WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.000 Suspense. 00:01.000 --> 00:29.120 This is the man in black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 00:29.120 --> 00:33.560 Our stars tonight are Miss Agnes Moorhead and Mr. Ray Collins. 00:33.560 --> 00:39.760 You have seen these two expert and resourceful players in Citizen Kane, the magnificent ambusand 00:39.760 --> 00:44.360 in which Miss Moorhead's performance won her the 1942 Film Critics Award. 00:44.360 --> 00:48.840 Mr. Collins will soon be seen in the Metro-Golden-Mayer Technicolor film, 00:48.840 --> 00:50.360 Salute to the Marines. 00:50.360 --> 00:54.920 Miss Moorhead and Mr. Collins return this evening to their first love, 00:54.920 --> 01:00.960 the CBS Microphone, to appear in a study in terror by Lucille Fletcher called 01:00.960 --> 01:04.080 The Diary of Sophronia Winters. 01:04.080 --> 01:09.800 The story told by this diary is tonight's tale of Suspense. 01:09.800 --> 01:12.880 If you've been with us on these Tuesday nights, 01:12.880 --> 01:16.920 you will know that Suspense is compounded of mystery and suspicion, 01:16.920 --> 01:18.720 dangerous adventure. 01:18.720 --> 01:22.080 In this series, our tales calculated to entreat you, 01:22.080 --> 01:25.960 to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious situation, 01:25.960 --> 01:31.800 and then withhold a solution until the last possible moment. 01:31.800 --> 01:34.800 And so it is with The Diary of Sophronia Winters 01:34.800 --> 01:37.560 and the performances of Agnes Moorhead and Ray Collins, 01:37.560 --> 01:41.880 we again hope to keep you in Suspense. 01:41.880 --> 01:44.880 February 1st, St. Petersburg, Florida. 01:44.880 --> 01:47.480 I, Sophronia Winters, have hereby begun this diary 01:47.480 --> 01:51.280 because on this date I feel for the first time that I've begun to live. 01:51.280 --> 01:54.480 Diaries are no good unless one has thrilling experiences. 01:54.480 --> 01:58.480 For 40 years, I've never had what could really be called a thrilling experience. 01:58.480 --> 02:00.880 But Papa's death has changed everything. 02:00.880 --> 02:05.080 Here I am in beautiful St. Petersburg with every single person I know. 02:05.080 --> 02:05.900 I'm a little bit of a 02:05.900 --> 02:05.900 little bit of a 02:05.900 --> 02:06.700 little bit of a 02:06.700 --> 02:07.400 little bit of a 02:07.400 --> 02:07.900 little bit of a 02:07.900 --> 02:08.400 little bit of a 02:08.400 --> 02:08.900 little bit of a 02:08.900 --> 02:09.400 little bit of a 02:09.400 --> 02:09.900 little bit of a 02:09.900 --> 02:10.400 little bit of a 02:10.400 --> 02:10.900 little bit of a 02:10.900 --> 02:11.400 little bit of a 02:11.400 --> 02:12.400 little bit of a 02:12.400 --> 02:13.460 little bit of a 02:13.460 --> 02:13.960 little bit of a 02:13.960 --> 02:14.020 you. 02:14.020 --> 02:18.100 And I'm happy to CH resistance joy and that brings me back soon 02:18.100 --> 02:19.400 in Dayton. 02:19.400 --> 02:19.800 Yes? 02:19.800 --> 02:21.380 Yes, I'm including 02:21.380 --> 02:22.380 I'm leaving 02:22.320 --> 02:23.320 but I want that 02:23.320 --> 02:23.660 but I make it 02:23.640 --> 02:24.160 make it 02:24.160 --> 02:24.720 my life 02:24.720 --> 02:23.500 let me 02:23.500 --> 02:24.820 let me 02:25.420 --> 02:26.740 House 02:26.720 --> 02:26.880 make it 02:26.880 --> 02:27.460 make it 02:27.460 --> 02:19.860 make it 02:30.860 --> 02:30.720 Yes. 02:30.920 --> 02:33.020 Ma'am, 02:33.020 --> 02:33.020 C!! 02:33.300 --> 02:33.260 Hello, 02:33.240 --> 02:34.940 Ma'am C!! 02:35.400 --> 02:37.420 Hi this is Me Command. 02:37.460 --> 02:38.000 I 02:38.200 --> 02:38.520 it's 02:38.520 --> 02:39.100 a 02:39.540 --> 02:39.460 2 02:39.460 --> 02:39.900 1 02:39.900 --> 02:39.840 U 02:39.840 --> 02:40.560 U 02:41.060 --> 02:41.160 T 02:41.160 --> 02:46.160 February 3rd. 02:46.160 --> 02:49.160 Oh, diary, it is beginning. 02:49.160 --> 02:52.160 This morning when I came out of my lodging house to go down to the beach, 02:52.160 --> 02:56.160 I noticed a man, a thrilling looking man, sitting across the street on a bench. 02:56.160 --> 02:59.160 It was just as though he were waiting for me because when I came out, 02:59.160 --> 03:01.160 he sort of started up as though he knew me. 03:01.160 --> 03:04.160 Of course I didn't speak first, but I knew the minute I started down the street 03:04.160 --> 03:06.160 that he was following me. 03:06.160 --> 03:09.160 Well, I got to the beach and sat down with my magazines, 03:09.160 --> 03:13.160 and suddenly there he was, strolling toward me with a broad smile. 03:13.160 --> 03:16.160 Well, sitting out here all by your lonesome? 03:16.160 --> 03:18.160 Yes, yes I am. 03:18.160 --> 03:21.160 Didn't I see you last night over at the Starfish Tea Room? 03:21.160 --> 03:23.160 The Starfish Tea Room? 03:23.160 --> 03:25.160 Oh yes, yes, I was there yesterday. 03:25.160 --> 03:28.160 But it was so crowded, I'm afraid I don't recall. 03:28.160 --> 03:31.160 Mighty nice cuisine they've got over there. 03:31.160 --> 03:33.160 Mind if I sit down beside you? 03:33.160 --> 03:35.160 Not at all. 03:35.160 --> 03:38.160 Oh, just a minute, sit on this magazine. The beach is so sandy. 03:38.160 --> 03:41.160 Oh, sand doesn't bother me. I'm from Maine, you know. 03:41.160 --> 03:43.160 We get plenty of sand up there. 03:43.160 --> 03:44.160 Do you? 03:44.160 --> 03:46.160 You've been down here at St. Pete Long? 03:46.160 --> 03:47.160 Oh, just three days. 03:47.160 --> 03:49.160 Three days, that's a long time. 03:49.160 --> 03:52.160 It's a wonder I didn't spot you before. 03:52.160 --> 03:53.160 Oh, Mr. Pitt. 03:53.160 --> 03:55.160 Johnson's the name, Hiram Johnson. 03:55.160 --> 03:59.160 I come from Green Harbor, Maine. Run a big hotel up there summers. 03:59.160 --> 04:02.160 Well, that's my whole history in a nutshell. 04:02.160 --> 04:05.160 My name's Sopronia. Sopronia Winters. 04:05.160 --> 04:07.160 Sopronia? 04:07.160 --> 04:10.160 Well, you know, that's quite a coincidence. 04:10.160 --> 04:12.160 My sister-in-law's name is Sopronia. 04:12.160 --> 04:13.160 Oh? 04:13.160 --> 04:15.160 Sopronia Johnson. 04:15.160 --> 04:16.160 Ever heard of her? 04:16.160 --> 04:18.160 She looked quite a bit like you, too. 04:18.160 --> 04:20.160 Sopronia Johnson? 04:20.160 --> 04:22.160 No, I'm afraid I haven't. Who was she? 04:22.160 --> 04:24.160 Someone very famous? 04:24.160 --> 04:26.160 I'm so ignorant about these things. 04:26.160 --> 04:28.160 Oh, that's all right. 04:28.160 --> 04:30.160 Say, look at that sun, will you? 04:30.160 --> 04:34.160 I'd say it was pretty nearly time for lunch. 04:34.160 --> 04:36.160 And, Iry, darling, he is wonderful. 04:36.160 --> 04:40.160 Strong and kind, warm-hearted, so generous. 04:40.160 --> 04:44.160 I don't want to be like the other silly women in this town, but Hiram is different. 04:44.160 --> 04:49.160 There's something almost poetic about him, something sad and deep. 04:49.160 --> 04:55.160 You know, Sopronia, it's kind of mysterious us finding that nine-point starfish on the beach together. 04:55.160 --> 05:00.160 My sister-in-law, Sopronia, used to collect nine-point starfishes. 05:00.160 --> 05:05.160 And, to think your name, Sopronia, and you find a nine-point starfish with me. 05:05.160 --> 05:09.160 Well, it kind of draws us together, eh? 05:09.160 --> 05:13.160 Huh? What do you think? 05:13.160 --> 05:17.160 As though I'd known him all my life. 05:17.160 --> 05:20.160 My landlady says it's foolish. 05:20.160 --> 05:23.160 But look at Romeo and Juliet. Weren't they foolish? 05:27.160 --> 05:29.160 What's the good of waiting, Sopronia? 05:29.160 --> 05:33.160 I've got to be back at the hotel in a week. We may never see each other again. 05:33.160 --> 05:36.160 Oh, Hiram, don't say that. I couldn't bear it. 05:36.160 --> 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. 05:41.160 --> 05:45.160 We can take a nice moonlight drive out to the alligator farm afterward, have a nice shore dinner, 05:45.160 --> 05:48.160 then climb on board the orange blossom tomorrow night from Maine. 05:48.160 --> 05:54.160 Just think of Maine. The big dark pine woods, the sand, the bay. 05:54.160 --> 05:57.160 The two of us alone together. 05:57.160 --> 06:03.160 The two of us alone together. 06:09.160 --> 06:12.160 February 7th, on board the orange blossom. 06:12.160 --> 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 06:18.160 --> 06:22.160 and a rhinestone belt buckle. Hiram sent me towels and roses. 06:22.160 --> 06:27.160 I'm pressing one precious flower between the pages of this diary for luck. 06:32.160 --> 06:35.160 You'll see it beyond this bend in a couple of minutes. 06:35.160 --> 06:36.160 Are the bags heavy? 06:36.160 --> 06:41.160 No, not particularly, dearest. Oh, I can't get over that taxi man at the station. 06:41.160 --> 06:44.160 Imagine his insolence saying he couldn't drive us over. 06:44.160 --> 06:47.160 Maybe he didn't have any gas. It's happened sometimes around here. 06:47.160 --> 06:49.160 Well, anyway, I'm glad the weather's so mild. 06:49.160 --> 06:51.160 Can you imagine what it would be like in a blizzard? 06:51.160 --> 06:52.160 There's the place. 06:52.160 --> 06:56.160 Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't want to look until I put down these bags. 06:56.160 --> 06:58.160 Now, where? 06:58.160 --> 07:01.160 There, through those big pine trees. 07:01.160 --> 07:05.160 Oh, oh, it is big, isn't it? 07:05.160 --> 07:06.160 A hundred and twenty-five rooms. 07:06.160 --> 07:11.160 So many fire escapes and balconies and porches and towers. 07:11.160 --> 07:18.160 I, I stayed in a hotel like that once years ago with Papa. It was very fashionable then. 07:18.160 --> 07:22.160 My grandfather built that place fifty years ago. Hasn't been changed much since. 07:22.160 --> 07:25.160 No? Well, of course you've put in modern plumbing. 07:25.160 --> 07:27.160 Not yet. 07:27.160 --> 07:31.160 Here we are. Walk in. 07:31.160 --> 07:33.160 Oh, what's that? 07:33.160 --> 07:35.160 Just a foghorn out in the day. 07:35.160 --> 07:36.160 Fog? 07:36.160 --> 07:38.160 We get it almost every night in this kind of weather. 07:38.160 --> 07:40.160 What are you locking the gate for? 07:40.160 --> 07:46.160 Why not? There's nobody coming in after us. Or going out again for a while. 07:46.160 --> 07:49.160 But I, I thought you said the hotel. 07:49.160 --> 07:52.160 The hotel is empty. 07:58.160 --> 07:59.160 Hiram. 07:59.160 --> 08:00.160 What is it now? 08:00.160 --> 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. 08:05.160 --> 08:06.160 Why? 08:06.160 --> 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. 08:11.160 --> 08:15.160 What do we eat? Where do we sleep? Let's stay in the village just for tonight. 08:15.160 --> 08:17.160 What do we eat? The place to sleep? Come on. 08:17.160 --> 08:21.160 Oh, my arm. Hiram. Hiram. 08:23.160 --> 08:29.160 Do you remember my telling you down in Florida about my sister-in-law, Sopronia? 08:29.160 --> 08:35.160 Well, that's her over there on the wall. 08:35.160 --> 08:37.160 Take a look at her. 08:37.160 --> 08:40.160 Hiram, you hurt me. 08:40.160 --> 08:45.160 Oh, well, the glass is very dusty. 08:45.160 --> 08:48.160 She must have died many years ago. 08:48.160 --> 08:52.160 But her face is sweet, very sweet. 08:52.160 --> 08:57.160 And her eyes, there's something very sad and wistful about her eyes. 08:57.160 --> 08:58.160 She was a murderess. 08:58.160 --> 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. 09:03.160 --> 09:05.160 She murdered him in cold blood with an axe. 09:05.160 --> 09:08.160 That fire axe hanging over there on the wall. 09:08.160 --> 09:09.160 Hiram. 09:09.160 --> 09:10.160 Hiram, I'm sorry. 09:10.160 --> 09:12.160 There were guests sitting out on the front porch in the rockers. 09:12.160 --> 09:13.160 It was just after lunch. 09:13.160 --> 09:16.160 My brother Ephraim was sitting at the desk counting his loose change. 09:16.160 --> 09:20.160 My mother was crocheting in that old wicker rocking chair. 09:20.160 --> 09:23.160 Sopronia came downstairs humming a hymn. 09:23.160 --> 09:25.160 Oh, don't, Hiram. Please, please don't tell me anymore. 09:25.160 --> 09:26.160 Why not? 09:26.160 --> 09:29.160 Well, it makes me nervous to hear it like this in this big shadowy lobby. 09:29.160 --> 09:33.160 And your eyes, Hiram. Your eyes. 09:33.160 --> 09:36.160 Hiram, you're acting so strange. 09:36.160 --> 09:38.160 Hiram, what's the matter with you, dear? 09:38.160 --> 09:41.160 I know it was a terrible tragedy, but it happened 25 years ago. 09:41.160 --> 09:43.160 Don't touch me, Sopronia. 09:43.160 --> 09:45.160 Don't touch you. 09:45.160 --> 09:49.160 Do you remember what I said to you in Florida? 09:49.160 --> 09:51.160 What did you say? 09:51.160 --> 09:55.160 You said a million sweet and wonderful things to me, Hiram. 09:55.160 --> 09:59.160 I said you resembled my dead sister-in-law. 09:59.160 --> 10:02.160 Look at her again. 10:02.160 --> 10:05.160 Look at her closely, Sopronia. 10:05.160 --> 10:07.160 But why? 10:07.160 --> 10:09.160 Oh, no, no, I can't. It's too horrible. 10:09.160 --> 10:12.160 I can't look at her face with any pleasure now knowing she was a murderess. 10:12.160 --> 10:13.160 You're afraid to look, is that it? 10:13.160 --> 10:14.160 No, no, I'm not afraid. 10:14.160 --> 10:18.160 Hiram, Hiram, please, my arm. 10:18.160 --> 10:21.160 Well, very well. 10:21.160 --> 10:22.160 I'll look. 10:22.160 --> 10:27.160 Now, stand there quietly like that. 10:27.160 --> 10:31.160 Take off your glasses. 10:31.160 --> 10:36.160 That's all I wanted to see. 10:36.160 --> 10:40.160 That's all I wanted to see. 10:47.160 --> 10:51.160 February 13th, Green Harbor Hotel, Maine. 10:51.160 --> 10:53.160 I can't understand it. 10:53.160 --> 10:57.160 I try to fathom it, but my headaches and my heart is heavy. 10:57.160 --> 10:59.160 The hotel is deserted. 10:59.160 --> 11:02.160 Has been for 25 years. 11:02.160 --> 11:05.160 Everything is covered with spiders and cobwebs. 11:05.160 --> 11:09.160 The great dining room with its oak woodwork is alive with rats. 11:09.160 --> 11:12.160 And a row of broken rocking chairs on the front porch faces, 11:12.160 --> 11:15.160 Emptily out to sea. 11:15.160 --> 11:19.160 Does he mean this to be my home? 11:19.160 --> 11:22.160 He's downstairs in the shabby parlor, 11:22.160 --> 11:26.160 Off the lobby playing the harmonium. 11:26.160 --> 11:40.980 The 11:40.980 --> 11:42.160 Why is your door locked? 11:42.160 --> 11:45.160 Come out. 11:45.160 --> 11:47.160 I want to show you around the place. 11:47.160 --> 11:49.160 It's all right, dear. 11:49.160 --> 11:50.160 I've seen it. 11:50.160 --> 11:51.160 I've seen just about everything. 11:51.160 --> 11:53.160 No, you haven't. 11:53.160 --> 11:56.160 You haven't seen the grounds at all. 11:56.160 --> 11:58.160 The grounds? 11:58.160 --> 12:01.160 But Hiram, it's after midnight. 12:01.160 --> 12:05.160 I want to show you where my sister-in-law, Sophronia, is buried. 12:05.160 --> 12:09.160 Not tonight, dear, please. It's so late and I have a headache. 12:09.160 --> 12:12.160 Open the door, Sophronia. I want you to come now. 12:12.160 --> 12:14.160 No, no, I can't. 12:14.160 --> 12:17.160 Oh, go away, let me alone. 12:17.160 --> 12:20.160 I won't. I won't, I won't. 12:20.160 --> 12:23.160 No use carrying on like that. 12:23.160 --> 12:27.160 You see, I have pass keys to all the doors. 12:34.160 --> 12:37.160 Beyond, where those four birches are standing, 12:37.160 --> 12:41.160 it's where my sister-in-law, Sophronia, was laid away 25 years ago. 12:41.160 --> 12:43.160 It was the biggest funeral in the neighborhood. 12:43.160 --> 12:46.160 Folks crowded outside the gate with the dozens trying to get a look, 12:46.160 --> 12:47.160 but we wouldn't let them. 12:47.160 --> 12:51.160 Buried her ourselves without a service out here by herself on the grounds. 12:51.160 --> 12:54.160 Ephraim's buried in town, but not Sophronia. 12:54.160 --> 12:57.160 I had a feeling I'd have to keep an eye on her even then. 12:57.160 --> 12:59.160 Keep an eye on her? 12:59.160 --> 13:01.160 I knew she was one of those restless sleepers 13:01.160 --> 13:03.160 who wouldn't stay quiet in her own grave. 13:03.160 --> 13:07.160 I knew before the year was out she'd find some way to start roaming around, 13:07.160 --> 13:08.160 hunting for mischief again. 13:08.160 --> 13:11.160 She was a young she-devil to the core, Sophronia. 13:11.160 --> 13:13.160 They could hang her till doomsday. 13:13.160 --> 13:15.160 Wouldn't do any good. 13:15.160 --> 13:18.160 You mean... you mean to... 13:18.160 --> 13:21.160 You think she haunts this hotel? 13:21.160 --> 13:23.160 No, no, not this hotel. 13:23.160 --> 13:26.160 She never had any use for it, alive or dead. 13:26.160 --> 13:27.160 No. 13:27.160 --> 13:30.160 She makes for the warmer climates. 13:30.160 --> 13:35.160 She was always a cold-blooded little fish, freezing and shivering all the time. 13:35.160 --> 13:38.160 Places like California and Texas, 13:38.160 --> 13:41.160 and Florida, she makes for her. 13:41.160 --> 13:42.160 Florida? 13:42.160 --> 13:44.160 Yes, that's one of her favorite haunts. 13:44.160 --> 13:46.160 Particularly around St. Pete. 13:46.160 --> 13:49.160 She likes the flowers and the sun and the romance. 13:49.160 --> 13:50.160 Hiram, I feel cold. 13:50.160 --> 13:52.160 Do you mind if I go inside now? 13:52.160 --> 13:53.160 Just a minute, just a minute. 13:53.160 --> 13:56.160 I haven't explained everything. 13:56.160 --> 13:59.160 You think I'm crazy, I guess. 13:59.160 --> 14:00.160 Crazy. 14:00.160 --> 14:04.160 But I'm a lot smarter than some people give me credit for. 14:04.160 --> 14:09.160 Because, you see, I have found her now. 14:09.160 --> 14:13.160 Three times. 14:13.160 --> 14:16.160 You see that grove of birches over there? 14:16.160 --> 14:19.160 Under every one of them is a grave. 14:19.160 --> 14:22.160 I've found her wandering the earth in disguise. 14:22.160 --> 14:24.160 Three times. 14:24.160 --> 14:26.160 And I've killed her three times. 14:26.160 --> 14:29.160 It still doesn't do any good. 14:29.160 --> 14:31.160 She's still restless. 14:31.160 --> 14:35.160 You... you mean you've... you've killed... 14:35.160 --> 14:37.160 three different women? 14:37.160 --> 14:40.160 So now I keep another open grave to remind her. 14:40.160 --> 14:42.160 It's waiting now. 14:42.160 --> 14:44.160 Would you like to see it? 14:44.160 --> 14:45.160 Sophronia? 14:45.160 --> 14:46.160 No, Hiram. 14:46.160 --> 14:47.160 No, no, please, I... 14:47.160 --> 14:50.160 Are you afraid to see it, Sophronia? 14:50.160 --> 14:51.160 No, I... 14:51.160 --> 14:54.160 Hiram, you don't mean to say that you think... 14:54.160 --> 14:57.160 Just because my name happens to be Sophronia and that I look a little like... 14:57.160 --> 15:00.160 Think what, Sophronia? 15:00.160 --> 15:02.160 Nothing. 15:09.160 --> 15:11.160 February 14th. 15:11.160 --> 15:13.160 My mind is made up. 15:13.160 --> 15:17.160 I've made a terrible mistake and I must get away from this place. 15:17.160 --> 15:21.160 I must get away from Hiram as quickly as I can. 15:23.160 --> 15:25.160 It should be easy. 15:25.160 --> 15:27.160 There's no fog today. 15:27.160 --> 15:31.160 If I can only escape from the hotel, I can run and hide in the pine woods. 15:31.160 --> 15:33.160 No. 15:33.160 --> 15:34.160 No. 15:34.160 --> 15:41.160 I shall wait for dusk when he generally sits down in the parlor and plays the harmonium. 15:41.160 --> 15:46.160 I can hide a little earlier in one of the deserted rooms 15:46.160 --> 15:51.160 and then when his bag is toward the lobby, step out the front door. 16:00.160 --> 16:03.160 Sophronia? 16:03.160 --> 16:05.160 Sophronia? 16:06.160 --> 16:08.160 Sophronia! 16:08.160 --> 16:11.160 Oh, there you are. 16:11.160 --> 16:13.160 What's the matter? Anything wrong? 16:13.160 --> 16:15.160 No, Hiram. 16:15.160 --> 16:18.160 You didn't want anything outside, did you? 16:18.160 --> 16:22.160 Because if you do, you'll have to ask me to get it for you. 16:22.160 --> 16:25.160 You see, I always keep the front door locked. 16:25.160 --> 16:26.160 Yes, Hiram. 16:26.160 --> 16:28.160 Yes, the back door too. 16:28.160 --> 16:31.160 And all the doors leading out into the porches and fire escapes. 16:31.160 --> 16:37.160 And a good many of the windows. It makes one feel safe from thieves and peeping toms. 16:37.160 --> 16:41.160 Oh, you've got a cold. That's too bad. 16:41.160 --> 16:43.160 Yes. 16:43.160 --> 16:45.160 I must have caught it last night. 16:45.160 --> 16:47.160 Outdoors, the dam. 16:47.160 --> 16:50.160 You ought to be in bed. A good bed. 16:50.160 --> 16:54.160 The only good bed in the house is in my sister-in-law Sophronia's old room. 16:54.160 --> 16:57.160 No, no, Hiram. I'm all right. Is this a little head cold? 16:57.160 --> 17:00.160 Oh, little head colds often develop into pneumonia. 17:00.160 --> 17:03.160 Why, it's too bad I didn't think of that before. 17:03.160 --> 17:06.160 You might have slept in it from the beginning. 17:06.160 --> 17:08.160 Here, up these stairs. 17:08.160 --> 17:11.160 What? What's the matter? Are you so weak? 17:11.160 --> 17:14.160 No. No, I'm all right. 17:14.160 --> 17:19.160 This room is the cleanest in the hotel, too. 17:19.160 --> 17:23.160 I've always had a sort of suspicion about it. 17:23.160 --> 17:27.160 You see, I've kept everything as it was. 17:27.160 --> 17:29.160 What's the matter? 17:29.160 --> 17:32.160 Nothing. I think it's just that... 17:32.160 --> 17:34.160 It seems kind of familiar. 17:34.160 --> 17:38.160 No, no, it's just that seeing it so clean, seeing it as though someone were living here, 17:38.160 --> 17:42.160 as though it only just stepped out for a moment. 17:42.160 --> 17:47.160 It's as she left it that afternoon when she walked down to murder my brother. 17:47.160 --> 17:51.160 You see her needlework on the table with a needle sticking in it? 17:51.160 --> 17:54.160 And her hymn book still open? 17:54.160 --> 17:58.160 She was very fond of singing hymns, Sophronia was. 17:58.160 --> 18:02.160 Had a nice voice, too. I used to accompany her. 18:02.160 --> 18:04.160 I'll turn down the bed for you. 18:04.160 --> 18:07.160 Then you can get undressed while I go and make you some hot tea. 18:07.160 --> 18:09.160 No, I don't want any. 18:09.160 --> 18:11.160 Here's the closet. 18:11.160 --> 18:14.160 You can put on one of Sophronia's dressing gowns. 18:18.160 --> 18:21.160 Dary, I'm beside myself. 18:21.160 --> 18:25.160 I shall go mad. I shall go mad. 18:25.160 --> 18:28.160 Two hours have passed since they locked the door upon me. 18:28.160 --> 18:31.160 Night's fallen and I'm alone. 18:31.160 --> 18:36.160 Alone in this horrible room with its hideous little momentals of death. 18:36.160 --> 18:42.160 I'm sitting here at her little wicker table trying to become, trying to write this. 18:42.160 --> 18:47.160 Somehow when one writes about a thing it doesn't appear so real. 18:47.160 --> 18:50.160 My hand is just brushed against a needlework. 18:50.160 --> 18:52.160 Her hymn book. 18:52.160 --> 18:55.160 For they still lie, waiting. 18:55.160 --> 18:58.160 I can bear having them near me no longer. 18:58.160 --> 19:01.160 I must get them out of sight. Anywhere. 19:01.160 --> 19:04.160 In that closet. A bureau door. 19:05.160 --> 19:07.160 Ready for your tea? 19:07.160 --> 19:11.160 No. Yes, Hiram. 19:13.160 --> 19:16.160 Why aren't you in bed? You'll take worse cold, you know. 19:16.160 --> 19:18.160 I'll get in bed in a minute. First I... 19:18.160 --> 19:22.160 Oh! Brushing up on your needlework again? 19:22.160 --> 19:24.160 My needlework? 19:24.160 --> 19:25.160 You've got it in your hand. 19:25.160 --> 19:30.160 Have I? Oh, yes. Yes, so I... 19:30.160 --> 19:32.160 But I wasn't working on it, Hiram. I swear I wasn't. 19:32.160 --> 19:34.160 I've never done a stitch of needlework in my whole life. 19:34.160 --> 19:36.160 I don't know one embroidery stitch from another. 19:36.160 --> 19:38.160 Let me show you. Look, I don't even know how to hold a needle. 19:38.160 --> 19:40.160 Get into bed, Sophronia. You're feverish. 19:40.160 --> 19:42.160 Before we go on, Hiram, before you go on thinking, 19:42.160 --> 19:45.160 we've got to have an understanding. You've got to let me explain. 19:45.160 --> 19:48.160 I was born in 1892 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 19:48.160 --> 19:51.160 My name is Sophronia, that's true, but they name lots of people Sophronia. 19:51.160 --> 19:54.160 I was named for my grandmother. She had just died. 19:54.160 --> 19:56.160 No, no, no, you've got to listen to me. 19:56.160 --> 19:58.160 I've lived in Kalamazoo all my life. 19:58.160 --> 20:00.160 If you'd only just write a letter or send a wire. 20:00.160 --> 20:02.160 I've never heard of Green Harbor in my whole life. 20:02.160 --> 20:04.160 I never went anywhere. 20:04.160 --> 20:06.160 For almost ten years I stayed home day in and day out nursing Papa. 20:06.160 --> 20:09.160 He had a stroke. I wasn't out of the house. 20:09.160 --> 20:26.160 He was a red brick house with a green shot in it. 20:26.160 --> 20:28.160 February 15th. 20:28.160 --> 20:30.160 Now I live only from moment to moment. 20:30.160 --> 20:37.160 Listening to each creak upon the stairs. 20:37.160 --> 20:40.160 I've been in bed all day. 20:40.160 --> 20:42.160 It's night now. 20:42.160 --> 20:49.160 A foghorn has begun to blow again. 20:49.160 --> 20:51.160 February 19th. 20:51.160 --> 20:55.160 I woke up early this morning after a wretched night 20:55.160 --> 20:59.160 and the date was burning in letters of fire in my brain. 20:59.160 --> 21:02.160 If he's planning to kill me it'll be today. 21:02.160 --> 21:04.160 But the hours have been crawling on. 21:04.160 --> 21:06.160 It's almost midnight. 21:06.160 --> 21:10.160 Oh why if he's going to kill me doesn't he do it at once? 21:10.160 --> 21:12.160 Why does he torture me like this? 21:12.160 --> 21:16.160 I'd rather be dead than sit here in this room one moment longer. 21:16.160 --> 21:18.160 I can't bear it. 21:18.160 --> 21:21.160 If he doesn't come in five minutes I shall force him to come. 21:21.160 --> 21:23.160 I shall beat on the door. 21:23.160 --> 21:27.160 No. No. 21:27.160 --> 21:32.160 Rather let me sit quiet praying that he doesn't come. 21:32.160 --> 21:35.160 Oh I want to live. 21:35.160 --> 21:37.160 I want to live. 21:47.160 --> 21:49.160 Sopronia. 21:49.160 --> 21:52.160 It's come. 21:52.160 --> 21:54.160 Sopronia. 21:54.160 --> 21:56.160 Come downstairs. 21:56.160 --> 21:59.160 I want you to sing me a hymn. 21:59.160 --> 22:02.160 Sing? 22:02.160 --> 22:06.160 Sing? He never asked me to sing for him before. 22:06.160 --> 22:09.160 But she sang. 22:09.160 --> 22:12.160 I can't sing dear. 22:12.160 --> 22:14.160 I told you that long ago. 22:14.160 --> 22:15.160 Did you? 22:15.160 --> 22:18.160 Well I've forgotten. 22:18.160 --> 22:23.160 And besides how can I come downstairs when my door is locked? 22:23.160 --> 22:25.160 It's unlocked. 22:25.160 --> 22:27.160 Try it. 22:27.160 --> 22:29.160 Unlocked. 22:29.160 --> 22:30.160 Oh no. 22:30.160 --> 22:31.160 How could it? 22:31.160 --> 22:33.160 Oh. 22:33.160 --> 22:38.160 Oh it is. It is. And I never knew it. I never knew it. 22:38.160 --> 22:39.160 Coming? 22:39.160 --> 22:41.160 He unlocked it. 22:41.160 --> 22:46.160 Sometime when I was just sitting. Oh why didn't I try a few more times? 22:46.160 --> 22:49.160 Why did I just sit there assuming? 22:49.160 --> 22:53.160 No. No he'd have caught me anyway. He'd have known. 22:53.160 --> 22:55.160 But I might. 22:55.160 --> 22:58.160 Oh now it's too late. 22:58.160 --> 22:59.160 He's going to kill me. 22:59.160 --> 23:02.160 Sopronia. 23:02.160 --> 23:04.160 Yes Hiram. 23:04.160 --> 23:19.160 I'm coming. 23:19.160 --> 23:21.160 Hiram where are you? 23:21.160 --> 23:22.160 In here. 23:22.160 --> 23:24.160 In the parlor. 23:24.160 --> 23:26.160 What are you doing there Hiram? 23:26.160 --> 23:29.160 Waiting to hear you sing. 23:29.160 --> 23:30.160 You're at the harmonium? 23:30.160 --> 23:33.160 Yes. 23:33.160 --> 23:37.160 All right. I'll sing. 23:37.160 --> 23:41.160 I haven't sung in years but I might as well. 23:41.160 --> 23:44.160 I'll sing for you out here in the hall. 23:44.160 --> 23:46.160 My voice will carry better. 23:46.160 --> 23:51.160 It always did carry better in the hall didn't it Sopronia? 23:51.160 --> 23:54.160 So you remember that too. 23:54.160 --> 23:58.160 Of course you know both the front and back doors are locked. 23:58.160 --> 24:02.160 Play a few bars Hiram dear to warm me up. 24:02.160 --> 24:05.160 Shall I sing too Sopronia? 24:05.160 --> 24:08.160 Would you like me to sing along with you? 24:08.160 --> 24:13.160 If it pleases you Hiram. 24:13.160 --> 24:19.160 Work for the night is coming. 24:19.160 --> 24:25.160 Work in the morning sun. 24:25.160 --> 24:31.160 Work for the night is coming. 24:31.160 --> 24:37.160 When man's work is done. 24:37.160 --> 24:44.160 Work while the daylight darkens. 24:44.160 --> 24:51.160 Work in the summer sun. 24:51.160 --> 24:58.160 Work for the night is coming. 24:58.160 --> 25:11.160 When man's work is done. 25:29.160 --> 25:32.160 There's only one more page. 25:32.160 --> 25:34.160 Shall I read it to you? 25:34.160 --> 25:36.160 Yes. Yes go ahead. 25:36.160 --> 25:39.160 March 22nd. 25:39.160 --> 25:42.160 I've been sick I think for a very long time. 25:42.160 --> 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. 25:50.160 --> 25:52.160 No. 25:52.160 --> 25:56.160 No I shall never look back at the other pages. 25:56.160 --> 26:00.160 I shall only write on and on about this beautiful place. 26:00.160 --> 26:15.160 So that no one reading this diary will ever know that I did it. 26:15.160 --> 26:17.160 But I did do it diary. 26:17.160 --> 26:19.160 I was smarter than he. 26:19.160 --> 26:22.160 When I opened that door at the head of the stairs and heard the music. 26:22.160 --> 26:28.160 When I saw the fire axe still hanging on the wall. 26:28.160 --> 26:31.160 I was so cautious. 26:31.160 --> 26:33.160 So terribly cautious. 26:33.160 --> 26:35.160 I tiptoed like a little mouse. 26:35.160 --> 26:39.160 Even as I sang the hymn into that room where he was playing. 26:39.160 --> 26:41.160 But I was clever. 26:41.160 --> 26:43.160 So much cleverer than he. 26:43.160 --> 26:45.160 I kept on singing. 26:45.160 --> 26:48.160 And now I'm free. 26:48.160 --> 26:50.160 Free as a bird. 26:50.160 --> 26:52.160 I'm free and you shall never catch me now. 26:52.160 --> 26:55.160 Not this time or ever again because. 26:55.160 --> 26:59.160 Because he's dead. 26:59.160 --> 27:02.160 Isn't he nurse? 27:02.160 --> 27:04.160 Nurse. 27:04.160 --> 27:14.160 Isn't my dear brother-in-law Hiram really dead? 27:14.160 --> 27:16.160 Yes miss he's dead. 27:16.160 --> 27:19.160 And now I'll thank you to hand me that diary. 27:19.160 --> 27:34.160 The director doesn't approve of the patients writing anything. 27:34.160 --> 27:38.160 And so closes the diary of Sopronia Winter starring Agnes Morehead and Ray Collins. 27:38.160 --> 27:42.160 Tonight's tale of suspense. 27:42.160 --> 27:46.160 This is your narrator the man in black who conveys to you Columbia's invitation. 27:46.160 --> 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. 27:54.160 --> 27:58.160 The producer of these broadcasts is William Spear who with Ted Bliss the director, 27:58.160 --> 28:19.160 and with the musical director Lucian Mahawick the composer and Lucille Fletcher the author collaborated on tonight's suspense. 28:19.160 --> 28:31.160 This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.