and a balmy breeze blows in from the sea.
All seems peaceful and serene,
as if a once-turbulent world had reached some final peace,
as if there is no terror in this night.
But the seemingly serene darkness
only serves to hide forces of terror and destruction.
♪♪
- [gasping]
♪♪
[waves crashing] ♪♪
- Oh!
- Miss Winters, I frightened you.
I certainly must apologize.
- Oh, please don't.
It was very silly of me to scream.
- It can be a very alarming experience,
having someone appear from the shadows without warning.
- I don't see how anything could be alarming
on a night like this.
- It is a beautiful night, isn't it?
- It's lovely.
- Listen...
- To what?
- The silence.
- The silence?
- There's no sound at all,
except the sound of the ocean far away.
- Yes.
- I find it very soothing. Do you?
- Very.
- The world is at rest when the darkness falls.
Everything seems to be at peace.
Perhaps that's why I prefer the darkness to the daylight,
the gentle rays of the moon to the violence of the sun.
- I think I know what you mean.
- Imagine what it would be like to exist only at night,
only when the world is at peace.
It would be a lifetime of moonlight.
- That's very hard to imagine.
- I may be an incredible romantic,
but, I find it very appealing...
Very.
- Yes, I imagine you would...
A lifetime of moonlight.
- And you?
Would it appeal to you?
- It might. - Would it?
- Maybe.
But then, I am an incredible romantic, too.
- We have that in common.
- Mm-hmm.
Oh, were you looking for Mrs. Stoddard?
- No, I was looking for you, Vicki.
- For me?
- I was going through some trunks today
and I found some more family histories.
Very old and very rare.
I thought you might like to come around to the house tonight
and look at them.
- I'd love to look at them, but...
- You can't?
- I'm afraid I have a date.
- With Devlin? - Yes.
- I see.
Well, what about tomorrow night?
- Oh...
I'm afraid I have a date tomorrow night, too.
- You and Devlin are seeing quite a bit of each other,
aren't you?
- Yes, I guess you might say that.
[Julia] - Good evening.
- Good evening, Miss Hoffman.
- How are you, Miss Hoffman?
- Oh, very well, thank you, Mr. Collins.
- Did you find the books you were looking for?
- Yes, but I got a little weary of footnotes.
I came out to get a breath of fresh air.
Isn't it a lovely night?
- We were just saying the same thing, Miss Hoffman.
- Well, if you'll excuse me,
I think I'll go up and change for my date with Burke.
- Of course.
- Mr. Collins?
- Yes?
- Thank you very much for your invitation.
And, I would like to see those histories.
May I do it some other time?
- Certainly.
- Thank you. Good night.
- Good night.
- You said you were going to leave her alone.
- And I have.
- What about inviting her to your house?
- That's no concern of yours.
- It will concern you
if I decide not to cooperate with you.
- You won't make that decision.
- Won't I?
- No, because your experiments mean too much to you.
- Yes.
I'd do almost anything to continue them,
but I won't sacrifice a human life.
- There's no question of that.
Miss Winters and I are only friends.
- You can never be any more than friends-- never!
- I'm fully aware of that.
- That's good,
because Miss Winters has other interests.
- What do you mean?
- Burke Devlin.
- What about him?
- Well, she's obviously in love with him.
- That's absurd!
- Is it?
- A sensitive girl like Miss Winters
could never fall in love with a man as crude as Burke Devlin.
- I won't argue with you.
Just stay away from Vicki.
Do you understand me?
- Yes, I understand.
♪♪
♪♪
[knocking]
- Oh, Miss Hoffman.
- May I come in?
- Yes, of course.
Was there something you wanted?
- No, I just wondered if there was anything I could do
to help you get ready for your date.
- Oh, that's very kind of you.
There is something you can do.
- Oh, what's that?
- You can help me decide which dress to wear.
I can't choose between these two.
- This must be a very special date.
- No, not really.
- Well, perhaps any date with this particular gentleman
is special.
- Well, which one of these two?
- Hmm... I think I prefer the blue.
- Yes.
That's the one I was thinking of too.
- I haven't known you very long,
but in the short time I have known you,
I have come to be very fond of you.
- Thank you, Miss Hoffman.
- Oh, please-- Please call me Julia.
- Julia.
And I'm Vicki.
- Vicki?
- Yes?
- Well, I don't want to presume, but...
I wonder if you'd mind if I gave you a bit of advice?
- No, no-- What is it?
- Well, I couldn't help overhearing your conversation
with Barnabas Collins on the terrace
and his invitation to the old house.
- Yes, he did invite me there.
But, what about it?
- I think it would be wise if you didn't go.
- Why?
- Oh, because of Mr. Collins, and the kind of man he is.
- I don't understand.
- Well, I have been working rather closely
with Mr. Collins these past weeks
and I've gotten to know him fairly well.
He's... Oh, how can I say?
He's a very sensitive person.
- Yes, he is, but... ?
- Sensitive people are very easily hurt.
- I still don't follow you.
- Surely, the situation should be obvious.
Barnabas Collins is a bachelor and lonely.
You're a young attractive girl.
[sighing] Is it so hard to guess at what I'm hinting at?
- You mean that...
that he thinks of me as more than a friend?
- Is that so unlikely?
- Oh, I'm sure that you're wrong.
- I assure you, I'm not.
I have observed enough to know that I am right.
- But he's never given me any indication.
He's always treated me as a friend.
- Well, he finds it difficult, then, to show any feeling
but the feeling does exist.
- Well, I...
I don't know what to say.
- Well, you don't want to hurt him, do you?
- No. I like him very much.
- Then stay away from him.
Don't let your relationship develop any further than it has.
I really think it would be best for both of you.
♪♪
- Would you like a brandy?
- Oh, I don't think so, unless you would.
- No.
[church bell tolling, fountain splashing]
- You've been in a quiet mood all evening.
- Have I?
I'm sorry.
I guess I just haven't had very much to say.
- Oh, I have a good time with you
when neither one of us says a word.
- So do I.
- I think it's important for two people who care about each other
to be able to share quiet moments.
- It's true.
- Oh, look...
- What?
- The Pleiades, see?
That cluster of six very, very bright stars up there.
See them? - Yes.
- My father taught me the names of the stars
when I was seven years old.
He taught me how to chart a boat with them.
- What was your father like?
- Pop?
Oh, I don't know.
Most people thought he wasn't worth very much and I...
I guess they were right, he wasn't.
But he taught me the names of the stars.
And I like to remember him that way.
- That's a lovely way to remember him.
- Is it?
Well, he walked out on us when I was nine years old.
But then, I guess I had a better break than you did.
- Oh, I don't know about that.
There were people at the foundling home who were very...
They cared about me very much.
- Were there?
- Yes, there were.
There was one nurse in particular.
Her name was Inah O'Donnell.
She had an Irish brogue and she laughed all the time.
I adored her.
She gave me a doll one Christmas.
How I loved that doll. I still have it.
- Vicki...
- Yes?
- You know how I feel about you, don't you?
- Well, I...
I'm not sure.
- You must be!
- I guess I am.
- And you?
- Do I have to say?
♪♪
- You don't have to say a single word,
because I know.
- Burke...
- I've wanted to do that for such a long time.
It's strange.
- What is?
- It's just about a year since I came back here.
And the only thing that I had on my mind
was the destruction of the Collins family.
A little governess didn't figure in on my plans.
I tried awfully hard to ignore you, Vicki.
- I know.
- But I couldn't.
I couldn't get you off of my mind.
- It was the same way with me, Burke.
- Was it?
- Right from the start.
- I never thought I'd find someone like you.
But now that I have, I'll--
I'll never let you go.
Not ever.
♪♪
♪♪
- I suppose I'd better go.
- I suppose so.
- I was saying that ten minutes ago.
[laughing] - I know!
- Pick you up tomorrow at
- At :.
- Good night. - Good night.
- Oh, excuse me.
- Oh, that's all right.
- I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here.
Please, forgive me.
I was just taking these books of the Collins family history
back to the library.
- How is the research coming along?
- Oh, very well.
Vicki has been very helpful in finding material for me.
- Not as much as I'd like to be.
- Well, I'm sorry to interrupt you.
- Oh no, it's all right.
Burke was just leaving and I was on my way upstairs.
- As a matter of fact, I wanted to talk to you, Miss Hoffman.
- Oh? - About your book.
- Oh, well, in that case,
I'll say good night to you now.
I'll see you tomorrow.
- Good night. Tomorrow.
- Good night. - Good night.
Shall we go in here?
- Fine.
- Ah, Vicki's a lovely girl.
- She certainly is.
Well...
What did you want to say about my book?
- Well, actually...
I didn't want to speak to you about your book.
- Oh?
- No, it's about Vicki.
- What about Vicki?
- You said she was helping you with your book.
And, as I've said before,
I don't think she should be involved.
Vicki is a girl with a very vivid imagination.
She's very fascinated with the legends of Collinwood,
and they tend to make her imagination even more vivid,
make it run wild.
Now twice, Vicki has imagined things that didn't exist.
Once, at the old house,
she imagined she saw the figure of a little girl
at the top of the stairs.
And later on,
she imagined she heard a little girl singing in an empty room.
Now, it seems to me...
It seems to me that that sort of thing is very bad for her.
She should be living in the present.
- The present, meaning you.
- Yes!
Yes, if you like.
- I am in complete agreement with you.
- You are?
- Oh, I realize that...
that, that, Vicki tends to get overstimulated
in working with me.
I don't think she should be encouraged to work with me.
I'll do my best to discourage her.
- Well, I'm surprised.
I thought you'd want her to work with you.
- Oh, not if working with me hurts Vicki.
I care about Vicki.
I've become very fond of her.
- Well, that makes two of us.
- I'll do my best to keep her away from the family legends
and the Collins history and, and--
and the old house.
- Well, I'm very glad to hear that.
And I'm grateful for your cooperation.
- You have my complete cooperation.
- Well, I won't keep you any longer.
- Good night, Mr. Devlin.
- Good night, Miss Hoffman.
[clock chiming]
[clock ticking] ♪♪
♪♪
[music box playing melody] ♪♪
♪♪
[announcer] - "Dark Shadows" is a Dan Curtis Production.