464 - April 4, 1968

[bunniefuu]

Victoria Winters has returned from a strange,

frightening journey into the past.

One by one, she has begun to remember

the terrible events she witnessed in the year .

There is another in the Collins family

who knows those events only too well,

for he too lived through them.

Now, he fears that Victoria Winters

may have learned his awful secret.

While this night is still young,

Barnabas Collins will learn

that no part of the past can ever die.

Indeed, his own past may soon begin to catch up with him.

I have lived this curse for almost years.

Is that not time enough?

Now that you have found me again,

must everyone around me die as they did before?

No!

I will not let you do it.

I will not let you!

Burn! Burn!

That is the only way you will die.

That is the only way this curse will end.

Burn! Burn!

[Angelique laughing]

No.

No.

No!

[laughing continues]

Where are you?

Where?

♪♪

[eerie theme music] ♪♪

"And, love, let us be true to one another.

"For the world, which seems to lie before us

"like a land of dreams,

"so various, so beautiful, so new.

"Hath really neither joy, nor love,

"nor light, nor certitude, nor peace,

"nor help for pain.

"And we are here as on a darkling plain,

"swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight.

Where ignorant armies clash by night."

Roger, what are you doing?

Roger?

Roger, can you hear me?

Oh, yes, I can hear you, Vicki.

I must congratulate you on your taste.

You know that's an exquisite portrait.

Well, thank you,

but you've already congratulated me three times.

Every time I look at it,

it's like seeing it for the first time.

You know, at my age, the thrill of discovery

is one of life's rare treasures.

When I left you an hour ago, you were staring at it.

You don't mean to tell me you've been standing here

all this time?

Well, I believe I have.

Why?

Well, now, you look at that face and tell me why not.

You really like it, don't you?

I adore it.

I've never seen a face as spellbinding as that.

Well, you must share my enthusiasm.

I mean, after all, you found the painting and bought it.

Yes, and I'm still not sure why.

Well, don't bother about reasons.

That face alone justifies the purchase.

Perhaps, she's someone I met during--

Oh, during your sojourn into the th century.

I was about to ask you how you were feeling today,

but I see you haven't quite recovered

from the effects of the séance.

You really are the eternal skeptic, aren't you?

You're confusing skepticism with old-fashioned common sense.

Now, your account of visiting the past is very charming.

I can assure you, there was nothing very charming about it.

And I have no doubt that you sincerely believe

that it actually happened.

But my dear, Vicki, it did not happen.

I mean, the very idea of people cavorting in and out in time

periods would be amusing, if it weren't so preposterous.

Well, in that case, how do you account for that

strange young woman who took my place while I was gone?

Well, I've attributed all that to mass hallucination.

You still believe that?

My dear, Vicki, if I didn't believe that,

I would have to accept the possibility

that we're all quite mad.

Well, I can assure you that we're not quite mad.

And even if it is hard for you to accept, it did happen,

so I shall just have to prove it to you.

Well, I have to take more convincing than most people.

Well, I shall try very hard to convince you.

And after that, all the other skeptics

will be quite easy to convince.

- Good morning. - Oh, Julia.

Julia, I want you to look at this portrait.

What do you think of it?

- It's very good. - Mm-hmm.

- When did you buy it? - Oh, I didn't.

Vicki found it at an antique shop yesterday.

Oh?

Have you ever seen a more beautiful face?

- Oh, she is very pretty. - Oh, pretty.

Too many women are described as being pretty.

The beauty of that face is unique.

I should think that you, being French,

would be only too glad to acknowledge such beauty,

Countess DuPres.

Countess?

What are you saying?

I beg your pardon.

You called me, Countess DuPres.

Did I?

How very curious.

Yes, very curious indeed.

♪♪

Good evening.

Ms. Winters, I presume.

Yes and you must be Professor Stokes.

Am I quite different than what you expected?

Oh, no. Forgive me.

You - you look rather like someone I once knew.

Please come in.

The gentleman at the antique store

told me you were quite lovely.

Permit me to say that it was a severe understatement.

Thank you.

Let's go into the drawing room.

We can talk in there.

Barnabas, this is the gentleman I was telling you about,

Professor Timothy Stokes.

Mr. Barnabas Collins.

How do you do, Sir?

How do you do?

Is something wrong with you?

No, nothing at all.

Ms. Winters tells me that you called her about

the portrait she bought yesterday.

Yes. I-- I was quite disappointed

when I returned to the antique store yesterday

and discovered it was gone.

Were you?

You see, it was promised to me.

Oh, but the man never said anything nothing about that.

It's quite all right.

It was up to me to exercise my claim on the painting

by last weekend.

I'm sorry to say I failed to do so.

I hope you haven't come here to try

and buy the painting from me.

You're not willing to sell it?

No.

I will give you $ for it.

May I ask why you want to spend so much?

I've spent a good many years studying

the early history of my family.

In fact, I'm trying to reconstruct the lives

of certain ancestors who lived in Collinsport

during the late th century.

- That sounds fascinating. - Yes, it does.

How have you gone about this reconstruction process?

I've collecting diaries, letters,

articles of clothing, and other authentic possessions.

Of course, it isn't easy to piece things together,

but I've made considerable progress over the years.

One of my ancestors was a man who worked here at Collinwood.

Ben Stokes.

You know about Ben Stokes?

Yes, from what I've read in the Collins family history.

I've read the official history of the Collins family.

I don't recall any mention of Ben Stokes.

But he is there.

He's not mentioned very prominently,

but he is there.

Where did you learn about Ben Stokes, Professor?

It seems he wrote an unpublished book of memoirs.

A book of memoirs.

How unusual.

Well, what's so unusual about it?

Well, wasn't it rather rare for a servant in those days

to even read and write.

Yes. Ben was no exception.

He was an illiterate until he was over

and that was around .

Then, there was an abrupt change in Ben Stokes's life.

What kind of change?

He had been an indentured servant

and was obliged to serve out his time

with the Collins family until the year ,

but in ,

Mr. Joshua Collins suddenly gave Ben his freedom,

a sum of money,

and a full title to a piece of land north of the village.

Ben educated himself and worked his land until he died

in his th year.

Well, do you know why

Joshua Collins did these things for Ben?

No, that's a mystery I'm still trying to solve.

Well, did Ben Stokes say anything about it

in his memoirs?

He probably did,

but the book was in a fire a few years ago.

The greater part of it is illegible.

How unfortunate.

Well, Vicki, it seems to me that the professor

has made a most generous offer,

perhaps, you shouldn't be so hasty.

Have you had an offer to sell, Vicki?

Oh, Roger.

This is Professor Timothy Stokes, Mr. Collins.

- How do you do? - And how do you do, Mr. Collins?

I trust Ms. Winters has told you

that the painting is not for sale.

I'm trying to persuade her to reconsider my offer.

May I ask what is your offer?

I'm prepared to give $ for the painting.

I'll give you $, Vicki.

?

Can you top that offer, Professor?

I'm afraid I can't.

You must be very enamored of the painting, Mr. Collins.

Well, my interest is purely aesthetic.

Why are you interested in it?

I have reason to believe that the woman in the picture

was somehow related to Ben Stokes.

No! No! That - that is impossible.

I beg your pardon?

I remember now.

I know who that woman is.

And Ben Stokes hated her for -

for what she was and for what she was trying to do.

Vicki, what are you talking about?

That woman, she's Angelique Collins.

Well, that's absurd.

Nobody in the Collins family ever had a name like Angelique.

Oh, yes.

The first Barnabas Collins married her.

And - and it was she who practiced witchcraft

at Collinwood

and almost succeeded in destroying

the entire Collins family.

♪♪

How long has Ms. Winters been here at Collinwood?

Almost two years.

She is a most fascinating girl.

How do you mean?

I'm wondering how she knew the portrait

was of Angelique Collins.

But you heard what Roger said.

There was never anyone by the name of Angelique

in our family.

Mr. Collins, there is the official history

of the Collins family

which is what Roger Collins knows well

and there is the true history,

those events which were somehow being omitted

from the written account.

Which is what you know so well.

Precisely.

I knew of Angelique's existence before I came here tonight.

What I did not know was that she might have been a witch.

That information may help me

to some of the answers I've been looking for.

Answers to what?

Certain events of the past.

For example, in the year , the village of Collinsport

was the scene of at least a dozen

mysterious and violent deaths.

They all occurred within a space of a few months

and none of them was ever solved.

- And I hope - I suppose you're hoping to solve them. - Yes.

Well, isn't it a bit late for justice to be done?

It is never too late to do justice to history.

Well, I know very little about it, of course,

but I would guess that what you are trying to do

is almost impossible.

Believe it or not, I think tonight

has made it easier for me.

What do you mean?

I'm convinced that Ms. Winters can help me.

Well, merely because she seems to know

so very little about the past.

Mr. Collins, I am also a devoted student of the occult.

I am able to detect the presence of

certain extrasensory powers in other people.

Ms. Winters has more than just an affinity for the past.

She seems to know it

as if she had lived through it.

Goodnight to you, sir.

There is no longer a choice for me, Vicki.

If you stay as you are,

you represent too great a danger to me.

You must come tonight.

When you hear the music,

you will rise and leave Collinwood

and come to me.

[music box playing] ♪♪

Do not be afraid, Vicki.

Let the music guide you into a new life,

the life you never dreamed was possible.

Come to me, Vicki.

Come to me.

When I send for you again,

you will be prepared for me

and we will go away together for the rest of time.

♪♪

Who - who is it?

It's me. It's Julia.

I just wanted to be sure you were all right.

Oh. I'm glad you came in. I had a bad dream.

Oh? Tell me about it.

It's strange.

I can't remember it.

Don't think about it now. Try to go back to sleep.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Good evening, Doctor.

Isn't it a little late for you to be out--

Barnabas, you were in Vicki's room.

I never went near her room. I brought her here.

Why did you do it?

You know perfectly well why.

Somehow, she did see into the past.

She knows what I am.

I can't allow her to tell anyone else.

She does not know.

Doctor, she doesn't remember everything,

but she knows.

Little by little, her memory is coming back.

Tonight, she recognized the woman in that portrait

that she bought yesterday.

She knew it was Angelique.

Who is Angelique?

Never mind.

The point is that, if she knows what Angelique is,

she knows what I am.

Barnabas, I know what you are

and I will let everyone else know

unless you do as I tell you.

Doctor, I've already told you

that before the authorities get a hold of me,

I will get to you.

I will take my chances, but think it over, Barnabas.

Either you let Vicky alone or you run the risk

of being exposed to the world.

You have until tomorrow night.

♪♪

[eerie theme music] ♪♪