1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 Suspense. 2 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:29,120 This is the man in black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 3 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:33,560 Our stars tonight are Miss Agnes Moorhead and Mr. Ray Collins. 4 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:39,760 You have seen these two expert and resourceful players in Citizen Kane, the magnificent ambusand 5 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,360 in which Miss Moorhead's performance won her the 1942 Film Critics Award. 6 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,840 Mr. Collins will soon be seen in the Metro-Golden-Mayer Technicolor film, 7 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:50,360 Salute to the Marines. 8 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,920 Miss Moorhead and Mr. Collins return this evening to their first love, 9 00:00:54,920 --> 00:01:00,960 the CBS Microphone, to appear in a study in terror by Lucille Fletcher called 10 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,080 The Diary of Sophronia Winters. 11 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:09,800 The story told by this diary is tonight's tale of Suspense. 12 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,880 If you've been with us on these Tuesday nights, 13 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,920 you will know that Suspense is compounded of mystery and suspicion, 14 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:18,720 dangerous adventure. 15 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,080 In this series, our tales calculated to entreat you, 16 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,960 to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious situation, 17 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:31,800 and then withhold a solution until the last possible moment. 18 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,800 And so it is with The Diary of Sophronia Winters 19 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,560 and the performances of Agnes Moorhead and Ray Collins, 20 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,880 we again hope to keep you in Suspense. 21 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,880 February 1st, St. Petersburg, Florida. 22 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,480 I, Sophronia Winters, have hereby begun this diary 23 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,280 because on this date I feel for the first time that I've begun to live. 24 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,480 Diaries are no good unless one has thrilling experiences. 25 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:58,480 For 40 years, I've never had what could really be called a thrilling experience. 26 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,880 But Papa's death has changed everything. 27 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,080 Here I am in beautiful St. Petersburg with every single person I know. 28 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:05,900 I'm a little bit of a 29 00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:05,900 little bit of a 30 00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:06,700 little bit of a 31 00:02:06,700 --> 00:02:07,400 little bit of a 32 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:07,900 little bit of a 33 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:08,400 little bit of a 34 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:08,900 little bit of a 35 00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:09,400 little bit of a 36 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:09,900 little bit of a 37 00:02:09,900 --> 00:02:10,400 little bit of a 38 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:10,900 little bit of a 39 00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:11,400 little bit of a 40 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:12,400 little bit of a 41 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:13,460 little bit of a 42 00:02:13,460 --> 00:02:13,960 little bit of a 43 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:14,020 you. 44 00:02:14,020 --> 00:02:18,100 And I'm happy to CH resistance joy and that brings me back soon 45 00:02:18,100 --> 00:02:19,400 in Dayton. 46 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:19,800 Yes? 47 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:21,380 Yes, I'm including 48 00:02:21,380 --> 00:02:22,380 I'm leaving 49 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:23,320 but I want that 50 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:23,660 but I make it 51 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:24,160 make it 52 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:24,720 my life 53 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:23,500 let me 54 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:24,820 let me 55 00:02:25,420 --> 00:02:26,740 House 56 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:26,880 make it 57 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:27,460 make it 58 00:02:27,460 --> 00:02:19,860 make it 59 00:02:30,860 --> 00:02:30,720 Yes. 60 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:33,020 Ma'am, 61 00:02:33,020 --> 00:02:33,020 C!! 62 00:02:33,300 --> 00:02:33,260 Hello, 63 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:34,940 Ma'am C!! 64 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,420 Hi this is Me Command. 65 00:02:37,460 --> 00:02:38,000 I 66 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:38,520 it's 67 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:39,100 a 68 00:02:39,540 --> 00:02:39,460 2 69 00:02:39,460 --> 00:02:39,900 1 70 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:39,840 U 71 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:40,560 U 72 00:02:41,060 --> 00:02:41,160 T 73 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:46,160 February 3rd. 74 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,160 Oh, diary, it is beginning. 75 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,160 This morning when I came out of my lodging house to go down to the beach, 76 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,160 I noticed a man, a thrilling looking man, sitting across the street on a bench. 77 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,160 It was just as though he were waiting for me because when I came out, 78 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,160 he sort of started up as though he knew me. 79 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,160 Of course I didn't speak first, but I knew the minute I started down the street 80 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,160 that he was following me. 81 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,160 Well, I got to the beach and sat down with my magazines, 82 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,160 and suddenly there he was, strolling toward me with a broad smile. 83 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,160 Well, sitting out here all by your lonesome? 84 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,160 Yes, yes I am. 85 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,160 Didn't I see you last night over at the Starfish Tea Room? 86 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,160 The Starfish Tea Room? 87 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,160 Oh yes, yes, I was there yesterday. 88 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,160 But it was so crowded, I'm afraid I don't recall. 89 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,160 Mighty nice cuisine they've got over there. 90 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,160 Mind if I sit down beside you? 91 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,160 Not at all. 92 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,160 Oh, just a minute, sit on this magazine. The beach is so sandy. 93 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,160 Oh, sand doesn't bother me. I'm from Maine, you know. 94 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,160 We get plenty of sand up there. 95 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:44,160 Do you? 96 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,160 You've been down here at St. Pete Long? 97 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:47,160 Oh, just three days. 98 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,160 Three days, that's a long time. 99 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,160 It's a wonder I didn't spot you before. 100 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:53,160 Oh, Mr. Pitt. 101 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,160 Johnson's the name, Hiram Johnson. 102 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:59,160 I come from Green Harbor, Maine. Run a big hotel up there summers. 103 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,160 Well, that's my whole history in a nutshell. 104 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,160 My name's Sopronia. Sopronia Winters. 105 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:07,160 Sopronia? 106 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,160 Well, you know, that's quite a coincidence. 107 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,160 My sister-in-law's name is Sopronia. 108 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:13,160 Oh? 109 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,160 Sopronia Johnson. 110 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:16,160 Ever heard of her? 111 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,160 She looked quite a bit like you, too. 112 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:20,160 Sopronia Johnson? 113 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,160 No, I'm afraid I haven't. Who was she? 114 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,160 Someone very famous? 115 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:26,160 I'm so ignorant about these things. 116 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,160 Oh, that's all right. 117 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,160 Say, look at that sun, will you? 118 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,160 I'd say it was pretty nearly time for lunch. 119 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,160 And, Iry, darling, he is wonderful. 120 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,160 Strong and kind, warm-hearted, so generous. 121 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,160 I don't want to be like the other silly women in this town, but Hiram is different. 122 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:49,160 There's something almost poetic about him, something sad and deep. 123 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:55,160 You know, Sopronia, it's kind of mysterious us finding that nine-point starfish on the beach together. 124 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:00,160 My sister-in-law, Sopronia, used to collect nine-point starfishes. 125 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:05,160 And, to think your name, Sopronia, and you find a nine-point starfish with me. 126 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,160 Well, it kind of draws us together, eh? 127 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,160 Huh? What do you think? 128 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,160 As though I'd known him all my life. 129 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,160 My landlady says it's foolish. 130 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,160 But look at Romeo and Juliet. Weren't they foolish? 131 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,160 What's the good of waiting, Sopronia? 132 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,160 I've got to be back at the hotel in a week. We may never see each other again. 133 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,160 Oh, Hiram, don't say that. I couldn't bear it. 134 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:41,160 Then let's do it right away. Tomorrow, there's a parson out on Coral Avenue who'll do the job for us. 135 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:45,160 We can take a nice moonlight drive out to the alligator farm afterward, have a nice shore dinner, 136 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,160 then climb on board the orange blossom tomorrow night from Maine. 137 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:54,160 Just think of Maine. The big dark pine woods, the sand, the bay. 138 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,160 The two of us alone together. 139 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:03,160 The two of us alone together. 140 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,160 February 7th, on board the orange blossom. 141 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:18,160 I was married in a wedding dress of Alice Blue Moire with a frill of white orchandy at the collar and wrists 142 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:22,160 and a rhinestone belt buckle. Hiram sent me towels and roses. 143 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:27,160 I'm pressing one precious flower between the pages of this diary for luck. 144 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,160 You'll see it beyond this bend in a couple of minutes. 145 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:36,160 Are the bags heavy? 146 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:41,160 No, not particularly, dearest. Oh, I can't get over that taxi man at the station. 147 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,160 Imagine his insolence saying he couldn't drive us over. 148 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,160 Maybe he didn't have any gas. It's happened sometimes around here. 149 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:49,160 Well, anyway, I'm glad the weather's so mild. 150 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:51,160 Can you imagine what it would be like in a blizzard? 151 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:52,160 There's the place. 152 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,160 Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't want to look until I put down these bags. 153 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,160 Now, where? 154 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,160 There, through those big pine trees. 155 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:05,160 Oh, oh, it is big, isn't it? 156 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:06,160 A hundred and twenty-five rooms. 157 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:11,160 So many fire escapes and balconies and porches and towers. 158 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:18,160 I, I stayed in a hotel like that once years ago with Papa. It was very fashionable then. 159 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:22,160 My grandfather built that place fifty years ago. Hasn't been changed much since. 160 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,160 No? Well, of course you've put in modern plumbing. 161 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,160 Not yet. 162 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:31,160 Here we are. Walk in. 163 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,160 Oh, what's that? 164 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,160 Just a foghorn out in the day. 165 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:36,160 Fog? 166 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,160 We get it almost every night in this kind of weather. 167 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,160 What are you locking the gate for? 168 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:46,160 Why not? There's nobody coming in after us. Or going out again for a while. 169 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,160 But I, I thought you said the hotel. 170 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,160 The hotel is empty. 171 00:07:58,160 --> 00:07:59,160 Hiram. 172 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:00,160 What is it now? 173 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:05,160 Hiram, darling, I know it sounds silly, but let's not go in there tonight. Let's, let's wait until morning. 174 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:06,160 Why? 175 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:11,160 Oh, just because it's so dark and empty. There's not a light in the whole place and no one's expecting us. 176 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:15,160 What do we eat? Where do we sleep? Let's stay in the village just for tonight. 177 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,160 What do we eat? The place to sleep? Come on. 178 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,160 Oh, my arm. Hiram. Hiram. 179 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:29,160 Do you remember my telling you down in Florida about my sister-in-law, Sopronia? 180 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:35,160 Well, that's her over there on the wall. 181 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:37,160 Take a look at her. 182 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,160 Hiram, you hurt me. 183 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:45,160 Oh, well, the glass is very dusty. 184 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,160 She must have died many years ago. 185 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:52,160 But her face is sweet, very sweet. 186 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,160 And her eyes, there's something very sad and wistful about her eyes. 187 00:08:57,160 --> 00:08:58,160 She was a murderess. 188 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:03,160 She was hanged in Portland 25 years ago for the murder of my brother, Ephraim, here in the lobby of this hotel. 189 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:05,160 She murdered him in cold blood with an axe. 190 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,160 That fire axe hanging over there on the wall. 191 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:09,160 Hiram. 192 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:10,160 Hiram, I'm sorry. 193 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,160 There were guests sitting out on the front porch in the rockers. 194 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:13,160 It was just after lunch. 195 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,160 My brother Ephraim was sitting at the desk counting his loose change. 196 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:20,160 My mother was crocheting in that old wicker rocking chair. 197 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,160 Sopronia came downstairs humming a hymn. 198 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,160 Oh, don't, Hiram. Please, please don't tell me anymore. 199 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:26,160 Why not? 200 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,160 Well, it makes me nervous to hear it like this in this big shadowy lobby. 201 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,160 And your eyes, Hiram. Your eyes. 202 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,160 Hiram, you're acting so strange. 203 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,160 Hiram, what's the matter with you, dear? 204 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,160 I know it was a terrible tragedy, but it happened 25 years ago. 205 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:43,160 Don't touch me, Sopronia. 206 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:45,160 Don't touch you. 207 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,160 Do you remember what I said to you in Florida? 208 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,160 What did you say? 209 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,160 You said a million sweet and wonderful things to me, Hiram. 210 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,160 I said you resembled my dead sister-in-law. 211 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,160 Look at her again. 212 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,160 Look at her closely, Sopronia. 213 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,160 But why? 214 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,160 Oh, no, no, I can't. It's too horrible. 215 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,160 I can't look at her face with any pleasure now knowing she was a murderess. 216 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:13,160 You're afraid to look, is that it? 217 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:14,160 No, no, I'm not afraid. 218 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:18,160 Hiram, Hiram, please, my arm. 219 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,160 Well, very well. 220 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:22,160 I'll look. 221 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,160 Now, stand there quietly like that. 222 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:31,160 Take off your glasses. 223 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:36,160 That's all I wanted to see. 224 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,160 That's all I wanted to see. 225 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,160 February 13th, Green Harbor Hotel, Maine. 226 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:53,160 I can't understand it. 227 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:57,160 I try to fathom it, but my headaches and my heart is heavy. 228 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,160 The hotel is deserted. 229 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,160 Has been for 25 years. 230 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,160 Everything is covered with spiders and cobwebs. 231 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:09,160 The great dining room with its oak woodwork is alive with rats. 232 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,160 And a row of broken rocking chairs on the front porch faces, 233 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,160 Emptily out to sea. 234 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:19,160 Does he mean this to be my home? 235 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,160 He's downstairs in the shabby parlor, 236 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,160 Off the lobby playing the harmonium. 237 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:40,980 The 238 00:11:40,980 --> 00:11:42,160 Why is your door locked? 239 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,160 Come out. 240 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,160 I want to show you around the place. 241 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,160 It's all right, dear. 242 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:50,160 I've seen it. 243 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:51,160 I've seen just about everything. 244 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,160 No, you haven't. 245 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,160 You haven't seen the grounds at all. 246 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:58,160 The grounds? 247 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,160 But Hiram, it's after midnight. 248 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:05,160 I want to show you where my sister-in-law, Sophronia, is buried. 249 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:09,160 Not tonight, dear, please. It's so late and I have a headache. 250 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,160 Open the door, Sophronia. I want you to come now. 251 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,160 No, no, I can't. 252 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,160 Oh, go away, let me alone. 253 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,160 I won't. I won't, I won't. 254 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,160 No use carrying on like that. 255 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,160 You see, I have pass keys to all the doors. 256 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,160 Beyond, where those four birches are standing, 257 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,160 it's where my sister-in-law, Sophronia, was laid away 25 years ago. 258 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,160 It was the biggest funeral in the neighborhood. 259 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:46,160 Folks crowded outside the gate with the dozens trying to get a look, 260 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:47,160 but we wouldn't let them. 261 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:51,160 Buried her ourselves without a service out here by herself on the grounds. 262 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,160 Ephraim's buried in town, but not Sophronia. 263 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,160 I had a feeling I'd have to keep an eye on her even then. 264 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,160 Keep an eye on her? 265 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:01,160 I knew she was one of those restless sleepers 266 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,160 who wouldn't stay quiet in her own grave. 267 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:07,160 I knew before the year was out she'd find some way to start roaming around, 268 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:08,160 hunting for mischief again. 269 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,160 She was a young she-devil to the core, Sophronia. 270 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,160 They could hang her till doomsday. 271 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,160 Wouldn't do any good. 272 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,160 You mean... you mean to... 273 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,160 You think she haunts this hotel? 274 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,160 No, no, not this hotel. 275 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,160 She never had any use for it, alive or dead. 276 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:27,160 No. 277 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,160 She makes for the warmer climates. 278 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:35,160 She was always a cold-blooded little fish, freezing and shivering all the time. 279 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,160 Places like California and Texas, 280 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,160 and Florida, she makes for her. 281 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:42,160 Florida? 282 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,160 Yes, that's one of her favorite haunts. 283 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,160 Particularly around St. Pete. 284 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,160 She likes the flowers and the sun and the romance. 285 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:50,160 Hiram, I feel cold. 286 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,160 Do you mind if I go inside now? 287 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:53,160 Just a minute, just a minute. 288 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:56,160 I haven't explained everything. 289 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,160 You think I'm crazy, I guess. 290 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:00,160 Crazy. 291 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:04,160 But I'm a lot smarter than some people give me credit for. 292 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:09,160 Because, you see, I have found her now. 293 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:13,160 Three times. 294 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,160 You see that grove of birches over there? 295 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,160 Under every one of them is a grave. 296 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,160 I've found her wandering the earth in disguise. 297 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,160 Three times. 298 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,160 And I've killed her three times. 299 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,160 It still doesn't do any good. 300 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,160 She's still restless. 301 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,160 You... you mean you've... you've killed... 302 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,160 three different women? 303 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,160 So now I keep another open grave to remind her. 304 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:42,160 It's waiting now. 305 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,160 Would you like to see it? 306 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:45,160 Sophronia? 307 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:46,160 No, Hiram. 308 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:47,160 No, no, please, I... 309 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,160 Are you afraid to see it, Sophronia? 310 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:51,160 No, I... 311 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,160 Hiram, you don't mean to say that you think... 312 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,160 Just because my name happens to be Sophronia and that I look a little like... 313 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,160 Think what, Sophronia? 314 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,160 Nothing. 315 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,160 February 14th. 316 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,160 My mind is made up. 317 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,160 I've made a terrible mistake and I must get away from this place. 318 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,160 I must get away from Hiram as quickly as I can. 319 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:25,160 It should be easy. 320 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,160 There's no fog today. 321 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:31,160 If I can only escape from the hotel, I can run and hide in the pine woods. 322 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,160 No. 323 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:34,160 No. 324 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:41,160 I shall wait for dusk when he generally sits down in the parlor and plays the harmonium. 325 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:46,160 I can hide a little earlier in one of the deserted rooms 326 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:51,160 and then when his bag is toward the lobby, step out the front door. 327 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,160 Sophronia? 328 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:05,160 Sophronia? 329 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,160 Sophronia! 330 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,160 Oh, there you are. 331 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,160 What's the matter? Anything wrong? 332 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,160 No, Hiram. 333 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,160 You didn't want anything outside, did you? 334 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,160 Because if you do, you'll have to ask me to get it for you. 335 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,160 You see, I always keep the front door locked. 336 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:26,160 Yes, Hiram. 337 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,160 Yes, the back door too. 338 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,160 And all the doors leading out into the porches and fire escapes. 339 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:37,160 And a good many of the windows. It makes one feel safe from thieves and peeping toms. 340 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:41,160 Oh, you've got a cold. That's too bad. 341 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:43,160 Yes. 342 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,160 I must have caught it last night. 343 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,160 Outdoors, the dam. 344 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,160 You ought to be in bed. A good bed. 345 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:54,160 The only good bed in the house is in my sister-in-law Sophronia's old room. 346 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,160 No, no, Hiram. I'm all right. Is this a little head cold? 347 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,160 Oh, little head colds often develop into pneumonia. 348 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,160 Why, it's too bad I didn't think of that before. 349 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,160 You might have slept in it from the beginning. 350 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,160 Here, up these stairs. 351 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,160 What? What's the matter? Are you so weak? 352 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,160 No. No, I'm all right. 353 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:19,160 This room is the cleanest in the hotel, too. 354 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,160 I've always had a sort of suspicion about it. 355 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,160 You see, I've kept everything as it was. 356 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,160 What's the matter? 357 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,160 Nothing. I think it's just that... 358 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,160 It seems kind of familiar. 359 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,160 No, no, it's just that seeing it so clean, seeing it as though someone were living here, 360 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:42,160 as though it only just stepped out for a moment. 361 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:47,160 It's as she left it that afternoon when she walked down to murder my brother. 362 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,160 You see her needlework on the table with a needle sticking in it? 363 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,160 And her hymn book still open? 364 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,160 She was very fond of singing hymns, Sophronia was. 365 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,160 Had a nice voice, too. I used to accompany her. 366 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,160 I'll turn down the bed for you. 367 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,160 Then you can get undressed while I go and make you some hot tea. 368 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,160 No, I don't want any. 369 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,160 Here's the closet. 370 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,160 You can put on one of Sophronia's dressing gowns. 371 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,160 Dary, I'm beside myself. 372 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:25,160 I shall go mad. I shall go mad. 373 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,160 Two hours have passed since they locked the door upon me. 374 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,160 Night's fallen and I'm alone. 375 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:36,160 Alone in this horrible room with its hideous little momentals of death. 376 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:42,160 I'm sitting here at her little wicker table trying to become, trying to write this. 377 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:47,160 Somehow when one writes about a thing it doesn't appear so real. 378 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,160 My hand is just brushed against a needlework. 379 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,160 Her hymn book. 380 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,160 For they still lie, waiting. 381 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,160 I can bear having them near me no longer. 382 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,160 I must get them out of sight. Anywhere. 383 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,160 In that closet. A bureau door. 384 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,160 Ready for your tea? 385 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,160 No. Yes, Hiram. 386 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,160 Why aren't you in bed? You'll take worse cold, you know. 387 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,160 I'll get in bed in a minute. First I... 388 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,160 Oh! Brushing up on your needlework again? 389 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,160 My needlework? 390 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:25,160 You've got it in your hand. 391 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:30,160 Have I? Oh, yes. Yes, so I... 392 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,160 But I wasn't working on it, Hiram. I swear I wasn't. 393 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,160 I've never done a stitch of needlework in my whole life. 394 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:36,160 I don't know one embroidery stitch from another. 395 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,160 Let me show you. Look, I don't even know how to hold a needle. 396 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,160 Get into bed, Sophronia. You're feverish. 397 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,160 Before we go on, Hiram, before you go on thinking, 398 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,160 we've got to have an understanding. You've got to let me explain. 399 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:48,160 I was born in 1892 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 400 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,160 My name is Sophronia, that's true, but they name lots of people Sophronia. 401 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,160 I was named for my grandmother. She had just died. 402 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,160 No, no, no, you've got to listen to me. 403 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,160 I've lived in Kalamazoo all my life. 404 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,160 If you'd only just write a letter or send a wire. 405 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,160 I've never heard of Green Harbor in my whole life. 406 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:04,160 I never went anywhere. 407 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,160 For almost ten years I stayed home day in and day out nursing Papa. 408 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,160 He had a stroke. I wasn't out of the house. 409 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:26,160 He was a red brick house with a green shot in it. 410 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,160 February 15th. 411 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,160 Now I live only from moment to moment. 412 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:37,160 Listening to each creak upon the stairs. 413 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,160 I've been in bed all day. 414 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:42,160 It's night now. 415 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:49,160 A foghorn has begun to blow again. 416 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,160 February 19th. 417 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,160 I woke up early this morning after a wretched night 418 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,160 and the date was burning in letters of fire in my brain. 419 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,160 If he's planning to kill me it'll be today. 420 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,160 But the hours have been crawling on. 421 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:06,160 It's almost midnight. 422 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,160 Oh why if he's going to kill me doesn't he do it at once? 423 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,160 Why does he torture me like this? 424 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:16,160 I'd rather be dead than sit here in this room one moment longer. 425 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,160 I can't bear it. 426 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,160 If he doesn't come in five minutes I shall force him to come. 427 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,160 I shall beat on the door. 428 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:27,160 No. No. 429 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:32,160 Rather let me sit quiet praying that he doesn't come. 430 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,160 Oh I want to live. 431 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,160 I want to live. 432 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,160 Sopronia. 433 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,160 It's come. 434 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,160 Sopronia. 435 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,160 Come downstairs. 436 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,160 I want you to sing me a hymn. 437 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,160 Sing? 438 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:06,160 Sing? He never asked me to sing for him before. 439 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,160 But she sang. 440 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,160 I can't sing dear. 441 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,160 I told you that long ago. 442 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:15,160 Did you? 443 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,160 Well I've forgotten. 444 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:23,160 And besides how can I come downstairs when my door is locked? 445 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,160 It's unlocked. 446 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,160 Try it. 447 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,160 Unlocked. 448 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:30,160 Oh no. 449 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:31,160 How could it? 450 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,160 Oh. 451 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:38,160 Oh it is. It is. And I never knew it. I never knew it. 452 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:39,160 Coming? 453 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,160 He unlocked it. 454 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:46,160 Sometime when I was just sitting. Oh why didn't I try a few more times? 455 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,160 Why did I just sit there assuming? 456 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,160 No. No he'd have caught me anyway. He'd have known. 457 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,160 But I might. 458 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,160 Oh now it's too late. 459 00:22:58,160 --> 00:22:59,160 He's going to kill me. 460 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,160 Sopronia. 461 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,160 Yes Hiram. 462 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:19,160 I'm coming. 463 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,160 Hiram where are you? 464 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:22,160 In here. 465 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,160 In the parlor. 466 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,160 What are you doing there Hiram? 467 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,160 Waiting to hear you sing. 468 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:30,160 You're at the harmonium? 469 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,160 Yes. 470 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,160 All right. I'll sing. 471 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,160 I haven't sung in years but I might as well. 472 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,160 I'll sing for you out here in the hall. 473 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,160 My voice will carry better. 474 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:51,160 It always did carry better in the hall didn't it Sopronia? 475 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,160 So you remember that too. 476 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,160 Of course you know both the front and back doors are locked. 477 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,160 Play a few bars Hiram dear to warm me up. 478 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,160 Shall I sing too Sopronia? 479 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,160 Would you like me to sing along with you? 480 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:13,160 If it pleases you Hiram. 481 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:19,160 Work for the night is coming. 482 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:25,160 Work in the morning sun. 483 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:31,160 Work for the night is coming. 484 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:37,160 When man's work is done. 485 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:44,160 Work while the daylight darkens. 486 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:51,160 Work in the summer sun. 487 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:58,160 Work for the night is coming. 488 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:11,160 When man's work is done. 489 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,160 There's only one more page. 490 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,160 Shall I read it to you? 491 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:36,160 Yes. Yes go ahead. 492 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,160 March 22nd. 493 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,160 I've been sick I think for a very long time. 494 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:50,160 The pages of my diary are blank but I shall take you out again for a diary today and start you over again. 495 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,160 No. 496 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:56,160 No I shall never look back at the other pages. 497 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,160 I shall only write on and on about this beautiful place. 498 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:15,160 So that no one reading this diary will ever know that I did it. 499 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,160 But I did do it diary. 500 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,160 I was smarter than he. 501 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,160 When I opened that door at the head of the stairs and heard the music. 502 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:28,160 When I saw the fire axe still hanging on the wall. 503 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,160 I was so cautious. 504 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,160 So terribly cautious. 505 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,160 I tiptoed like a little mouse. 506 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:39,160 Even as I sang the hymn into that room where he was playing. 507 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:41,160 But I was clever. 508 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,160 So much cleverer than he. 509 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,160 I kept on singing. 510 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,160 And now I'm free. 511 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,160 Free as a bird. 512 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,160 I'm free and you shall never catch me now. 513 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:55,160 Not this time or ever again because. 514 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:59,160 Because he's dead. 515 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,160 Isn't he nurse? 516 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,160 Nurse. 517 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:14,160 Isn't my dear brother-in-law Hiram really dead? 518 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,160 Yes miss he's dead. 519 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,160 And now I'll thank you to hand me that diary. 520 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:34,160 The director doesn't approve of the patients writing anything. 521 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:38,160 And so closes the diary of Sopronia Winter starring Agnes Morehead and Ray Collins. 522 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:42,160 Tonight's tale of suspense. 523 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,160 This is your narrator the man in black who conveys to you Columbia's invitation. 524 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:54,160 Join this half hour in suspense with us again next Tuesday when Richard Dix, Gail Page and Montague Love star in Death Flies Blind. 525 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,160 The producer of these broadcasts is William Spear who with Ted Bliss the director, 526 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:19,160 and with the musical director Lucian Mahawick the composer and Lucille Fletcher the author collaborated on tonight's suspense. 527 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:31,160 This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.