284 - July 27, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[Victoria narrating] - Under the sun over Collinwood,

the days seem trapped

beneath its throbbing, unrelenting eye.

No storm is promised

and the air itself is as still as the grieving of the dead.

And yet one leaf will stir,

one bough will likely bend,

and one knows that the stillness will sometime end.

Perhaps with a gentle rain.

Perhaps with a thundering storm.

- Who is Sarah Collins?

Who is Sarah Collins?

Can you tell me?

- Sarah Collins.

- You have a friend

who gave you her doll to play with.

- Yes. She is my friend.

- What is your friend's name?

- Sarah. Her name is Sarah.

- But what is her last name?

Does she have a last name?

Is her name Sarah Collins?

Yesterday you were very frightened.

We were in the cemetery.

- Cemetery?

- Yes.

And we had to hide.

- I must hide.

- The place that we hid frightened you most of all.

- Hide there? Not there!

- Why not there? - Not there!

Please, not there!

- But didn't you feel your friend Sarah was there?

Didn't you feel your friend Sarah was near?

- No. No friend was there.

- Was there someone there who would hurt you?

- No, no. Don't hurt me!

- What was the name of the person there

who would hurt you?

I am going to say a name.

Now listen carefully.

The name is Collins.

- [whimpers] No, no.

No!

♪♪

[creepy music plays]

♪♪

- I'm in no mood to do you any more favors.

You should never have brought Maggie down here

and you certainly shouldn't have taken her neat that cemetery.

- As usual, I disagree.

- Don't you realize that every minute that she's here,

even in this house, she's in terrible danger?

- Fortunately this place is outside of town

and no one has seen her.

- But suppose someone had, Julia?

Our whole plan would've gone right out the window.

- I know, which should indicate

how important I thought it was to bring Maggie here.

- Oh.

- Now, how about my request?

- You want me to introduce you to the Collins family

as some sort of a-- a family historian.

- Yes, as something of a genealogist.

- But why can't I introduce you as Dr. Julia Hoffman?

- I have my reasons.

- Look, I know the Collins family.

If they knew that you were trying to help Maggie--

- You know as well as I do that they mustn't even know

that Maggie is still alive.

- All right, but listen, if they realize

that you were trying to track down

the maniac who did this to Maggie,

they'd cooperate completely.

- No one must know that I have anything to do with the case.

It's the only way I can work.

- You suspect one of them, don't you?

- Why do you keep asking me questions

that you know I can't answer?

- Won't you at least tell me

what happened at the cemetery yesterday?

- I prefer not to.

- Look, did Maggie lead you to something that you--

that you think implicates the Collins family?

- "Implicates" is the wrong word.

Maggie merely pointed in a direction

which I am now going to follow.

- [sighs]

All right, all right, Julia. I give up.

Yes, of course, I'll do what you ask.

If for no other reason than to get to the bottom of all this.

- Thank you. I had the feeling you would.

[chuckles]

- But you're gonna have to let me ask you one more question.

- What is it?

- Now, listen, yesterday you went to that cemetery.

Today you want to explore the Collins family history.

- Right.

- Well, now that leads me to wonder about one thing.

- What's that?

- Julia, we both know

that Maggie's case is far from the ordinary.

- Yes.

- Exactly how far from the ordinary is it?

- I don't know what you mean.

- Oh, come on, Julia, we both at different times

used the term "unearthly" in our speculations.

- That's right.

- Have you reached a point where, um,

you're using that term no longer as a speculation

but as a conviction?

- Do you mind if I don't answer?

- Yes, I do mind.

- Then I'll say this.

The term "unearthly" was-- was incorrect to begin with.

- How do you mean?

- Well, nothing that happens on Earth

can be termed "unearthly."

Our mistake is thinking that there are limits

as to what can take place on this planet.

- But there are limits to what a rational man can accept.

- I know.

And I would say that in this case,

those limits have to be extended considerably.

♪♪

- I hope that Dr. Woodard told you

Mrs. Stoddard won't be able to see you today.

She's very busy.

- Yes, but I've heard so much about Collinwood,

I thought I had to come and see it anyway.

I hope I'm not intruding.

- Not at all.

As a matter of fact, when Dr. Woodard told me

that he had a friend who was interested in doing research

in the old families of New England,

I couldn't wait to meet you.

- Oh, you have a similar interest?

- Well, not really.

Mine is limited to the Collins family.

- Oh? - You see, I've become

a bit of a nut on the subject.

- Oh, well, then perhaps you're the one I should talk to.

- Oh, no. I'm much too much of an amateur.

You really should talk to Mrs. Stoddard.

Or better still, you should talk to Barnabas Collins.

- Barnabas-- Oh, yes, Dr. Woodard told me.

Mrs. Stoddard's cousin.

- Yes. He's from England.

And he knows everything there is to know

about the family history, especially about the past.

- Miss Winters, I'm back on time like I promised.

See? - I see.

David, I'd like you to meet Miss Hoffman.

- Oh, nice to meet you. - Hello.

- Miss Hoffman is gonna be doing some research

on the Collins family history.

- No kidding.

You mean our ancestors and all that.

- Starting with way back when they first came to America,

right up to the present.

- Can I help?

The study's filled with books.

And so's the house.

It's filled with all sorts of portraits.

- David, if Miss Hoffman needs any help,

I think she'll ask for it.

I think you should go up

and see if you can do any better on that geography

considering the trouble you had this morning.

- I think I'll have the same amount of trouble this afternoon.

- Well, you better not.

I gave you that extra playtime hoping it would help.

- Oh, I know, but I didn't have much fun.

That's probably why I'm home on time.

I was sort of hoping I could see Sarah.

- Maybe you will next time.

Now, why don't you run upstairs and I'll be up in a minute.

- Sarah Collins?

- Oh, no, no, she's just a little girl

from somewhere in the neighborhood.

- I wish I knew her last name.

Then I could find her and invite her over.

- You don't know her last name?

- No.

You know, sometimes I don't even think she knows it.

- What do you mean?

- Well, she acts sort of funny.

I think she's sort of dumb.

- David, anyone who did what you did in geography this morning

shouldn't call anyone else dumb.

Now, upstairs.

- If you see Sarah, will you find out her last name?

- I will.

It's sad, isn't it?

He has almost no one to play with.

At times, I think he even imagines these friends of his.

- You think perhaps Sarah isn't real?

- I don't know.

I hope she is real for David's sake.

Well, what were we talking about?

- Oh, uh, Barnabas Collins, Mrs. Stoddard's cousin.

- Oh, yes.

Now, he really is the one that you should talk to.

- Oh, I'd like to very much.

- You know, he used to be very shy.

He almost never came over to the house at all.

But now he seems to be much more willing

to have people around him.

Why, he even gave a party at the old house.

- The old house? - That's where he lives.

You see, it was the original Collins family mansion.

And he's had it completely restored

to the way it used to be.

- I'd love to see it.

And I'd love to meet Mr. Collins.

May I phone him?

- No, I don't think you can do that.

- Oh? - You see, he is so insistent

on having the house exactly the way it used to be

that he won't even have a phone installed.

- Huh, isn't that rather eccentric?

- I suppose it is.

But frankly, I like it that way.

Going there is like going into the past.

- You sound as though you share his affection

for days gone by.

- I suppose maybe I do.

- Now you sound as though that were

something to apologize for.

- Well, it's not good to get too caught up in the past.

- I could take that as a criticism of me.

- No, I didn't mean it that way at all.

It's just that lately I've had a tendency to--

well, to be too concerned with the past.

- Hmm, it seems Mr. Collins and his house

is even more concerned.

- Somehow it seems all right.

- But not for you?

- No, I-- I don't think so.

But there is one room in that house

that I wouldn't mind living in forever.

- Oh? - It's the room that belonged to Josette Collins.

- Josette.

- She was the wife of, uh, Jeremiah Collins,

one of the founders of the Collins family fortune.

- Oh, I'd like very much to see the room

and to meet Mr. Collins.

Would-- would it be convenient to go this afternoon?

- Well, I'm not sure.

You see, he doesn't exactly welcome strangers.

- But if you came with me.

- Well, seeing as you are so interested in the family history,

maybe he might be a little more friendly.

- Friendly? You make him sound forbidding.

- Oh, no, he's not that at all.

As a matter of fact, he's the gentlest, kindest man I know.

It's just that he values his privacy.

We all try and respect that.

- Hmm, but when you explain that I share

his interest in things past...

- I have a feeling that you two are gonna get along very well.

- Hmm, I hope so.

♪♪

- This was her room. - Oh, you're right.

It is like going into a whole different world.

- I wish that Mr. Collins were here

to show it to you himself.

- Who was that fellow who didn't want to let us in?

- That was Willie Loomis. Don't pay any attention to him.

- He's not very easy to ignore. [chuckles]

- Well, it's just that Mr. Collins has a rule.

He doesn't like to have visitors.

- Oh, and that's Josette.

- Yes. Isn't she beautiful?

- Yes, lovely.

- I wore one of her dresses

to the party that Mr. Collins had.

- You wore a dress of hers? - Mm-hmm.

We all wore clothes of the period.

It was his way of celebrating the restoration of the house.

- Oh, it sounds very festive.

- Look, the dress, it's still there.

- It's lovely.

What was that? - What?

- You-- you didn't feel anything?

- No. - Oh, well...

A sudden chill.

- I didn't feel anything.

- It-- it was probably nothing.

- Well, the sun's gone down,

but I don't see what that has anything to do with it.

- It was...

It was probably only my imagination.

- You still feel it? - No, no, it's--

It was only a moment if it happened at all.

- Well, it's getting late. Perhaps we should go.

- Oh, I can't see the rest of the house?

- Well, I'd rather that Mr. Collins

showed it to you himself. - Oh?

- Well, I-- I feel that I could show you this room

because, well... - Go on.

- Well, it's just that it's-- it's rather hard to explain.

- Well, don't if you'd rather not.

- Oh, no, it's not that.

It's just difficult to put into words.

- Oh, well, perhaps because

Mr. Collins let you wear Josette's dress,

you-- you feel proprietary about Josette and this room.

- Maybe that's it.

Anyway, he knows how much I love it.

And he appreciates that fact.

I think I better remind Willie to put away that dress.

- Well...

It almost looks as though it were laying out there

waiting for Josette to put it on.

- Doesn't it?

- The sun has gone down. It's gotten quite dark.

- I'll light a candle.

- Oh, no, don't. I really should go.

And I really don't think Mr. Collins

would like our making ourselves at home.

- Please.

I'd like you to see this room by candlelight.

There.

How many times Josette must have seen this room

in the same light.

- What happened?

- Candle went out, that's all.

- The chill, I felt it again.

- You did?

- I think we better go.

- But there's nothing to be afraid of, nothing at all.

- Oh, it's not that.

Believe me, if you knew me at all,

you'd know I'm afraid of nothing.

- But you will come back and see the house again

when Mr. Collins is here, won't you?

- Oh, yes.

I can't tell you how much I look forward to it.

♪♪

- I'm sorry you didn't get to see either Mrs. Stoddard or Mr. Collins.

Your trip could hardly have seemed worthwhile.

- Oh, it wasn't entirely without interest.

- In what way? - Oh, just in general.

- I had a feeling you'd give me that sort of answer.

- I really have nothing else to report.

- Julia, there's something that I have to make you aware of.

- What's that?

- If you have any suspicion of anyone in particular...

- Suspicion of what? - Oh, now you know of what.

If you have any idea who our... maniac was, or is,

you're obligated to make it known to the authorities.

- And have them interfere?

- No, not interfere, but be on the alert.

We don't want what happened to Maggie

to happen to anybody else.

- Of course we don't.

- Well, then you've got to tell me.

Do you suspect anyone in particular?

- I have no suspicions whatsoever.

- You're sure about that. - Positive.

Well, now before I take Maggie back to Windcliff,

I'd like to have a moment with her here.

Alone, please?

- All right.

You know, we took an awful chance

bringing her down here in the first place.

- We have to take chances or we don't get anything done.

- Hmm.

Maggie, come in.

- Come in, Maggie. Sit down here.

- I'll, uh, be in the outer office

if you need me for anything.

- Thank you very much for everything.

Now, Maggie, we're going to play one of our games.

Now, let me hold your doll. - No.

- Let me hold it. I'll just...

- No.

- We want to find out what the doll's name is.

The doll doesn't have a name.

Does she?

All right, we're going to find out.

Now listen to me.

I want you to listen very carefully

and I want you to look at the doll very carefully,

and maybe you'll hear its name.

- Doll talk?

- If you listen very carefully and look very carefully,

you'll find out.

Are you listening? - Yes.

- My name is Elizabeth Collins Stoddard.

- Elizabeth?

- That doesn't mean anything to you?

- No. - All right, we'll try again.

My name is Sarah Collins.

- Sarah's my friend. She gave me the doll.

- And that's all she means to you?

- She's my friend.

- All right, we'll try again.

Now, let's see.

My name is Carolyn Stoddard.

- Carolyn?

- That doesn't mean anything to you?

- Carolyn?

- All right, all right, we'll keep on trying.

Now let's keep on trying. Are you listening?

- Yes.

- My name is Barnabas Collins.

- No. Please, not that name!

No, no! - All right, all right.

All right, Maggie, it's all right.

It's not the right name. It's not the right name, Maggie.

- Don't hurt me!

- Nobody's gonna hurt you, Maggie.

It's the wrong name. Here, take your doll.

It's the wrong name.

It's the wrong name.

- [whimpers]

♪ London Bridge is falling down ♪

♪ Falling down falling down ♪

♪ London Bridge is falling down... ♪

- The wrong name for the doll.

- ♪ ...My fair lady...

- But the right name for... something else.

- ♪ ...London Bridge is falling down ♪

♪ Falling down falling down... ♪♪

[creepy music plays]

♪♪

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