267 - July 4, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[narrating] - My name is Victoria Winters.

There is a cliff near Collinwood

that, by legend, was created for those who have lost all hope

because their existence has become intolerable.

It is the place of the dividing line

between life and death.

There is one who has come to this place

seeking an escape from problems

that have become insurmountable.

♪♪

[seagulls screeching]

♪♪

- [screaming]

♪♪

♪♪

[announcer] - The part of Burke Devlin

is being played by Anthony George.

- [screaming]

- Elizabeth.

- Let me go.

- You were so close to the edge.

- Please.

Did you...

Did you think I'd fall?

- Well, I was afraid I'd startle you.

- Thank you for your concern, but...

I was in complete control of myself.

- I saw a figure standing on the edge.

I wasn't certain if it was you.

This is a rather forlorn place to find you.

Whatever brought you here?

- I...

Oh, I was just walking. I...

I came to look out at the ocean.

It's so different at night.

So dark and powerful.

A place where one could find serenity and rest.

- If that's what one is seeking.

- Isn't that what everyone wants?

- Only in the end, the very end.

- I didn't expect to see you here.

- Well, I come here quite often as a matter of fact.

- Why?

- Perhaps for the same reason you do.

This is an interesting place,

a place where decisions were made,

a place where those who came here

sought refuge from a world filled with pain,

a place where life ended

and death began.

- Why does that interest you?

- Because death is the most fascinating

and unknown prospect man has.

- How can death be fascinating?

- It's fascinating when one considers

the wide possibilities that it offers.

- Well... what could it offer?

- A form of eternal existence.

- Well...

But death is non-existence.

- Death, I wonder.

No one has clearly defined death.

The state of death could bring peace.

Or it could bring torment.

Eternal torment.

- Life itself can be a torment,

which is something we can be sure of.

- It still remains to be seen

which of the least contains the least torment.

Well, this...

this isn't the sort of thinking

that a woman about to be married should have.

- But they are nonetheless.

- You're deeply troubled.

- Tormented might be the word.

- Torment is an unrelenting pain.

And I would think very little of myself

if I were to permit you to suffer

without my doing something to ease it.

- I appreciate that.

But I know that I can solve my problems

anytime I want.

- Solve or terminate?

They haven't the same meaning.

- They have for me.

- Elizabeth, I don't usually involve myself

in the lives of others.

- That's a wise policy.

- But I would make an exception in your case.

- It won't be necessary for you to do that,

because I've already found the solution to my problem.

- Have you?

- Yes.

As a matter of fact,

you have helped me more than you know.

- Well, I'm pleased then.

- You've helped me enormously.

What was once only a solution,

an alternative to a solution, is now the solution.

- Your meaning is not quite clear to me.

- Soon...

it will be clear to everyone.

♪♪

- Thank you for walking back with me.

- It was my pleasure.

- Our talk has strengthened my new point of view.

- Well, I only hope it was the right one,

the most effective one.

- It's that exactly.

Thank you very much for everything.

- You are quite welcome.

[door opens]

- Hi, Aunt Elizabeth.

Hi!

Why wouldn't she answer?

- She has a lot on her mind.

Well, how have you been, David?

- Fine, I guess.

If you're gonna ask me if I've been behaving

and not playing up at the old house--

- I wasn't going to ask you that at all.

I know you haven't been playing up there.

But a friend of yours has.

- A friend of mine?

- The little girl you play with.

- Little girl?

- Willie told me that you've been playing

with a little girl up there.

- Oh, you mean that kid.

Well, she isn't really a friend of mine,

because I only played with her once.

- Well, she's been playing up there frequently

and at night too.

Now, I wish the next time you see her

you'd tell her not to play up there.

- Oh, I don't know when I'll see her again,

'cause she's not the type of kid I play with.

- Well, what do you mean?

- She's sort of behind times.

Would you believe she goes around singing "London Bridge"?

- "London Bridge"? - Mm-hmm.

- Well, it's a song that most children sing.

- I don't.

- Well, you're quite a young modern man, aren't you?

Well, in any case, if you see her,

please tell her not to play there.

- I'm not allowed to play near the old house.

- Oh, where is Miss Winters?

- In the drawing room.

- Thank you, David.

[Vicki] - Come in.

- Oh, Miss Winters.

- Oh, Mr. Collins.

- I hope I'm not disturbing you. - Not at all.

I was just correcting one of David's test papers.

- Well, that could be a task.

You work very hard at your job.

- I enjoy what I'm doing.

Most people don't always have that opportunity.

- You're quite young to have arrived at that conclusion.

It shows great maturity and a sense of wisdom.

- Oh, thank you. I only wish it were true.

- It most certainly is.

The Collins family

are very fortunate to have you around.

I would go even further and say

that anyone who comes into close contact with you

is extremely fortunate.

- If you continue, Mr. Collins, you're gonna make me

the most conceited person in Collinsport.

- I doubt that very much.

I doubt that anything could change you.

- Mr. Collins...

- I see I'm embarrassing you.

You're a very modest person.

And it's because of this quality in you

and your concern for the Collins family

that I'd like to call your attention

to something quite serious.

- What is it?

- I just now walked back to Collinwood

with Mrs. Stoddard from Widow's Hill.

I encountered her there

standing on the very edge of the cliff.

It seemed to me that she was preparing to jump.

- To jump?

♪♪

- Preparing to jump?

No, you must be mistaken.

- I hope I am,

but she was standing on the very edge,

looking down,

extremely melancholy.

- But I don't think that--

- I know she's been under great pressure,

and I fear that it's too much for her.

There was desperation in her look

and a sound in her voice of hopelessness.

A look and a sound that I'm familiar with.

- Mrs. Stoddard wouldn't do anything like that.

She's a strong woman.

She's endured a great deal.

- But perhaps she cannot endure more.

- I-- I don't know.

It's just not like her.

But, then, she has been behaving very strangely.

- Well, I-- I don't want to alarm you,

but I thought you ought to know.

- Yes, thank you.

- I'm sorry that you've been burdened

with the responsibility of this information,

but I find that you are the one person

with whom I can communicate.

And I want you to look to me for advice and help,

and you may call upon me at any time.

- I will.

- You know, we must spend more time talking.

I enjoy your company tremendously.

- I'd like that.

- We'll make it soon.

Good night, Miss Winters.

- I'll walk out with you. I'm leaving too.

- Oh, you're going out this evening?

- Yes, I'm having dinner with Burke Devlin.

- You see Mr. Devlin often, don't you?

- From time to time.

- A very interesting man.

- Yes, very.

♪♪

[jukebox playing lively music]

[telephone dings]

[dialing]

- I hope you're not trying to find another date.

- Just trying to find this one.

- I'm sorry, Burke.

- I was sorry a minute ago, but I'm much better now.

My dime.

- What's the matter?

- My dime didn't come back.

- Well, where did it go?

- In there, and it should have come out here.

I've lost my dime.

You think I ought to fight it out

with the telephone company?

- No. - Why not?

Every dime counts. That's how I made my fortune.

- Well, I'd say you've gotten your money's worth.

Even more so.

- How so?

- Well, you put in your dime and you dialed my number,

and before you were finished, I was here.

Now, that's what I would call service.

- Best bargain I've ever gotten.

Now we'll make up for lost time.

- How about I take off my coat?

- No time for that.

- Thank you for asking me out tonight.

- My pleasure.

- I need this.

- So do I.

- I had to get out of that house.

- Forget about Collinwood for a few minutes.

- Burke, sometimes I--

I just can't face going back there.

Sometimes...

I just want to break down and cry.

I'm afraid this is gonna be one of those times.

- Just dance, Vicki.

Just dance.

[jukebox playing]

♪♪

[jukebox playing] ♪♪

- Better now?

- Mm-hmm.

- Come on.

- Oh, thank you.

- Cheers.

- Burke, I... I didn't mean to sound

as if I was complaining about my job.

- I tell you, Vicki,

I don't like some of the things you're exposed to

up at that house.

- It's all right. It really is.

- Personally, I wish you'd give up that job.

- Give it up?!

But then what would I do?

- Come to work for me. - Doing what?

- Oh, I don't know. I'll create a job for you.

You'll be my, uh, my, uh, special assistant.

Governess?

Tutor?

You name it.

- What, no vice presidency?

- Yours if you want it.

- Oh, Burke, it...

it helps me so much to...

to know that I can turn to you.

- How about turning to me right now?

- I couldn't. Not now.

- Why not?

- Because I'm needed.

More than I've ever been needed before.

- Vicki, you were hired as a governess,

not a psychoanalyst.

- But the Collins family

is the only family I've ever had.

I feel more close to them than anyone.

- I'm sorry I'm not included in that group.

- You're in a class by yourself.

- You're always pulling back.

- Perhaps I won't always have to.

But right now I-- I just can't think about myself.

- All right, what's the latest crisis?

- It's Mrs. Stoddard.

- Oh, the bride-to-be?

- She's been behaving very strangely.

- Well, brides usually do, so they say.

- No, I'm serious.

She's... She's been so withdrawn.

She doesn't talk to anyone. She's just not herself.

- Well, it's no wonder,

being forced into a marriage

nobody can do anything about.

- What's been happening to her is so frightening.

- How do you mean?

- Well, I've-- I've had two reports.

The first one was from Mrs. Johnson.

She saw Mrs. Stoddard on Widow's Hill.

- Widow's Hill?

What was she doing?

- Just walking, or so she said to Mrs. Johnson.

But it's the second report that's the most alarming.

- What's that?

- Barnabas Collins brought Mrs. Stoddard home.

He said that he'd found her on Widow's Hill

standing very near to the edge of the cliff.

He... He said that it looked as though

she were preparing to jump.

- No, not Liz Stoddard.

- Burke, I'm afraid she may do something to harm herself.

She's in that sort of a mood.

- If I knew what Jason McGuire had on her,

I-- I might be able to help.

I'm having him checked out by a private source.

- Won't do any good.

- Why not?

- 'Cause it just won't.

- You know something, don't you?

- I...

- Vicki...

if you think that Liz Stoddard is about to harm herself,

you've got to tell me what you know.

- I have to go.

I-- I don't like leaving her alone very long.

- I'll take you.

- No, I think it's better if you don't.

I'm sorry.

[jukebox playing] ♪♪

[approaching footsteps]

- Hi, Aunt Elizabeth.

- Oh, David.

[door opens, closes]

- Oh, Mrs. Stoddard.

- Good night, Vicki.

- Hello, David. What are you doing?

- Just looking through the book

that Aunt Elizabeth was reading.

- What book is that?

- It's the Collins family bible.

It has the names of all the Collins family,

when they were born, and when they died.

- Well, your Aunt Elizabeth has always been very interested

in the Collins ancestry.

- Yes, I know.

But the page she was looking at

has her name on it.

♪♪

♪♪

[announcer] - "Dark Shadows" is a Dan Curtis production.