trask.

Have you lost your mind?

May we go into the drawing room

where we can speak in private?

[Samantha sighs]

Now, what is this all about?

Samantha, the truth has been revealed

to me tonight in a dream.

SAMANTHA: The truth about what?

Your husband.

What about my husband?

Until tonight, it had only been a suspicion,

but since my dream tonight, I am convinced

that your husband is in league with the devil.

Oh, Mr. Trask, are you serious?

Yes, madam.

Your husband is guilty of practicing

the foulest acts of witchcraft.

He was responsible for the death of poor Lorna Bell.

And there is also a possibility

that he had something to do with the death of Roxanne.

I see.

And this dream of yours constitutes

the only evidence you have against Quentin?

The dream revealed the truth to me.

Lorna Bell was branded on her forehead

with a strange sign.

The same sign that Quentin wears on a ring.

Now, his strange behavior

offers further evidence of his guilt.

Surely, you noticed how odd he's been acting

since his return.

As a matter of fact,

I'm always a bit troubled

by the work he does down in his laboratory.

I figured it was just his eccentric way

of trying to fill time.

No, madam it is much more than that.

Well, whether you're right or wrong,

it's impossible for me to leave Collinwood.

Quentin would never let me take Tad.

But I would be interested in anything else

you might happen to find out.

You may be sure madam,

that I will keep you fully informed.

And you can help

by keeping your eye on Quentin's activities.

Yes, I intend to do so.

LAMAR: Because if what I've told you is true,

something will have to be done.

I quite agree.

Something must be done.

[door clicks open]

Thank you, Samantha.

I shall be looking forward to hearing from you.

Good night.

Good night, Mr. Trask.

How nice of you to come.

Your choice of house guest

leaves something to be desired, Samantha.

So does yours.

I thought I made it perfectly clear

I did not want to see Gerard in this house again.

I make the decision as to

who comes and who goes in this house!

I trust my immediate family is still welcome?

Please, let me know as soon as you can,

so that I can let father and Randall know.

Oh stop it, will you?

For the life of me, I can't figure out

why Randall would want to come here.

The way you took Joanna away from him.

Please, do not dredge up the subject of Joanna again.

Oh, does that mean that you've been seeing her again?

I shall never get to see her again.

Because she is dead.

Dead?

When did she die?

QUENTIN: I don't want to talk about it.

Does Randall know?

Not to my knowledge.

Oh Quentin, I'm sorry that she died.

Sorry?!

My dear, this is the best news you've heard all day.

Someday, Quentin, your past is gonna catch up with you.

And when it does, don't come to me for mercy.

You won't get any.

Witchcraft?

That's the most shocking thing I've ever heard.

I mean, it's ludicrous.

I thought so too at first,

but Mr. Trask was in a terrible state.

Ah, Lamar Trask is a pompous imbecile.

You should know that by now, Samantha.

Regardless of what he is,

I'm sorry to say that he made a certain amount

of sense this evening.

Especially, when I examine some

of Quentin's strange activities lately.

His overall behavior has been very odd.

And then there's that staircase he's been building.

What staircase?

SAMANTHA: Do you mean he hasn't told you?

Would I be asking you if he had?

He's been constructing something he calls

a stairway through time, on the belief

that people can travel either into the past or the future.

Oh come now, Samantha.

You know what an unconventional sense of humor Quentin has.

Surely, he's playing a joke on everyone.

It's not a joke.

This project is consistent with his behavior

since he's come back from the voyage.

His last trip has done something to him.

Father Collins,

it has done something to his mind.

And I think you should consider

changing the will in favor of Tad.

Samantha, I think you're far too emotional about this.

Every time there's a crisis in this house,

everybody gets tied up in knots.

What I need is someone outside the family,

some level-headed person with whom I can discuss all this.

I appreciate your concern,

and I'm glad you spoke to me about it.

But I'm not going to say anything further on the matter,

until I've had time to think it out clearly.

I cannot believe that you would go to Samantha

because of a dream.

I find that shocking, Mr. Trask.

Sooner or later, you're going to realize

that your loyalty to Quentin Collins is misplaced.

Perhaps there's more here than I thought.

But a man who says he doesn't dream,

well, you certainly had a very special one.

LAMAR: Yes, a dream of revealed truth.

But tell me.

Why did you go to Samantha?

I thought you two were at a great difference

between each other.

Yes, that is true,

but you see I understand how Samantha's mind works.

If I'm not mistaken she has already gone to Daniel,

and told him everything I related to her.

I see.

Well,

you are far cleverer than I gave you credit for Mr. Trask.

Oh, by the way, here is your handkerchief.

I'm returning it to you.

Thank you very much.

It's quite all right.

That's what friends are for.

DANIEL: Quentin.

Yes, father.

I have something I want to ask you.

Could it wait till morning?

I'm very tired.

It's something very important

that I want to discuss with you now.

I will not beat about the bush.

I want a straight answer to one question.

Are you or are you not practicing witchcraft

It has come to my attention

that you've been engaging in certain strange activities.

I would like to know who brought this to your attention.

That is irrelevant at the moment.

It is not irrelevant, father!

This is not the inquisition,

I deserve to know who my accuser is.

It did not come in the form of an accusation.

Your wife sought my counsel out of concern

for your state of mind.

Oh, yes I'm sure.

Well, now let's see.

Trask was here earlier this evening,

he has poisoned her mind, which I'm sure was easy.

And now she's trying to poison your mind.

Quentin I would like you to answer my original question.

No, father,

I am not practicing witchcraft in this house.

What, may I ask, is this strange staircase

that you're building?

QUENTIN: It is a harmless experiment, believe me.

It is a metaphysical attempt on my part

to expand man's natural horizons, that's all father.

[scoffs] The very notion that anyone can pass

through time is utter nonsense.

Quentin, there is so much tension under this roof.

I ask you, please, please set aside this experiment

and put your undivided attention

on the daily activities of Collinwood.

Father,

I have not neglected my responsibilities.

I am in firm control here, and I intend to remain so.

And I will not curtail my work in the laboratory.

Good night.

Samantha, my dear.

If you ever again try to undermine

my relationship with my father,

I shall enjoy strangling you with my own bare hands.

[tense music]

I believe you to be a man of common sense.

Capable of impartial judgment.

Now, you've heard my problem.

What do you think?

What is your advice?

Well, I'm afraid I'm not as impartial as you think.

What do you mean?

I am very best friends with Quentin.

I would defend him to the death.

In other words, Trask's allegations are unfounded?

Well, I would say that I would need a lot more proof

before I would even be able to consider

the matter seriously.

Well, what do you think of this staircase

that he's building?

Well, I've seen it.

DANIEL: And what's your opinion of it?

It seems completely harmless.

But why don't you go down and look at it?

I'm sure it will alleviate

many, many of your concerns over it.

Is this all there is to it?

Well, as I said it's completely harmless.

The theory behind it is, of course,

that if you ascend the stairway,

you will either go forward or backward in time.

[scoffs] I believe I was right earlier this evening,

when I said that it's probably a preposterous joke

Quentin is playing on us.

[suspenseful music]

Good lord, Gerard!

Someone is there.

Why, it was that woman who was k*lled.

But that's impossible she's been dead several days.

Quentin, what are you doing?

[woman screams]

Quentin, stop it!

Stop it, Quentin!

[Daniel gasps in pain]

[dramatic music]

[eerie music]