228 - May 10, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[narrating]
- My name is Victoria Winters.

A brilliant morning sun shines on Collinwood,

but it does not seem able to disburse a shadow

that has long hung low over the vast and rambling house.

The shadow of a secret, an insidious secret,

held by a man who is no longer a stranger to Collinwood.


- It's out of the question.


- Well, now, I wouldn't say that quite so quickly.


- I have said it, and I consider the subject closed.


- Then allow me to be reopen it.


- Well, it won't do you any good.


- Liz, I'm afraid you don't understand your position.


- I know my position.


- I'm not so sure that you do.

Now, I'm talking about your standing in the community.

People are already beginning to talk.


- That does not interest me.


- No?

But I always thought the good name of your family

was of extreme interest to you.


- Jason, you asked me to give you

a position in the family business.

I said no, flatly and irrevocably.

Now what has all this got to do with the family name?


- Well, isn't it obvious?

Here you have a young gentleman

staying with you at Collinwood.

Um, a guest who seems to be somewhat permanently installed.


- The gentleman is not permanently installed.


- No reason has been given for his presence here.

Now, I'm merely trying to provide a suitable explanation.


- Jason, I don't care what you say,

I am not taking you into the business.


- But, Liz!

Your family name... your own good name...

why, you know how eager I am to protect it.


- In other words...

This is another attempt at blackmail.


- Blackmail is such an ugly word, Liz.

I asked you not to use it...

for the last time.

♪♪

♪♪


- I am many things, Jason, but I am not stupid.

You want nothing more than to insinuate yourself

into the family business.


- Insinuate?

I intended a much more direct participation than that.


- The family business and the family books.


- The family books?


- Accounts, Jason, accounts.


- Oh, nonsense!

Now, the job I had in mind for myself

was hardly that of some slavish bookkeeper.

I was thinking about something far more interesting.

Something more suited to my talents.

I was thinking about, uh...

public relations
-
- something dynamic!


- We have no need for public relations.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a busy day.


- Not quite yet.


- I have work to do.


- And I said not quite yet.


- I am not taking you into the company!


- All right, then, Elizabeth.

Just exactly what explanation did you give to your banker

when you told him you were opening up

a bank account for me in Switzerland?


- I don't give my bankers explanations.

I give them orders.


- And you allowed them to "improvise"

their own explanations.

I don't think that's wise.


- What they think is no difference
-
-

makes no difference to me.


- Well, it makes a great deal of difference to me.

And, for the record, I want there to be an explanation

for the money you're giving me.


- There's an explanation, all right.


- Yes, Liz.

And it's less kind to you than it is to me.

I beg you to remember that.


- I don't need you to remind me.


- I'm afraid that you do!


- Jason, there is no reason for you to get involved

with the business or
-
- or offer any kind of explanation.

Because you won't be here that long.


- The length of my stay, dear Liz,

depends, as it always has,

upon the degree of your cooperation.


- But you can't stay here indefinitely.


- Well, then, if that's what you want,

why do you constantly frustrate the arrangements

that might lead to my departure?


- Because your arrangements seem to sub
-
-

exist of unending succession of demands.

There's got to be an end to it, there's got to be.


- Oh, now, now, Liz, please, dear, dear...

I can't bear to see you upset like this.


- Can't you just leave me alone?


- But, I can't, dear, I'm much too fond of you for that.


- Please, don't say those things.


- But, Liz, I am.

[chuckling] I've always been.

Now...

I can't bear to see you upset like this.

It pains me, it truly does.

So why don't you just make the necessary arrangements

for me to have an office at the cannery,

and all will be well.

All suspicion and tension will be at an end

and life at Collinwood will be once more, uh,

pleasant and rela
-
-


- Mother, Mrs. Johnson wants to...

Mrs. Johnson wants to know if she should go ahead

with the ordering for next week.


- Yes, tell her to go ahead.


- Are you all right?


- Yes, I'm fine.


- A little tired, perhaps.

I was just telling her that she works herself far too hard.

Those lovely shoulders are made to bear

far too heavy a burden.

But I intend to do all that I can to lighten the load.


- Mother... are you sure you're feeling all right?


- Of course.

Just tell Mrs. Johnson I'll be with her in a few minutes.

There are some things I want to discuss with her.


- All right.


- You are tired, Liz.

So why don't you just allow me to help you as much as I can.


- I don't need your help.

I don't want your help.


- Well, then, for your own good,

I'm going to impose it on you.

Now, I'll be leaving for town in just a few moments.

By the time I arrive at the cannery,

I expect you to have made the necessary calls.


- I won't do it, Jason.
- Just tell them to arrange

suitable office space for the new...

Well, now, let me see, what shall it be?

Ah, yes.

The new Director of Public Relations.


- I won't do it!


- Now, I'd love to stay here chatting with you

all morning, Liz
-
- you know I enjoy it, but...

well, business calls, you know.

Don't want to be late my first day on the job.

Remember, Liz...

Director of Public Relations.

Good
-bye, Liz.

And thank you, dear, for allowing me to be of...

some small service.

[line ringing]


- I was dumbfounded, to say the least.


- Well, I don't see why.


- Well, first Mr. Whitaker walks into my office and announces

that you have appointed a Director of Public Relations.

And then it turns out to be Jason McGuire.


- Jason is a very capable man.
- Oh, nonsense.

What do we want with a Public Relations Department anyway?


- Well, I've been thinking about it for a long time.


- Well, you haven't at all. You've never even mentioned it.


- There are a number of things I don't mention.


- It was all McGuire's idea, wasn't it?


- Is that what he told you?


- Of course not... he didn't have to.


- Well, you're wrong.

It was my idea, and I think it was a good one.

And now I have things to do.


- Liz, please...

It's bad enough having him disrupt this entire household

without having to do the same thing to the business.


- He is not disrupting anything.

Now, please, I don't want to get angry.

I have things to do.


- Liz...

Can't you tell me?

Why are you letting him do these things?


- I'm not letting him do anything.


- You let him... force himself into this house.


- He's here at my invitation.


- And now you're letting him force himself into the business.


- He's working for me because I asked him to.

I
-
- I need him.


- That's not true.


- It is, and I don't want to discuss it anymore.


- You're making a mistake, Liz.

A terrible mistake.


- You know me better than that, Roger.

I never make a mistake.


- I can't help it, Vicki.

It gets worse every time I see him with my mother.

I loathe the man so much, I can hardly stand it.


- What was he doing?


- It wasn't so much what he was doing.

It was the way he was doing it.


- What do you mean?


- That sticky sweet manner

and that insinuating tone of voice.

The
-
- the contempt behind it all.


- Contempt?


- Don't tell me you don't feel it?

Everything he does is tinged with it
-
-

his smile, his whole manner.

Simply the way he spoke to my mother this morning.

The mockery that was behind it...


- Good afternoon, ladies.

♪♪


- Carolyn, dear...

Could you tell me where I might find your mother?


- No, I can't.


- Vicki... could you?


- Vicki doesn't know either.


- Well... thank you very much for your help.


- Mr. McGuire?


- Jason, Carolyn, dear. Jason.


- Mr. McGuire.

I hate to keep asking this question,

but I haven't yet received a satisfactory answer.


- And what question might that be?


- How long do you intend to stay at Collinwood?


- Well, now...

Aren't you asking the wrong person? Heh.

After all, I am here at your mother's invitation.


- You're probably right.

This is something I should be discussing with her.


- Yes, and if you're interested, um,

I can give you some indication as to her response.


- That won't be necessary.


- You see, just this morning I, uh...

Well, I indicated that I might be leaving.


- Oh?
- And her response was...

well, really... quite touching.


- I doubt that.


- Well then, let the facts speak for themselves.


- Am I supposed to believe that my mother

asked you to stay on here?


- Oh, not only asked me to stay on but to help her.


- Help her?
- Yes, with the business.


- I don't believe it.


- Well, I'd love to stay here

and discuss it with you, Carolyn, but...

the first day on the job, you know,

can wear a man down very easily.


- Y
-You worked today?

At the cannery?


- Well, I had no other choice.

Your mother asked me to.

And you really shouldn't be so surprised, Carolyn.

After all, your mother and I are very old and close friends.

Very, very close.

It's almost getting to be like old times,

before she met your father.

We were even closer then, you know.


- I don't believe it.

I don't believe it.


- Well, as you like.

But you will... in time.


- Carolyn...


- I'll never believe it.

Never.

♪♪


- Don't you remember anything about him?


- I never laid eyes on him or even heard his name mentioned

until the day he walked in this house.


- But he said he used to be very close to Mrs. Stoddard.


- And he left no doubt as to what he meant.


- And you believe him?


- I don't know what to believe.


- Well, there's one thing that we can be certain of.

He was a friend of your father's.


- That doesn't tell me anything.

I never knew my father.


- Did Mr. Stoddard ever mention Jason McGuire?


- Don't forget, I hardly knew Paul Stoddard myself.

I was away at school during

most of that disastrous sequence in my sister's life,

but apparently he was a frequent visitor.


- I never questioned mother very much about my father, but...

I'd hate to think that his friends were people

like Jason McGuire.


- Well, I'm afraid you knew your father well enough

to imagine that that was very likely the case.


- Sometimes I wish I knew more about my father and...

then when I begin to find out,

I decide I don't want to know after all.


- Well, it's a subject I think you should discuss

only with your mother.


- You know that's never possible.

I get less information about him than I get about Mr. McGuire.


- Carolyn, the fact that your mother

has never left Collinwood since your father disappeared

shows how disturbed she was by that.


- I know.

But I can't help wishing I knew something.

When he went away...

didn't he leave anything behind?


- I was away at school at the time,

but I gather he left only those things in the basement.


- What things?


- Well, you know, those things in that room in the basement.


- What room?


- Do you mean the room that's locked?


- Yes, that one.

Well, didn't you know about it?


- I knew about the locked room, sure, but...

I was always told not to ask questions about it.


- [chuckling] Well...

Now you know why.


- You mean my father's things are locked up in there?


- Apparently.


- What kind of things?

Clothes? Letters?

Photographs? What?


- Kitten, I don't know.


- You've never been in there either?


- Well, of course not.

Your mother has the only key,

and heaven knows where that is.


- So that's what's in that room.

And my father didn't go without leaving a trace.


- Carolyn, I
-
- I don't think

you should bother yourself with that now.


- Vicki, this is very important to me.


- Even if he did disappear...

we have his friend as a constant reminder.


- I don't think we should talk about it...


- Excuse me.

I hope I'm not interrupting a meeting of some sort.


- No, no meeting, Liz.

We're just gathered here to exchange exasperation

over the fact that Mr. Jason McGuire

is now not only a member of this household,

but an employee.


- Well, you can all be as exasperated as you like.

It won't do you any good.


- Mother, may I have the key

to the locked room in the basement?


- What are you talking about?


- Uncle Roger said that some things

belonging to my father are in there.

I'd like to see them.

May I have the key?


- There's nothing in there.


- Liz, you know that's not true, you told me
-
-


- There's nothing in there!


- If there's nothing in there,

then why can't I have the key?


- Because I
-
- I mislaid it.

I
-
- I don't know where it is.


- Then let's break the lock.


- I forbid it.


- Mother, there must be something in there,

and if they're my father's things

I have every right to ask to see them.


- Carolyn, I don't want you to mention that room again.

Not now, not ever.

That goes for all of you. Is that clear?


- Mother you're not being fair.
- Is that clear?

Not a word, and I mean it, believe me.

♪♪

♪♪


- Mrs. Johnson said you wanted to see me.


- Yes, Vicki, come in.

Sit down.

I want to apologize for my outburst of a little while ago.

I
-
- I didn't mean to be so harsh.


- That's all right.


- No, it's not all right.

That's why I should apologize.

That room is of absolutely no importance.

I
-
- I've just been a little edgy lately.


- No importance?


- None whatsoever.

And would you help me convince Carolyn of that?


- Mrs. Stoddard, may I say something?


- Well, of course.


- I know it's none of my business,

but I can't help feeling that that room has something to do

with what's been troubling you lately.


- [scoffs] That's not true.

Why should I be troubled about nothing?

You don't believe me, do you?


- I don't know.

If Mr. Stoddard's things are in that room,

I can see how it would be very upsetting for you

to have to go in there or
-
-

or to have anyone else go in there...

especially Carolyn.


- Yes, of course, that's right.

Her father's things are in that room.

That's why it would be very painful for me and for Carolyn

if she were to try to get in there.

She mustn't, Vicki, she mustn't.


- I understand.

I'll do what I can.


- Tell her to forget about it.

That it doesn't exist.

Please, Vicki, please?

[door opening]


- [chuckling] Oh, it's you.

I was afraid maybe it was my mother.


- You're looking for the key to the basement room, aren't you?


- Mm
-hmm.

I'm going to find it if it's the last thing that I do.


- Carolyn, please don't.


- I have to.


- It's gonna hurt your mother so much.


- I can't help it, Vicki.

If my father's things are in that room,

I have every right to see them.


- Even if it's very painful to your mother?


- She doesn't have to know.


- She'll find out.


- Not if I can help it.


- Please, Carolyn, don't.


- Vicki, don't try to talk me out of it.

As a matter of fact,

why don't you help me look for the key?


- Because I don't want you to find it.


- Why?

Don't you think I have a right?


- I don't know.


- Vicki, how can you say that?


- Because...

maybe your father's things aren't in that room.


- What?


- I said maybe your father's...

Maybe that's not what's in the room.


- Well, then, why would it upset my mother so much

even to mention it?


- 'Cause maybe there's something even more painful in there.


- Vicki, what are you talking about?

What could be in there?


- I don't know.


- You must have some idea.

Vicki, what is it?


- Nothing, it's just my imagination.


- Well, you won't have to imagine much longer

because I'm going to find out once and for all.


- Oh, no, you mustn't!
- I have to.


- Carolyn, please, don't.

Not so much for your mother's sake as for your own.


- Vicki, exactly what do you mean?


- I don't know.

But please, Carolyn, forget about that room.

Forget about that key.

For your mother's sake, please.

♪♪

♪♪

[announcer] "Dark Shadows" is a Dan Curtis Production.