WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:20.600 Roma wines presents Suspense. 00:20.600 --> 00:25.800 Roma wines made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. 00:25.800 --> 00:27.520 Salud, your health, sir. 00:27.520 --> 00:29.560 Roma wines toast the world. 00:29.560 --> 00:35.840 The wine for your table is Roma wine, made in California for enjoyment throughout the 00:35.840 --> 00:36.840 world. 00:36.840 --> 00:43.520 This is the man in black here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California, to introduce 00:43.520 --> 00:46.880 this weekly half hour of Suspense. 00:46.880 --> 00:52.680 Tonight in Hollywood, Roma wines bring you a distinguished all-feminine cast of stars 00:52.680 --> 00:58.960 headed by Margot, Miss Elsa Lanchester, and Miss Janet Beecher. 00:58.960 --> 01:03.020 The Suspense play which stars these ladies and which is produced and directed by William 01:03.020 --> 01:06.800 Spear is called Finishing School. 01:06.800 --> 01:11.720 Despite the absence of male participants in Ethel Lena White's story, we can promise 01:11.720 --> 01:15.000 you there is nothing dainty about the proceedings. 01:15.000 --> 01:19.600 And so with Finishing School and with the performances, in the order of their appearance 01:19.600 --> 01:25.360 of Margot as Caroline Watts, of Janet Beecher as Melody, and of Elsa Lanchester as Dean 01:25.360 --> 01:42.120 Dirling, Roma wines again hope to keep you in Suspense. 01:42.120 --> 01:47.920 I can see them so vividly now, just as I saw them the very first time. 01:47.920 --> 01:53.200 Those high stone ivy draped walls of Miss Nash's school for girls. 01:53.200 --> 01:57.840 And the first person who greeted me, that amiable soul, Miss Melody. 01:57.840 --> 01:59.720 I can see her too. 01:59.720 --> 02:04.600 It was she in fact who showed me into my new room and who stood there watching me a moment 02:04.600 --> 02:05.600 smiling. 02:05.600 --> 02:09.240 This is your first teaching job, isn't it? 02:09.240 --> 02:10.240 How did you know? 02:10.240 --> 02:15.600 Well, if you've been around nothing but teachers for thirty years, you'd know too. 02:15.600 --> 02:17.240 Let me guess now. 02:17.240 --> 02:20.840 Your subject is either French or, no, no, it's sport. 02:20.840 --> 02:21.840 On the nose. 02:21.840 --> 02:23.560 What's your subject, Miss Melody? 02:23.560 --> 02:24.560 Mine. 02:24.560 --> 02:25.560 Come in. 02:25.560 --> 02:26.560 Caroline Watts? 02:26.560 --> 02:27.560 Yes? 02:27.560 --> 02:28.560 I'm Miss Dirling, the Dean. 02:28.560 --> 02:29.560 Welcome to the Nash School. 02:29.560 --> 02:30.560 Oh, how do you do, Miss Dirling? 02:30.560 --> 02:31.560 I've been looking forward to meeting you. 02:31.560 --> 02:32.560 Thank you. 02:32.560 --> 02:33.560 I wanted you to know about the general faculty meeting in my office at three this afternoon. 02:33.560 --> 02:34.560 I'll see you then. 02:34.560 --> 02:35.560 At three o'clock. 02:35.560 --> 02:36.560 Oh, and Melody? 02:36.560 --> 02:37.560 Yes, Dirling? 02:37.560 --> 02:38.560 Miss Nash is a little concerned about the new students. 02:38.560 --> 02:41.560 She might just check up on supplies to the third floor. 02:41.560 --> 02:42.560 It's already been decided. 02:42.560 --> 02:43.560 I'll see you then. 02:43.560 --> 02:44.560 At three o'clock. 02:44.560 --> 02:45.560 Oh, and Melody? 02:45.560 --> 02:46.560 Yes, Dirling? 02:46.560 --> 02:47.560 Miss Nash is a little concerned about the new students. 02:47.560 --> 02:51.960 She might just check up on supplies to the third floor. 02:51.960 --> 02:52.960 It's already been taken care of. 02:52.960 --> 02:53.960 Oh, very well. 02:53.960 --> 02:57.960 I should answer your question, Miss Watts. 02:57.960 --> 02:59.960 You see, my subject is housekeeping. 02:59.960 --> 03:01.960 Oh, I didn't know. 03:01.960 --> 03:05.360 I just suppose that you were one of the teachers. 03:05.360 --> 03:09.560 I was, up until a year ago, when Miss Penelope passed away. 03:09.560 --> 03:12.120 Oh, yes, that was Miss Nash's sister. 03:12.120 --> 03:14.640 No changes like that are inevitable, I suppose. 03:14.640 --> 03:17.960 It's inevitable as, well, that ugly rumor. 03:17.960 --> 03:19.360 Ugly rumor? 03:19.360 --> 03:20.360 About Miss Penelope's death. 03:20.360 --> 03:24.360 But I hadn't heard any rumor or anything about her death. 03:24.360 --> 03:26.520 Oh, then I'm sorry, Miss Watts. 03:26.520 --> 03:29.200 I assumed you were that familiar with the school. 03:29.200 --> 03:30.200 What was the rumor, Miss Melody? 03:30.200 --> 03:33.200 Oh, it was nothing really, not even worth repeating. 03:33.200 --> 03:35.200 Wait, Miss Melody. 03:35.200 --> 03:38.200 Look, I'll hear about it sooner or later. 03:38.200 --> 03:41.800 Well, it's just a silly, stupid tale. 03:41.800 --> 03:46.800 But somehow it got around that Miss Nash's sister had been frightened to death. 03:51.800 --> 03:55.800 This, then, was Caroline Watts' introduction to the Nash Institution, 03:55.800 --> 04:01.800 a place which future events proved to be with a vengeance of finishing school. 04:01.800 --> 04:05.800 Thus the prologue for tonight's tale of suspense. 04:05.800 --> 04:08.800 The narrative will be resumed in a moment. 04:08.800 --> 04:10.800 But first, let's take a little journey. 04:10.800 --> 04:13.800 We'll journey to a capital in Latin America, 04:13.800 --> 04:18.800 here at a gay allegation party on a lantern-hung terrace beside a garden pool. 04:18.800 --> 04:19.800 Listen. 04:19.800 --> 04:24.800 Everything is perfect at your wonderful party, including this exquisite wine. 04:24.800 --> 04:27.800 It is a wine that is made of pure gold. 04:27.800 --> 04:31.800 It is a wine that helps to bring back pleasant memories. 04:31.800 --> 04:33.800 I, of course, agree. 04:33.800 --> 04:37.800 It helps good friends such as us to appreciate good food, too. 04:37.800 --> 04:41.800 And this sherry has come far to add enjoyment to our allegation party. 04:41.800 --> 04:46.800 It is of the famous vineyards of California in the faraway United States. 04:46.800 --> 04:47.800 See? 04:47.800 --> 04:49.800 It is the celebrated Roma wine. 04:49.800 --> 04:52.800 Yes, Roma wines are prized in other countries 04:52.800 --> 04:55.800 for the great enjoyment their superb quality affords. 04:55.800 --> 04:58.800 They are esteemed as something rare, a luxury. 04:58.800 --> 05:03.800 But you in America may enjoy Roma fine wines in all the variety of types 05:03.800 --> 05:06.800 as an inexpensive everyday delight. 05:06.800 --> 05:10.800 So trifling in cost are these fine Roma wines here in America 05:10.800 --> 05:12.800 that you can be a most generous host, 05:12.800 --> 05:16.800 offering to each of your guests his or her favorite, 05:16.800 --> 05:18.800 a delicious tangy California sherry, 05:18.800 --> 05:21.800 a fine California claret or burgundy, 05:21.800 --> 05:25.800 or a heavier, sweeter California port. 05:25.800 --> 05:27.800 You'll be delighted to learn from your dealer 05:27.800 --> 05:31.800 at what small cost you can get an assortment of several types, 05:31.800 --> 05:35.800 permitting you now to boast of your private wine cellars. 05:35.800 --> 05:44.800 Ask for Roma, R-O-M-A, America's largest selling wine, Roma wine, 05:44.800 --> 05:49.800 made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. 05:49.800 --> 05:54.800 And now it is with pleasure that Roma wines bring back to our sound stage 05:54.800 --> 05:59.800 Margot, Elsa Lanchester, and Janet Beecher in Finishing School, 05:59.800 --> 06:04.800 a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 06:04.800 --> 06:11.800 Frightened to death, Miss Nash's sister. 06:11.800 --> 06:14.800 Well, if I had known then what I know now, 06:14.800 --> 06:19.800 I would have been able to judge with real accuracy 06:19.800 --> 06:22.800 the importance of Miss Melody's remark. 06:22.800 --> 06:27.800 But the excitement of my first classes left little room for other thoughts. 06:27.800 --> 06:30.800 A week or so later, out on the athletic field, 06:30.800 --> 06:34.800 one of my students, Flora Nash, the niece of the owner, became quite ill. 06:34.800 --> 06:38.800 I sent her to the infirmary, but within ten minutes she had returned. 06:38.800 --> 06:41.800 Miss Sterling, she said, had ordered her back. 06:41.800 --> 06:45.800 I was furious and, well, I told her I was going to have it out with that woman. 06:45.800 --> 06:51.800 Miss Watts, wait. I know it isn't my place to say this, but please, for your own sake, 06:51.800 --> 06:53.800 don't antagonize Sterling. 06:53.800 --> 06:54.800 Oh, now really. 06:54.800 --> 06:56.800 I tell you, I know what I'm talking about. 06:56.800 --> 06:58.800 Listen, you know Miss Melody, don't you? 06:58.800 --> 06:59.800 Of course. 06:59.800 --> 07:03.800 Miss Watts, she practically started this school with my two aunts. 07:03.800 --> 07:07.800 When Miss Penelope died, everybody thought she'd move up to take her place. 07:07.800 --> 07:08.800 But she didn't. 07:08.800 --> 07:13.800 Somehow or other, Sterling saw to it she was left with the job of housekeeper. 07:13.800 --> 07:17.800 Miss Watts, don't have any trouble with that woman. Please. 07:17.800 --> 07:20.800 All right, Flora. I'll go see Miss Nash. 07:20.800 --> 07:21.800 Oh, no. 07:21.800 --> 07:23.800 Why, Flora, Miss Nash is your own aunt. 07:23.800 --> 07:26.800 But Sterling would find out. Please, you mustn't. 07:26.800 --> 07:28.800 I've never heard such nonsense in all my life. 07:28.800 --> 07:30.800 Hurry straight to bed. 07:30.800 --> 07:35.800 I went to the top floor of my building and entered the small waiting room of Miss Nash's quarters. 07:35.800 --> 07:39.800 It was empty, but just opposite was the door to the private apartment, 07:39.800 --> 07:44.800 almost halfway open, and I walked over to it, ready to announce myself. 07:44.800 --> 07:47.800 Then I stopped, bed still. 07:47.800 --> 07:48.800 Penelope. 07:48.800 --> 07:49.800 For it was then that I heard... 07:49.800 --> 07:51.800 Are you there, Miss Penelope? 07:51.800 --> 07:53.800 Sterling's voice. 07:53.800 --> 08:00.800 We're almost in touch. Yes, I hear her now. 08:00.800 --> 08:06.800 Very faint, but nearer, nearer. 08:06.800 --> 08:08.800 It was an incredible sight. 08:08.800 --> 08:17.800 Seated at a table wholly unlike the elderly, but austere, white haired lady I'd seen before was Miss Nash. 08:17.800 --> 08:24.800 Her eyes were closed, and swaying gently, she seemed utterly transfixed as she listened to Dean Sterling's low murmur. 08:24.800 --> 08:28.800 We're here, Miss Penelope. We're waiting. 08:28.800 --> 08:29.800 Yes. 08:29.800 --> 08:33.800 Speak to her, Miss Nash. Speak to her now. 08:33.800 --> 08:35.800 Oh, all right. 08:35.800 --> 08:40.800 Can... can you hear us, Penelope? 08:40.800 --> 08:42.800 Miss Sterling's voice. 08:42.800 --> 08:55.800 Can you hear us, Penelope? Miss Sterling says you... says you have predicted some tragic accident for another of our loved ones. 08:55.800 --> 08:56.800 And then Sterling turned toward me. 08:56.800 --> 08:59.800 What... what are you doing here? 08:59.800 --> 09:02.800 I... I'm sorry. I wanted to speak with Miss Nash. 09:02.800 --> 09:04.800 This is not the time or the place for that. 09:04.800 --> 09:08.800 What is it? Miss what? 09:08.800 --> 09:10.800 Miss Nash, it's about your niece. I really... 09:10.800 --> 09:16.800 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... 09:16.800 --> 09:17.800 Trivial. 09:17.800 --> 09:20.800 Trivial? But I... 09:20.800 --> 09:25.800 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? 09:25.800 --> 09:33.800 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. 09:33.800 --> 09:34.800 No, I... 09:34.800 --> 09:37.800 Miss Nash, your niece really... 09:37.800 --> 09:44.800 Miss Sterling, she'll handle it. Miss Sterling knows best. 09:44.800 --> 09:47.800 Yes, Miss Nash. 09:47.800 --> 09:48.800 Good night. 09:48.800 --> 09:49.800 Good night. 09:49.800 --> 09:52.800 If you'll just step out here... 09:52.800 --> 09:53.800 Now. 09:53.800 --> 10:00.800 Miss Sterling, you evidently don't realize that Flora Nash suffers from a slight heart condition. It's entered on her card. 10:00.800 --> 10:03.800 I'm sure it is, because I entered it. 10:03.800 --> 10:10.800 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? 10:10.800 --> 10:11.800 Well, no, I... 10:11.800 --> 10:19.800 After this, please be assured that I don't make a practice of deliberately murdering my students, especially the niece of my employer. 10:19.800 --> 10:22.800 I'm very sorry, Miss Sterling. 10:22.800 --> 10:28.800 Very well, Miss Watts. That will be all. 10:28.800 --> 10:35.800 But it wasn't all. I was bewildered, even alarmed, I suppose, at the recollection of that voice calling out, 10:35.800 --> 10:41.800 Miss Penelope. And I went to the one person that I felt must be told. 10:41.800 --> 10:45.800 For quite a while, the housekeeper said nothing, then she motioned me to a chair. 10:45.800 --> 10:53.800 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. 10:53.800 --> 10:58.800 She then reports, relays, messages which are supposed to come from Miss Penelope. 10:58.800 --> 11:00.800 But, Melody, I'm afraid I don't under... 11:00.800 --> 11:06.800 My dear, these messages direct Miss Nash to delegate more and more power to Sterling. 11:06.800 --> 11:11.800 That's her grip on Miss Nash. That's the instrument she's using to get the whole school away from her. 11:11.800 --> 11:19.800 I can't under... Miss Melody, how could she ever delude Miss Nash that way? The head of a school and intelligent... 11:19.800 --> 11:27.800 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. 11:27.800 --> 11:33.800 You see, Sterling's made quite a number of predictions, and always they've come true. 11:33.800 --> 11:35.800 They've come true? 11:35.800 --> 11:40.800 Because she makes them come true. Miss Watts, there's a reason why I've told you this. 11:40.800 --> 11:49.800 I have the feeling that rather soon, there'll be another prediction, and somehow, some way, it mustn't be allowed to come true. 11:49.800 --> 11:51.800 I want your help. 11:51.800 --> 11:54.800 Miss Melody, what could we do? 11:54.800 --> 11:56.800 Yes? 11:56.800 --> 11:58.800 Sterling. 11:58.800 --> 12:04.800 What? I'm perfectly aware that you regard me as a very ominous creature, a sort of Lady Macbeth. 12:04.800 --> 12:12.800 And no doubt, your special charge, Flora Nash, shares the same view. So, bring her along when you come to my cottage tonight. 12:12.800 --> 12:13.800 Your cottage? 12:13.800 --> 12:15.800 Yes, there'll be some other girls. I'm having a little party. 12:15.800 --> 12:16.800 Well, I... I hadn't... 12:16.800 --> 12:18.800 What's the matter? Don't you want to? 12:18.800 --> 12:23.800 What? Oh, yes. Yes, of course I do, Miss Sterling. I'd love to come, thank you. 12:23.800 --> 12:34.800 Good. And you can come too, Melody. Eight o'clock sharp. 12:34.800 --> 12:42.800 We were prompt, Flora and I, and the sharp tenseness and alertness we carried with us into that cottage vanished almost at once. 12:42.800 --> 12:51.800 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. 12:51.800 --> 13:00.800 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? 13:00.800 --> 13:05.800 Gee, I don't know, Miss Sterling. Anything, I guess. Have you any ideas, Miss Watt? 13:05.800 --> 13:07.800 Well, we can always play cards. 13:07.800 --> 13:10.800 That, of course, is exactly why we shouldn't. 13:10.800 --> 13:12.800 Oh, Sterling, I've got it. 13:12.800 --> 13:12.800 What? 13:12.800 --> 13:14.800 Remember last spring, that seance you gave us? 13:14.800 --> 13:15.800 Oh, no. 13:15.800 --> 13:16.800 I swear. 13:16.800 --> 13:21.800 No, I don't think so, Helen. In the first place, I haven't picked up a single new trick. 13:21.800 --> 13:28.800 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. 13:28.800 --> 13:29.800 Yes. 13:29.800 --> 13:30.800 All right, then. 13:30.800 --> 13:36.800 Oh, no, I'd rather not. Flora, you're not scared, are you? A little, maybe. 13:36.800 --> 13:42.800 Well, don't be. It's all in fun, like watching card tricks. Need any help in here? 13:42.800 --> 13:45.800 Oh, thank you. Yes, we'll use this large table. 13:45.800 --> 13:47.800 Come on, Flora, you stick with me. 13:47.800 --> 13:49.800 All right, Miss Watt. 13:51.800 --> 14:00.800 So presently, in a room quite dark, we ranged ourselves about a large bare table, at the very head of which sat the Dean. 14:00.800 --> 14:05.800 And then, for several long moments, there was quiet, broken at last... 14:05.800 --> 14:06.800 Yes. 14:06.800 --> 14:08.800 ...by the low drone of Sterling's voice. 14:08.800 --> 14:23.800 Yes. I hear you. Yes. Yes. But you must announce your presence. Let us know you're here. 14:27.800 --> 14:36.800 Speak louder. Louder! Your name is... Coldman? 14:36.800 --> 14:37.800 Miss Watt! 14:37.800 --> 14:40.800 Coldman Nash. 14:40.800 --> 14:42.800 That's my great-aunt. 14:42.800 --> 14:45.800 And you're trying to warn... 14:46.800 --> 14:48.800 To warn... 14:54.800 --> 14:56.800 She's faded. She's faded. Turn on the lights quickly. 14:56.800 --> 15:00.800 It's her heart. Get the doctor quick. Call him somebody. The phone's in the bedroom. And Helen? 15:00.800 --> 15:01.800 Yes. 15:01.800 --> 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. 15:05.800 --> 15:07.800 Thanks, Sterling. 15:07.800 --> 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. 15:14.800 --> 15:22.800 Yes. Frightened nearly to death. There. Miss Sterling, you did this deliberately. 15:22.800 --> 15:23.800 Deliberately? 15:23.800 --> 15:27.800 You knew that girl's heart condition. Why, Watt? 15:27.800 --> 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. 15:33.800 --> 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. 15:38.800 --> 15:42.800 I happened to know her uncle's name. It was a joke. A game. Everybody knows that. 15:42.800 --> 15:44.800 A game? 15:44.800 --> 15:45.800 She's coming to. 15:45.800 --> 15:48.800 You tell these women it was a game, but will you tell that to Miss Nash? 15:48.800 --> 15:50.800 You don't know what you're saying. 15:50.800 --> 15:54.800 Oh, yes, she does. You'll show Miss Nash the proof of another successful prediction. 15:54.800 --> 15:55.800 Melody. 15:55.800 --> 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. 16:02.800 --> 16:04.800 Caroline, don't leave. 16:04.800 --> 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. 16:09.800 --> 16:11.800 Come along, Miss Melody. 16:16.800 --> 16:22.800 It was five minutes later that Melody and I crossed the campus to Sterling's cottage and found it empty. 16:22.800 --> 16:28.800 We learned that the doctor had arrived, had prescribed for Flora, and ordered her to the infirmary. 16:28.800 --> 16:33.800 Caroline, Sterling alone was left in charge of the girl. That's where Melody and I found her. 16:33.800 --> 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. 16:39.800 --> 16:45.800 Shh. Can't you see she's asleep? The doctor gave her something to make her sleep. 16:45.800 --> 16:46.800 Is that what this is? 16:46.800 --> 16:47.800 What? 16:47.800 --> 16:51.800 This bottle of nice bend. You can see from the label what it is. Digitalis. 16:51.800 --> 16:52.800 A heart stimulant, Miss Melody? 16:52.800 --> 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. 16:58.800 --> 17:00.800 Now will you please be good enough to leave? 17:00.800 --> 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. 17:08.800 --> 17:11.800 You're completely mad, aren't you? 17:11.800 --> 17:14.800 That's an odd remark, Sterling, coming from you. 17:14.800 --> 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. 17:27.800 --> 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. 17:37.800 --> 17:44.800 Suddenly, Melody was shaking. Caroline, it's happened. 17:44.800 --> 17:46.800 What? What do you say? 17:46.800 --> 17:47.800 Caroline, it's happened. 17:47.800 --> 17:48.800 What do you say? 17:48.800 --> 17:49.800 She's dead. 17:49.800 --> 17:51.800 Flora's dead. 17:55.800 --> 18:00.800 Sterling, just tell us what happened. 18:00.800 --> 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. 18:12.800 --> 18:15.800 The medicine? The digitalis, you mean? 18:15.800 --> 18:16.800 That's right, Melody. 18:16.800 --> 18:17.800 Where is it? 18:17.800 --> 18:18.800 What? 18:18.800 --> 18:20.800 Where is it? Where's the bottle of medicine? 18:20.800 --> 18:21.800 Why? 18:21.800 --> 18:27.800 Why? It used to be on that nightstand there. But it isn't now. Where is it? 18:27.800 --> 18:30.800 Sterling, what have you done with it? 18:30.800 --> 18:33.800 I don't know. Let's see. Under the bed. It might have rolled under. 18:33.800 --> 18:35.800 But it didn't. Nor under the chest of drawers either. 18:35.800 --> 18:39.800 Perhaps you should look out of the window. Maybe Sterling decided not to give her any medicine at all. 18:39.800 --> 18:42.800 Miss Melody, this medicine chest, it's locked. 18:42.800 --> 18:43.800 Locked? 18:43.800 --> 18:46.800 Yes. Do you happen to know where the key is? 18:46.800 --> 18:51.800 One of a housekeeper's major duties. See if this will work, Caroline, being keeper of the keys. 18:51.800 --> 18:54.800 It works. 18:54.800 --> 18:57.800 It works. 18:57.800 --> 18:59.800 Melody! Miss Nash, look! 18:59.800 --> 19:00.800 What is it? 19:00.800 --> 19:03.800 It's Sterling's bottle of medicine. Unopened. 19:03.800 --> 19:05.800 Unopened? 19:05.800 --> 19:06.800 And unused. 19:06.800 --> 19:11.800 I was right, Sterling. You just sat there and watched her die. 19:11.800 --> 19:13.800 That's not true. 19:13.800 --> 19:19.800 Helen, you saw me give Flora some medicine early tonight, right after the doctor left. 19:19.800 --> 19:22.800 Helen, you remember that, don't you? 19:22.800 --> 19:26.800 Helen, it looked like a different bottle, Sterling. 19:26.800 --> 19:27.800 A different bottle? 19:27.800 --> 19:31.800 Yes. And I can guess what was in it. A sleeping draught. 19:31.800 --> 19:36.800 That's what you gave us, Sterling. You knew that even a slight overdose would stop a weakened heart. 19:36.800 --> 19:41.800 All right, Sterling. We found one bottle. The one that would have saved Flora's life. 19:41.800 --> 19:44.800 Where's the one that took it? 19:44.800 --> 19:47.800 You should know that, Melody. 19:47.800 --> 19:49.800 What? 19:49.800 --> 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. 19:56.800 --> 19:58.800 You are insane. 19:58.800 --> 20:03.800 What's more, you brought it into this room tonight in one of your countless visits. 20:03.800 --> 20:07.800 You bought in a bottle of heavy sleeping draught and exchanged it for digitalis. 20:07.800 --> 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. 20:14.800 --> 20:17.800 You did it all right, but without any help, Sterling. 20:17.800 --> 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? 20:24.800 --> 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? 20:32.800 --> 20:35.800 Yes, Sterling. I know what you're thinking. It just came to me. 20:35.800 --> 20:36.800 Go on. 20:36.800 --> 20:39.800 When we were at the cottage, when you sent me over here for the bottle of digitalis. 20:39.800 --> 20:40.800 That's it. 20:40.800 --> 20:43.800 There wasn't any? There wasn't any in that chest? 20:43.800 --> 20:46.800 Of course not. Sterling didn't put it there until tonight. 20:46.800 --> 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. 20:51.800 --> 20:54.800 You see, when Sterling sent me over here, she gave me her keys. 20:54.800 --> 20:59.800 Well, well, well, I forgot to give them back to her. Here they are. I still have them. 20:59.800 --> 21:03.800 In other words, Melody, you were the only one who could put the digitalis bottle there in the chest. 21:03.800 --> 21:09.800 Very true what you said before. One of a housekeeper's major duties is being keeper of the keys. 21:09.800 --> 21:14.800 Miss Melody, that isn't true, is it? Miss Melody, it isn't true! 21:14.800 --> 21:17.800 No, of course it isn't. Don't listen to them, Caroline. 21:17.800 --> 21:21.800 No, Caroline, don't listen to us. Listen to Melody. 21:21.800 --> 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. 21:27.800 --> 21:33.800 That's what she did to Flora, you know. She flooded that poor girl's imagination with absolute terror. 21:33.800 --> 21:35.800 And then she killed her. 21:35.800 --> 21:38.800 Caroline, I didn't kill her. Why should I? Why would I want to? 21:38.800 --> 21:39.800 Why? Why? 21:39.800 --> 21:44.800 So you could get Flora out of your way. So you could accuse me of killing Fern. 21:44.800 --> 21:49.800 Get me out of your way, too. So you could have a clear path to mismatch. 21:49.800 --> 21:53.800 Well, Melody, your plan backfired. 21:53.800 --> 21:55.800 But you're not getting me out of this school. 21:55.800 --> 21:58.800 Helen, Watts, go phone the police. 21:58.800 --> 22:02.800 I'll never leave. Do you hear that? I'll never leave. Never. 22:02.800 --> 22:09.800 Oh, yes you will, Melody. Yes, you will. 22:15.800 --> 22:17.800 And Sterling was right, too. 22:17.800 --> 22:22.800 For within the month, Melody was an inmate of a quite different kind of institution than the Nash School. 22:22.800 --> 22:27.800 Life settled down then into a state of normalcy that lasted through the rest of the year. 22:27.800 --> 22:35.800 Lasted, in fact, up to just four hours ago when I was crossing the grounds toward the main gate. 22:35.800 --> 22:39.800 All of the teachers had gone into town and I was on my way to join them. 22:39.800 --> 22:47.800 When I saw it there on the grass, a tiny object glistening dully in the late afternoon sun. 22:47.800 --> 22:50.800 What made me pick it up? I don't know. 22:50.800 --> 22:55.800 But when I did, it was as though a rocket exploded in my brain. 22:55.800 --> 23:02.800 It was a small empty bottle and its label bore the slightly faded letters of the word digitalis. 23:02.800 --> 23:06.800 Then in the next instant... 23:06.800 --> 23:09.800 Find something? Sterling! 23:09.800 --> 23:13.800 Yes, I... I found something, Sterling. 23:13.800 --> 23:16.800 This bottle labeled digitalis. 23:16.800 --> 23:22.800 You know, I bet anything in the world a good chemist can find traces of a sleeping drug in it. 23:22.800 --> 23:27.800 You mean? Then you found it. Melody's bottle. 23:27.800 --> 23:32.800 Melody's bottle? My guess is that Melody's bottle, as you put it, never will be found 23:32.800 --> 23:34.800 because it never existed except in your mind. 23:34.800 --> 23:35.800 What? 23:35.800 --> 23:38.800 I picked this bottle up right here, Sterling, right where I'm standing, 23:38.800 --> 23:42.800 just three feet from the trash bin behind your cottage. 23:42.800 --> 23:45.800 That was careless of me, wasn't it? 23:45.800 --> 23:48.800 You used this bottle. 23:48.800 --> 23:53.800 You used it to get Flora Nash out of your way, to kill her and make good on your warning. 23:53.800 --> 23:55.800 You're taking it to the police, I suppose. 23:55.800 --> 23:57.800 I want to see if they can find your fingerprints on it, Sterling. 23:57.800 --> 24:00.800 Yes, I'm going to take it to the police as fast as I can get there. 24:00.800 --> 24:04.800 Certainly, Watts. And the best of luck! 24:08.800 --> 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. 24:14.800 --> 24:19.800 I reached the gate just in time to hear the school caretaker playing it shut. 24:19.800 --> 24:25.800 Miss Sterling, he explained, had just telephoned the order, and early closing hour. 24:25.800 --> 24:27.800 I remembered the service driveway then. 24:27.800 --> 24:31.800 The other passageway through those high stone walls which encompass the grounds, 24:31.800 --> 24:35.800 and I found that it, too, was locked. 24:35.800 --> 24:38.800 I was imprisoned. 24:38.800 --> 24:42.800 And then, it was right then that the solution came to me. 24:42.800 --> 24:44.800 I should have thought of it before. 24:44.800 --> 24:48.800 Miss Nash herself was in those grounds, right on the top floor of my own building. 24:48.800 --> 24:51.800 I would take the bottle to her. I would show her the proof. 24:51.800 --> 24:58.800 I flew up the stairs, down the corridor, entered her small waiting room, and then stopped. 24:58.800 --> 25:03.800 Just beyond me, through the open doorway of the darkened suite, was Sterling and Miss Nash. 25:03.800 --> 25:09.800 The fellow's tragedy was before this school year ended. 25:09.800 --> 25:12.800 That's the warning I hear. 25:12.800 --> 25:19.800 A warning? From Flora, did you say? From my niece? 25:19.800 --> 25:21.800 From your niece. 25:21.800 --> 25:25.800 Oh, she says there will be more tragedy. 25:25.800 --> 25:26.800 Oh, no. 25:26.800 --> 25:29.800 Before this school year ends. 25:29.800 --> 25:31.800 Tragedy. 25:31.800 --> 25:39.800 Oh, for one more... one more woman here. 25:39.800 --> 25:51.800 My strength left me completely then. 25:51.800 --> 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. 25:57.800 --> 26:04.800 And it is just ten minutes before midnight. Ten minutes before this school year ends. 26:04.800 --> 26:08.800 My door is locked. She has locked it from the outside. 26:08.800 --> 26:17.800 But now... now that door is going to open. And she's coming in. 26:17.800 --> 26:20.800 What? What are you going to do with it? 26:20.800 --> 26:24.800 This revolver. I'm going to use it to fulfill a prediction. 26:24.800 --> 26:26.800 Don't, please. Don't, please. 26:26.800 --> 26:31.800 Flora made a prediction to Miss Nash tonight. Flora made it through me. 26:31.800 --> 26:35.800 Do you understand that? Flora made it. 26:35.800 --> 26:39.800 I heard her. I really heard her. 26:39.800 --> 26:44.800 Saying that there would be one more death before this school year ends. 26:44.800 --> 26:45.800 Please. 26:45.800 --> 27:01.800 My prediction is going to come true. Now! 27:01.800 --> 27:04.800 Hello. Hello. The police station. 27:04.800 --> 27:07.800 You'd better send someone over to the Nash school right away. 27:07.800 --> 27:12.800 There's been a... somebody's shot herself dead. 27:12.800 --> 27:18.800 And please... please tell Miss Melody... Miss Melody that she'll be out soon. 27:18.800 --> 27:37.800 Tell her that Lady McBeth is gone. 27:37.800 --> 27:42.800 And so closes Finishing School, starring Margot, Elsa Lanchester and Janet Beecher. 27:42.800 --> 27:46.800 Tonight's tale of... Suspense. 27:46.800 --> 27:49.800 Before we tell you about our star and story for next week, 27:49.800 --> 27:54.800 a word about an American anniversary of 173 years this week. 27:54.800 --> 27:59.800 Still standing in California is a little winery founded in 1771. 27:59.800 --> 28:05.800 Settlers from foreign countries discovered early that California vineyards were among the world's finest. 28:05.800 --> 28:10.800 But in the rare combination of climate and soil which produces perfect wine grapes, 28:10.800 --> 28:15.800 California surpasses some of the most famous old world vineyards. 28:15.800 --> 28:22.800 Take Roma California Sherrier Port. They are magnificent wines, truly delightful. 28:22.800 --> 28:30.800 Yet, like all Roma wines, priced astonishingly low, because you pay no duty, no costly shipping charges. 28:30.800 --> 28:36.800 Toast the New Year with Roma wines, America's largest selling wine. 28:36.800 --> 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. 28:45.800 --> 28:49.800 We help make this more certain with the war bonds and stamps we buy. 28:49.800 --> 28:55.800 So for 1944, increase your purchases of United States war bonds. 28:55.800 --> 29:00.800 Good luck and health to you one and all from the makers of Roma Wines, 29:00.800 --> 29:04.800 made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. 29:04.800 --> 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. 29:10.800 --> 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, 29:18.800 --> 29:25.800 The One Way Ride to Nowhere. Don't forget then next Thursday same time for Alan Ladd in Suspense. 29:25.800 --> 29:33.800 Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. 29:33.800 --> 29:48.800 This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.