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Roma wines presents Suspense.

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Roma wines made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.

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Salud, your health, sir.

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Roma wines toast the world.

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The wine for your table is Roma wine, made in California for enjoyment throughout the

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world.

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This is the man in black here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California, to introduce

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this weekly half hour of Suspense.

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Tonight in Hollywood, Roma wines bring you a distinguished all-feminine cast of stars

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headed by Margot, Miss Elsa Lanchester, and Miss Janet Beecher.

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The Suspense play which stars these ladies and which is produced and directed by William

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Spear is called Finishing School.

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Despite the absence of male participants in Ethel Lena White's story, we can promise

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you there is nothing dainty about the proceedings.

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And so with Finishing School and with the performances, in the order of their appearance

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of Margot as Caroline Watts, of Janet Beecher as Melody, and of Elsa Lanchester as Dean

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Dirling, Roma wines again hope to keep you in Suspense.

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I can see them so vividly now, just as I saw them the very first time.

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Those high stone ivy draped walls of Miss Nash's school for girls.

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And the first person who greeted me, that amiable soul, Miss Melody.

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I can see her too.

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It was she in fact who showed me into my new room and who stood there watching me a moment

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smiling.

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This is your first teaching job, isn't it?

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How did you know?

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Well, if you've been around nothing but teachers for thirty years, you'd know too.

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Let me guess now.

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Your subject is either French or, no, no, it's sport.

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On the nose.

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What's your subject, Miss Melody?

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Mine.

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Come in.

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Caroline Watts?

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Yes?

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I'm Miss Dirling, the Dean.

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Welcome to the Nash School.

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Oh, how do you do, Miss Dirling?

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I've been looking forward to meeting you.

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Thank you.

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I wanted you to know about the general faculty meeting in my office at three this afternoon.

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I'll see you then.

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At three o'clock.

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Oh, and Melody?

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Yes, Dirling?

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Miss Nash is a little concerned about the new students.

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She might just check up on supplies to the third floor.

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It's already been decided.

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I'll see you then.

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At three o'clock.

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Oh, and Melody?

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Yes, Dirling?

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Miss Nash is a little concerned about the new students.

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She might just check up on supplies to the third floor.

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It's already been taken care of.

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Oh, very well.

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I should answer your question, Miss Watts.

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You see, my subject is housekeeping.

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Oh, I didn't know.

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I just suppose that you were one of the teachers.

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I was, up until a year ago, when Miss Penelope passed away.

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Oh, yes, that was Miss Nash's sister.

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No changes like that are inevitable, I suppose.

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It's inevitable as, well, that ugly rumor.

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Ugly rumor?

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About Miss Penelope's death.

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But I hadn't heard any rumor or anything about her death.

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Oh, then I'm sorry, Miss Watts.

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I assumed you were that familiar with the school.

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What was the rumor, Miss Melody?

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Oh, it was nothing really, not even worth repeating.

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Wait, Miss Melody.

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Look, I'll hear about it sooner or later.

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Well, it's just a silly, stupid tale.

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But somehow it got around that Miss Nash's sister had been frightened to death.

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This, then, was Caroline Watts' introduction to the Nash Institution,

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a place which future events proved to be with a vengeance of finishing school.

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Thus the prologue for tonight's tale of suspense.

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The narrative will be resumed in a moment.

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But first, let's take a little journey.

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We'll journey to a capital in Latin America,

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here at a gay allegation party on a lantern-hung terrace beside a garden pool.

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Listen.

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Everything is perfect at your wonderful party, including this exquisite wine.

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It is a wine that is made of pure gold.

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It is a wine that helps to bring back pleasant memories.

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I, of course, agree.

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It helps good friends such as us to appreciate good food, too.

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And this sherry has come far to add enjoyment to our allegation party.

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It is of the famous vineyards of California in the faraway United States.

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See?

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It is the celebrated Roma wine.

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Yes, Roma wines are prized in other countries

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for the great enjoyment their superb quality affords.

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They are esteemed as something rare, a luxury.

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But you in America may enjoy Roma fine wines in all the variety of types

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as an inexpensive everyday delight.

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So trifling in cost are these fine Roma wines here in America

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that you can be a most generous host,

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offering to each of your guests his or her favorite,

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a delicious tangy California sherry,

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a fine California claret or burgundy,

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or a heavier, sweeter California port.

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You'll be delighted to learn from your dealer

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at what small cost you can get an assortment of several types,

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permitting you now to boast of your private wine cellars.

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Ask for Roma, R-O-M-A, America's largest selling wine, Roma wine,

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made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.

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And now it is with pleasure that Roma wines bring back to our sound stage

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Margot, Elsa Lanchester, and Janet Beecher in Finishing School,

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a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.

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Frightened to death, Miss Nash's sister.

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Well, if I had known then what I know now,

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I would have been able to judge with real accuracy

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the importance of Miss Melody's remark.

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But the excitement of my first classes left little room for other thoughts.

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A week or so later, out on the athletic field,

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one of my students, Flora Nash, the niece of the owner, became quite ill.

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I sent her to the infirmary, but within ten minutes she had returned.

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Miss Sterling, she said, had ordered her back.

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I was furious and, well, I told her I was going to have it out with that woman.

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Miss Watts, wait. I know it isn't my place to say this, but please, for your own sake,

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don't antagonize Sterling.

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Oh, now really.

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I tell you, I know what I'm talking about.

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Listen, you know Miss Melody, don't you?

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Of course.

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Miss Watts, she practically started this school with my two aunts.

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When Miss Penelope died, everybody thought she'd move up to take her place.

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But she didn't.

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Somehow or other, Sterling saw to it she was left with the job of housekeeper.

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Miss Watts, don't have any trouble with that woman. Please.

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All right, Flora. I'll go see Miss Nash.

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Oh, no.

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Why, Flora, Miss Nash is your own aunt.

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But Sterling would find out. Please, you mustn't.

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I've never heard such nonsense in all my life.

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Hurry straight to bed.

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I went to the top floor of my building and entered the small waiting room of Miss Nash's quarters.

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It was empty, but just opposite was the door to the private apartment,

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almost halfway open, and I walked over to it, ready to announce myself.

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Then I stopped, bed still.

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Penelope.

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For it was then that I heard...

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Are you there, Miss Penelope?

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Sterling's voice.

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We're almost in touch. Yes, I hear her now.

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Very faint, but nearer, nearer.

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It was an incredible sight.

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Seated at a table wholly unlike the elderly, but austere, white haired lady I'd seen before was Miss Nash.

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Her eyes were closed, and swaying gently, she seemed utterly transfixed as she listened to Dean Sterling's low murmur.

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We're here, Miss Penelope. We're waiting.

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Yes.

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Speak to her, Miss Nash. Speak to her now.

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Oh, all right.

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Can... can you hear us, Penelope?

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Miss Sterling's voice.

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Can you hear us, Penelope? Miss Sterling says you... says you have predicted some tragic accident for another of our loved ones.

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And then Sterling turned toward me.

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What... what are you doing here?

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I... I'm sorry. I wanted to speak with Miss Nash.

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This is not the time or the place for that.

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What is it? Miss what?

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Miss Nash, it's about your niece. I really...

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I'm familiar with this matter about Flora, Miss Nash, and at the moment I don't want you to be disturbed by anything so...

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Trivial.

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Trivial? But I...

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I don't see how you can call it trivial, Miss Sterling. Flora was ill today. Why did you send her back to the field?

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Because she was no more ill than you are. She was simply up to her old trick, playing on the sympathy of a new teacher. Come, we'll talk about this outside.

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No, I...

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Miss Nash, your niece really...

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Miss Sterling, she'll handle it. Miss Sterling knows best.

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Yes, Miss Nash.

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Good night.

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Good night.

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If you'll just step out here...

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Now.

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Miss Sterling, you evidently don't realize that Flora Nash suffers from a slight heart condition. It's entered on her card.

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I'm sure it is, because I entered it.

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I'm a fairly competent judge of her state of health, Miss Watts, for the simple reason that I happen to be a registered nurse. Can you say the same?

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Well, no, I...

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After this, please be assured that I don't make a practice of deliberately murdering my students, especially the niece of my employer.

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I'm very sorry, Miss Sterling.

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Very well, Miss Watts. That will be all.

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But it wasn't all. I was bewildered, even alarmed, I suppose, at the recollection of that voice calling out,

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Miss Penelope. And I went to the one person that I felt must be told.

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For quite a while, the housekeeper said nothing, then she motioned me to a chair.

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You might as well know this, Miss Watts. Sterling, you see, has deluded Miss Nash into believing she can actually hear Miss Nash's sister.

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She then reports, relays, messages which are supposed to come from Miss Penelope.

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But, Melody, I'm afraid I don't under...

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My dear, these messages direct Miss Nash to delegate more and more power to Sterling.

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That's her grip on Miss Nash. That's the instrument she's using to get the whole school away from her.

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I can't under... Miss Melody, how could she ever delude Miss Nash that way? The head of a school and intelligent...

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She's an old, grief-stricken woman, Miss Watts. More important, she's a woman who's been thoroughly sold on Sterling's clairvoyant power.

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You see, Sterling's made quite a number of predictions, and always they've come true.

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They've come true?

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Because she makes them come true. Miss Watts, there's a reason why I've told you this.

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I have the feeling that rather soon, there'll be another prediction, and somehow, some way, it mustn't be allowed to come true.

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I want your help.

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Miss Melody, what could we do?

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Yes?

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Sterling.

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What? I'm perfectly aware that you regard me as a very ominous creature, a sort of Lady Macbeth.

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And no doubt, your special charge, Flora Nash, shares the same view. So, bring her along when you come to my cottage tonight.

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Your cottage?

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Yes, there'll be some other girls. I'm having a little party.

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Well, I... I hadn't...

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What's the matter? Don't you want to?

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What? Oh, yes. Yes, of course I do, Miss Sterling. I'd love to come, thank you.

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Good. And you can come too, Melody. Eight o'clock sharp.

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We were prompt, Flora and I, and the sharp tenseness and alertness we carried with us into that cottage vanished almost at once.

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To my surprise, I discovered that when Sterling chose to be, she was one of the most compellingly charming women in the world. And that night, she chose to be.

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Flora, since you're the one student in the whole pack of teachers, we'll make you the guest of honor. Now, what would you like to do?

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Gee, I don't know, Miss Sterling. Anything, I guess. Have you any ideas, Miss Watt?

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Well, we can always play cards.

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That, of course, is exactly why we shouldn't.

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Oh, Sterling, I've got it.

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What?

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Remember last spring, that seance you gave us?

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Oh, no.

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I swear.

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No, I don't think so, Helen. In the first place, I haven't picked up a single new trick.

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Oh, that's all right. It'll all be new to Watson and Flora. Come on, give them a chance to see you demonstrate your real powers.

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Yes.

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All right, then.

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Oh, no, I'd rather not. Flora, you're not scared, are you? A little, maybe.

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Well, don't be. It's all in fun, like watching card tricks. Need any help in here?

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Oh, thank you. Yes, we'll use this large table.

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Come on, Flora, you stick with me.

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All right, Miss Watt.

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So presently, in a room quite dark, we ranged ourselves about a large bare table, at the very head of which sat the Dean.

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And then, for several long moments, there was quiet, broken at last...

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Yes.

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...by the low drone of Sterling's voice.

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Yes. I hear you. Yes. Yes. But you must announce your presence. Let us know you're here.

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Speak louder. Louder! Your name is... Coldman?

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Miss Watt!

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Coldman Nash.

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That's my great-aunt.

239
00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,800
And you're trying to warn...

240
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,800
To warn...

241
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:56,800
She's faded. She's faded. Turn on the lights quickly.

242
00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,800
It's her heart. Get the doctor quick. Call him somebody. The phone's in the bedroom. And Helen?

243
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:01,800
Yes.

244
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,800
I want some digitalis. You'll find it in the medicine chest in the infirmary. Here are the keys. And hurry, I'll be right back.

245
00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:07,800
Thanks, Sterling.

246
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:14,800
Here, Watt. Here, let's pick her up. We'll put her on the sofa. That's it. Must have been frightening.

247
00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:22,800
Yes. Frightened nearly to death. There. Miss Sterling, you did this deliberately.

248
00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:23,800
Deliberately?

249
00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,800
You knew that girl's heart condition. Why, Watt?

250
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:33,800
You can't anticipate a thing like that. I was simply going to tease her, warn her not to fake any more illnesses.

251
00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:38,800
But you see how she's faking this one. You planned this, Miss Sterling. The party, having her here, finding out her uncle's name.

252
00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,800
I happened to know her uncle's name. It was a joke. A game. Everybody knows that.

253
00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:44,800
A game?

254
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:45,800
She's coming to.

255
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,800
You tell these women it was a game, but will you tell that to Miss Nash?

256
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,800
You don't know what you're saying.

257
00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,800
Oh, yes, she does. You'll show Miss Nash the proof of another successful prediction.

258
00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:55,800
Melody.

259
00:15:55,800 --> 00:16:02,800
You'll have her completely at your mercy. Flora's the only remaining heir to this school. The only person who stands in your way.

260
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:04,800
Caroline, don't leave.

261
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:09,800
Oh, it's all right, Flora. I'm only going to get my coat. We'll be right back. Please, don't worry about a thing.

262
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:11,800
Come along, Miss Melody.

263
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:22,800
It was five minutes later that Melody and I crossed the campus to Sterling's cottage and found it empty.

264
00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:28,800
We learned that the doctor had arrived, had prescribed for Flora, and ordered her to the infirmary.

265
00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:33,800
Caroline, Sterling alone was left in charge of the girl. That's where Melody and I found her.

266
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:39,800
Directly before Flora's room at the infirmary. We wasted no time. Literally, we pushed her aside and hurried into Flora's.

267
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:45,800
Shh. Can't you see she's asleep? The doctor gave her something to make her sleep.

268
00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:46,800
Is that what this is?

269
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:47,800
What?

270
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:51,800
This bottle of nice bend. You can see from the label what it is. Digitalis.

271
00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:52,800
A heart stimulant, Miss Melody?

272
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:58,800
And not oddly enough, a deadly poison. The doctor left it here and it's been given to Flora every two hours.

273
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:00,800
Now will you please be good enough to leave?

274
00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:08,800
Yes, I'll leave, but I shan't go far. I expect to stay very close to this girl until she's safely under someone else's care.

275
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,800
You're completely mad, aren't you?

276
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,800
That's an odd remark, Sterling, coming from you.

277
00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:27,800
We maintained a watching post not far from the room. And from there first Melody, then I made regular trips to the bedside. Flora was better. There was no doubt of that.

278
00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:37,800
And so at last I dropped off to sleep. The sleep that lasted for an hour or more. For dawn was filtering into the long infirmary corridor when I awoke.

279
00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:44,800
Suddenly, Melody was shaking. Caroline, it's happened.

280
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:46,800
What? What do you say?

281
00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:47,800
Caroline, it's happened.

282
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:48,800
What do you say?

283
00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:49,800
She's dead.

284
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:51,800
Flora's dead.

285
00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:00,800
Sterling, just tell us what happened.

286
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:12,800
It was only a few minutes ago. It was time for her medicine. And I went over to wake her up for it. Her heart had just stopped beating.

287
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,800
The medicine? The digitalis, you mean?

288
00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:16,800
That's right, Melody.

289
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:17,800
Where is it?

290
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:18,800
What?

291
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:20,800
Where is it? Where's the bottle of medicine?

292
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:21,800
Why?

293
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:27,800
Why? It used to be on that nightstand there. But it isn't now. Where is it?

294
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,800
Sterling, what have you done with it?

295
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,800
I don't know. Let's see. Under the bed. It might have rolled under.

296
00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:35,800
But it didn't. Nor under the chest of drawers either.

297
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,800
Perhaps you should look out of the window. Maybe Sterling decided not to give her any medicine at all.

298
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,800
Miss Melody, this medicine chest, it's locked.

299
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:43,800
Locked?

300
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,800
Yes. Do you happen to know where the key is?

301
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:51,800
One of a housekeeper's major duties. See if this will work, Caroline, being keeper of the keys.

302
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,800
It works.

303
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,800
It works.

304
00:18:57,800 --> 00:18:59,800
Melody! Miss Nash, look!

305
00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:00,800
What is it?

306
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,800
It's Sterling's bottle of medicine. Unopened.

307
00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:05,800
Unopened?

308
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:06,800
And unused.

309
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:11,800
I was right, Sterling. You just sat there and watched her die.

310
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:13,800
That's not true.

311
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:19,800
Helen, you saw me give Flora some medicine early tonight, right after the doctor left.

312
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,800
Helen, you remember that, don't you?

313
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,800
Helen, it looked like a different bottle, Sterling.

314
00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:27,800
A different bottle?

315
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,800
Yes. And I can guess what was in it. A sleeping draught.

316
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:36,800
That's what you gave us, Sterling. You knew that even a slight overdose would stop a weakened heart.

317
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:41,800
All right, Sterling. We found one bottle. The one that would have saved Flora's life.

318
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,800
Where's the one that took it?

319
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,800
You should know that, Melody.

320
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,800
What?

321
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:56,800
You should know where that bottle is because you took it out of this room just a little while ago when I was calling Miss Nash.

322
00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:58,800
You are insane.

323
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:03,800
What's more, you brought it into this room tonight in one of your countless visits.

324
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,800
You bought in a bottle of heavy sleeping draught and exchanged it for digitalis.

325
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:14,800
You were hoping I couldn't tell the difference and that I'd give that to Flora instead of the heart stimulant. And that's what I did.

326
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,800
You did it all right, but without any help, Sterling.

327
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:24,800
Just how, for example, could I produce a bottle of sleeping draught so exactly like the digitalis that you couldn't tell the difference?

328
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:32,800
You had whole meds and chests to work with. That's how you did it. And that's how I knew you did it. Helen?

329
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,800
Yes, Sterling. I know what you're thinking. It just came to me.

330
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:36,800
Go on.

331
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,800
When we were at the cottage, when you sent me over here for the bottle of digitalis.

332
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:40,800
That's it.

333
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,800
There wasn't any? There wasn't any in that chest?

334
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,800
Of course not. Sterling didn't put it there until tonight.

335
00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:51,800
Well, that's not the point, Melody. She couldn't have put it there at all because she had no way to get into the chest.

336
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,800
You see, when Sterling sent me over here, she gave me her keys.

337
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:59,800
Well, well, well, I forgot to give them back to her. Here they are. I still have them.

338
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,800
In other words, Melody, you were the only one who could put the digitalis bottle there in the chest.

339
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:09,800
Very true what you said before. One of a housekeeper's major duties is being keeper of the keys.

340
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:14,800
Miss Melody, that isn't true, is it? Miss Melody, it isn't true!

341
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,800
No, of course it isn't. Don't listen to them, Caroline.

342
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,800
No, Caroline, don't listen to us. Listen to Melody.

343
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:27,800
Let her keep drugging you with lies until you see everything she wants you to see and hear everything she wants you to hear.

344
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:33,800
That's what she did to Flora, you know. She flooded that poor girl's imagination with absolute terror.

345
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:35,800
And then she killed her.

346
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:38,800
Caroline, I didn't kill her. Why should I? Why would I want to?

347
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:39,800
Why? Why?

348
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:44,800
So you could get Flora out of your way. So you could accuse me of killing Fern.

349
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,800
Get me out of your way, too. So you could have a clear path to mismatch.

350
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,800
Well, Melody, your plan backfired.

351
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:55,800
But you're not getting me out of this school.

352
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,800
Helen, Watts, go phone the police.

353
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,800
I'll never leave. Do you hear that? I'll never leave. Never.

354
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:09,800
Oh, yes you will, Melody. Yes, you will.

355
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,800
And Sterling was right, too.

356
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:22,800
For within the month, Melody was an inmate of a quite different kind of institution than the Nash School.

357
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:27,800
Life settled down then into a state of normalcy that lasted through the rest of the year.

358
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:35,800
Lasted, in fact, up to just four hours ago when I was crossing the grounds toward the main gate.

359
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:39,800
All of the teachers had gone into town and I was on my way to join them.

360
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:47,800
When I saw it there on the grass, a tiny object glistening dully in the late afternoon sun.

361
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,800
What made me pick it up? I don't know.

362
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:55,800
But when I did, it was as though a rocket exploded in my brain.

363
00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:02,800
It was a small empty bottle and its label bore the slightly faded letters of the word digitalis.

364
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,800
Then in the next instant...

365
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,800
Find something? Sterling!

366
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,800
Yes, I... I found something, Sterling.

367
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,800
This bottle labeled digitalis.

368
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:22,800
You know, I bet anything in the world a good chemist can find traces of a sleeping drug in it.

369
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:27,800
You mean? Then you found it. Melody's bottle.

370
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:32,800
Melody's bottle? My guess is that Melody's bottle, as you put it, never will be found

371
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:34,800
because it never existed except in your mind.

372
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:35,800
What?

373
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,800
I picked this bottle up right here, Sterling, right where I'm standing,

374
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,800
just three feet from the trash bin behind your cottage.

375
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,800
That was careless of me, wasn't it?

376
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,800
You used this bottle.

377
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,800
You used it to get Flora Nash out of your way, to kill her and make good on your warning.

378
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,800
You're taking it to the police, I suppose.

379
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,800
I want to see if they can find your fingerprints on it, Sterling.

380
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,800
Yes, I'm going to take it to the police as fast as I can get there.

381
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,800
Certainly, Watts. And the best of luck!

382
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:14,800
She went on inside her cottage, and I struck out across the grounds for the main gate and the road into town.

383
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:19,800
I reached the gate just in time to hear the school caretaker playing it shut.

384
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:25,800
Miss Sterling, he explained, had just telephoned the order, and early closing hour.

385
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,800
I remembered the service driveway then.

386
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,800
The other passageway through those high stone walls which encompass the grounds,

387
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,800
and I found that it, too, was locked.

388
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,800
I was imprisoned.

389
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,800
And then, it was right then that the solution came to me.

390
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,800
I should have thought of it before.

391
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,800
Miss Nash herself was in those grounds, right on the top floor of my own building.

392
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,800
I would take the bottle to her. I would show her the proof.

393
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:58,800
I flew up the stairs, down the corridor, entered her small waiting room, and then stopped.

394
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,800
Just beyond me, through the open doorway of the darkened suite, was Sterling and Miss Nash.

395
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:09,800
The fellow's tragedy was before this school year ended.

396
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,800
That's the warning I hear.

397
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:19,800
A warning? From Flora, did you say? From my niece?

398
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:21,800
From your niece.

399
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,800
Oh, she says there will be more tragedy.

400
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:26,800
Oh, no.

401
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,800
Before this school year ends.

402
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:31,800
Tragedy.

403
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:39,800
Oh, for one more... one more woman here.

404
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:51,800
My strength left me completely then.

405
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:57,800
I don't know whether I fainted or not or how I got back to my room, but I'm hearing it now.

406
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:04,800
And it is just ten minutes before midnight. Ten minutes before this school year ends.

407
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,800
My door is locked. She has locked it from the outside.

408
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:17,800
But now... now that door is going to open. And she's coming in.

409
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,800
What? What are you going to do with it?

410
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,800
This revolver. I'm going to use it to fulfill a prediction.

411
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,800
Don't, please. Don't, please.

412
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:31,800
Flora made a prediction to Miss Nash tonight. Flora made it through me.

413
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,800
Do you understand that? Flora made it.

414
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,800
I heard her. I really heard her.

415
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:44,800
Saying that there would be one more death before this school year ends.

416
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:45,800
Please.

417
00:26:45,800 --> 00:27:01,800
My prediction is going to come true. Now!

418
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,800
Hello. Hello. The police station.

419
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:07,800
You'd better send someone over to the Nash school right away.

420
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:12,800
There's been a... somebody's shot herself dead.

421
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:18,800
And please... please tell Miss Melody... Miss Melody that she'll be out soon.

422
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:37,800
Tell her that Lady McBeth is gone.

423
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:42,800
And so closes Finishing School, starring Margot, Elsa Lanchester and Janet Beecher.

424
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:46,800
Tonight's tale of... Suspense.

425
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,800
Before we tell you about our star and story for next week,

426
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:54,800
a word about an American anniversary of 173 years this week.

427
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:59,800
Still standing in California is a little winery founded in 1771.

428
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:05,800
Settlers from foreign countries discovered early that California vineyards were among the world's finest.

429
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:10,800
But in the rare combination of climate and soil which produces perfect wine grapes,

430
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:15,800
California surpasses some of the most famous old world vineyards.

431
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:22,800
Take Roma California Sherrier Port. They are magnificent wines, truly delightful.

432
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:30,800
Yet, like all Roma wines, priced astonishingly low, because you pay no duty, no costly shipping charges.

433
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:36,800
Toast the New Year with Roma wines, America's largest selling wine.

434
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:45,800
And let us hope that next New Year's we'll all be together, our sons and daughters, our husbands and fathers, in a world at peace.

435
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,800
We help make this more certain with the war bonds and stamps we buy.

436
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:55,800
So for 1944, increase your purchases of United States war bonds.

437
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:00,800
Good luck and health to you one and all from the makers of Roma Wines,

438
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,800
made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.

439
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:10,800
Next week, Roma Wines take great pleasure in bringing to you, in his first radio appearance of the year, Mr. Alan Ladd.

440
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:18,800
Mr. Ladd will be heard in a swift moving action drama played against the colorful background of the Midway in an amusement park and called,

441
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:25,800
The One Way Ride to Nowhere. Don't forget then next Thursday same time for Alan Ladd in Suspense.

442
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:33,800
Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.

443
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:48,800
This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.