386 - December 18, 1967

[bunniefuu]

[Julia narrating] - A séance was held in the great house of Collinwood,

a séance, which sent Victoria Winters back on an uncertain

and frightening journey to the past,

back to the Collins family who lived in the year .

An evil woman is at work in the old Collins mansion.

She has sown the seeds of intrigue and deceit

within the family.

She has aroused suspicions of witchcraft,

but those suspicions have been directed at one who is innocent.

- I adjure thee, thou serpent,

by the Judge of the quick and the dead,

by thy Maker and the Maker of the world,

by Him who hath power to put thee into hell,

that thou depart in haste from the flesh of this woman.

Go out, thou seducer!

Go out, thou transgressor, full of deceit and wile!

Enemy of virtue!

Persecutor of innocence!

In the name of the Lord,

I command thee to cast thyself

back into the darkness from whence thee came,

and where thy everlasting destruction awaits thee!

- Somebody, please help me!

Please!

- You may scream the devil's words all you wish,

but there will be none to hear you,

none but the Lord.

- Please!

Don't leave me here alone!

Somebody!

Somebody please -- please help me!

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪

- Your tarot cards, my lady.

- Thank you, Angelique.

I must read immediately.

- Is there anything else you want?

- No, thank you.

You may go to your room now.

Well?

- Forgive me, my lady,

but you seem disturbed about something.

Is - is there anything I can do to help?

- I wish you could tell me where Ms. Winters is,

but I'm sure you cannot.

- Oh. She's not in the house?

- No.

- Why, has something happened to her?

- That is what - why I am reading the cards,

to find out.

- Good night, my lady.

- Good night.

- Excuse me, countess.

May we have a word with you?

- Well, yes, of course.

- Lieutenant Forbes and I

have been concerned about Ms. Winters.

We want to know if you were present this afternoon

when Reverend Trask questioned her.

- Yes. Yes, I was.

- Can you tell us what happened?

- She - she refused to cooperate with him.

He was convinced that she was guilty of practicing witchcraft.

- Oh, that settles it.

We must - must persuade her to leave the house temporarily

for her own good.

- Yes.

She's in danger as long as this self-styled minister

is in the house.

- I am afraid it is too late.

- What are you talking about?

- He's already taken her away.

- Where?

- I do not know.

- You mean, she went right out of this house with him?

- I said, he took her.

- Forcibly? - Yes.

- And you allowed him to do that without telling anyone?

- It was stupid of me.

I - I thought he would merely question her

about her ability to practice witchcraft.

- Do you know where he is now?

- Oh, I was just about to read the tarot cards to find out,

but I am too upset to do that.

- Where is my Aunt Abigail?

She'll know where he's gone.

- No.

She has retired for the night and she does not know.

He refused to tell either of us.

- He said nothing at all before he left the house?

- He said he had a way of proving whether or not

Ms. Winters was a witch.

We would know by morning.

- Oh, that doesn't tell us much.

- Barnabas, Barnabas,

you - you must go out and look for the girl.

I am very worried about her.

- Isn't it a little late for you to be worried now?

- I know and I must take the blame for what has happened,

but I - I implore you to go and find her.

I - I'm afraid of what might happen to her.

- What do you mean?

- He was very angry at her.

Ms. Winters kept trying to resist his efforts

to question her.

She - she ordered him out of her room.

When he tried to get her to pray for salvation,

she - she struck him in the face.

[chuckles] - Good for her.

- And then, what did he do?

- He struck her,

then he tied her hands behind her back.

He said he would take her somewhere

and exorcise the evil spirits from her body.

Oh, but I would not be surprised

if he is torturing her at this moment.

- Nathan, go and get a lantern from the kitchen.

We must search the estates and the surrounding woods.

We must find her before that man gets to her again.

♪♪

You and my Aunt Abigail ought to be ashamed of yourselves

for allowing an innocent young girl to be mistreated

by a tyrant parading as a minister.

- André was right.

I should never have left Martinique.

We've had nothing but misfortune

ever since we came to this house.

- Well, I'm ready.

- Good. Let us leave at once.

- I hope you find her, Barnabas.

- You hope they find whom, Countess?

- Reverend Trask,

I demand to know where you've taken Ms. Winters.

- That is my concern, not yours.

- And I am making it my concern.

Now, what have you done with her?

- I must caution you, Mr. Collins,

not to interfere with God's fight with the devil.

- God's fight with the devil indeed!

Don't you realize that you've committed an injustice?

This girl is not a witch.

- I've had considerably more experience in these matters

than you have and I say you are wrong.

The girl is possessed.

And by morning, I shall prove it to all of you.

- How?

- I had subjected the girl to a full proof test.

She must stay where I have placed her

throughout this night.

- And where is that?

- I won't tell you that.

- If you have harmed Ms. Winters in any way --

- You are concerned about her well-being

after all the harm she has inflicted on your own family?

- She has never harmed anyone in this house.

- I find your concern for the defense of this girl

most curious, Mr. Collins.

You don't know where she came from,

you know nothing of her background,

she arrived here in fact as a total stranger,

you must have some reason for defending her so strenuously.

- Reverend Trask,

in your zealous pursuit of non-existent witches

and perhaps it's escaped your memory

that we have just fought a w*r recently,

a w*r to establish certain rights,

and I am defending the right of this girl to be judged

innocent until she has proved innocent!

I'm sure that this idea is a little complicated

for your mind to absorb.

Nathan, let us go.

- I warn you again, Mr. Collins!

Do not interfere!

Where is Abigail?

- She has retired for the evening.

- Are these your tarot cards, Countess?

- Yes.

- I see.

I was under the impression that you were a religious woman.

- I am.

- You mean, you use these cards

only for your own entertainment?

- I rely on the cards to tell me what the future will be.

- Then you can lay no claim to being religious.

God, and only God,

determines what the future holds for each of us.

It cannot be done with tarot cards

or any other of the devil's playthings.

- With all due respect,

I am capable of pursuing my religion my own way,

without any advice from you.

- Oh, Angelique, I thought you'd gone to bed.

- Oh, I wasn't tired, my lady.

I thought perhaps you might like some tea before you retire.

- Oh, how very thoughtful of you.

Thank you.

Tell me, tell me,

are you sure that Ms. Winters will not be harmed?

- Yes.

- What is this test you mentioned and

how can you be so certain it is foolproof?

- Why do you ask?

- I'm curious.

I've never met a witch hunter before

and I'm curious as to how you go about finding out

if someone is a witch.

- Are you sure you're not asking

because you wish to help the girl?

- How could I possibly help her?

You haven't told anyone where she is.

- The girl is tied to a tree, a living creature of God.

If she is a witch,

the tree will be dead by morning,

that is my test.

[clock chiming]

And we shall know the result of it in less than six hours.

♪♪

- Help!

Help me!

Somebody, please help me!

Please!

Please!

[trees rustling]

- What is it?

- I think we've been over this ground already.

- Are you sure? - Yes.

I think we better turn and go back the other direction.

- We should have gotten Ben to come with us.

He knows every square foot of these woods.

- Maybe she's not in the woods.

- She must be.

He couldn't have taken her into Collinsport.

And we've searched every building in the estate.

Where else could he have taken her?

- I don't know, but I'm beginning to think

it's useless to search at night.

- We must keep searching.

He said that he would come back to her in the morning.

We must find her first.

- Let's keep moving then.

[distant crying] - Listen.

- What is it? - Listen.

Don't say a word. I think I hear something.

[crying continues]

Can you hear that?

- It sounds like someone crying.

- It must be her.

- Ms. Winters, is that you?

Ms. Winters!

[Barnabas] Ms. Winters, where are you?

- Mr. Collins, is that you?

[Barnabas] - Yes. Where are you?

- I'm over here. Please hurry!

[Barnabas] - We're coming right now.

- Please! Please hurry!

- Look what he has done to her.

- Let's get her untied, quickly.

That man must be some kind of maniac.

You're going to be all right now.

We won't let him come near you.

- But where can I go?

- We're going to take you back to your room.

- No!

- One of us will stay outside of your door

through the night.

- No, I - I can't go back to that house.

I won't!

- Now, there's nothing to be afraid of now. - Please?

I promise you that he won't do you any harm.

- No! No!

I - I - I'll go anywhere but not back to that house!

I can't be in the same house with that man!

- Barnabas, I don't blame her for not wanting to go back.

Maybe we can find some place for her to hide tonight.

- But where?

- I don't know. Maybe - maybe the new house.

Maybe one of the rooms in the new house.

I don't think the Reverent would think to look for her there.

- Very well. We'll take you to the new house.

I will tell my father in the morning what happened tonight.

I promise you that Trask will not get near you.

- We've got to get away from here.

It'll be dawn. He'll be coming here soon.

- All right. Go ahead now, Nathan. We'll follow you.

[Reverend Trask] - The girl is tied to a tree, a living creature of God.

If she is a witch,

that tree will be dead by morning.

That is my test.

[fire crackling]

♪♪

[rooster crowing]

- Yes. This room should do.

You'll be safe enough here.

- Must I stay here alone?

- I promise you,

you won't be disturbed here and besides,

you won't be here that long.

- I'll get you some blankets and food from the house.

- The sun is coming up.

Reverend Trask will be on his way to the tree by now.

- I'd like to see the look on his face

when he discovers you're not there.

- I wouldn't.

I don't ever want to see his face again as long as I live.

- Now, you are not to worry about him anymore.

If I have my way,

you will be sent away from here before the day is over.

[trees rustling]

- Welcome.

You decided to follow me.

- I wanted to see for myself that Ms. Winters was safe.

- Is that all?

- Of course that is all.

- The girl must have extraordinary powers.

Suddenly, everyone is starting to feel sorry for her.

- I began to feel sorry for her

when I saw the way you treated her yesterday.

- Well, your pity will do her little good now.

- The sun has risen.

The test has been completed.

- You are certain that you already know the result,

is that it?

- I was certain last night of what the result would be,

but my duty required me to leave the final judgment

to the Almighty.

- Well, shall we go and see

what the Almighty has decided?

- I shall go on alone.

You must go back to the house. - Why?

- Because that is the way it is to be.

- Are you afraid that perhaps the test has failed

and I will go back and tell everyone

that you'd been a fool?

- No.

- Then what - why are you afraid of anything?

- I am not afraid.

- And I am not going back to the house.

- Countess, you may not like what you see

if you go with me.

- Lead the way. I will take my chances.

- Very well.

You will see the evidence for yourself.

♪♪

- What is it?

- The girl has escaped.

- Well, where was she?

- She has escaped,

but her guilt has been proved.

- What do you mean?

- She was tied to that tree, Countess.

Last night, it was a vital living thing,

but now, look what has happened.

♪♪

[eerie music] ♪♪