1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Suspense! 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Tonight, the Diary of Sopronio Winters, starring Agnes Moorhead and Ray Collins. 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Suspense is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,000 That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines. 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live, 6 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,000 to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals. 7 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,000 Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you... 8 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Suspense! 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000 This is the man in black, here for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California. 10 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Who tonight from Hollywood bring you as stars, Miss Agnes Moorhead and Mr. Ray Collins. 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Miss Moorhead and Mr. Collins will appear in a study in terror, written especially for them, 12 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000 and for Suspense by the distinguished radio playwright Lucille Fletcher. 13 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,000 But before we take you to the scene of our drama, let's conjure up a scene of our own. 14 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Let's imagine ourselves in sun-drenched Havana, dining in the gay club, Mo-Mart. 15 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000 As you listen to the music, you put down your wine glass to tell our host how much you enjoy his hospitality. 16 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:28,000 Part of the credit belongs to Cuba, he smilingly acknowledges, but part of the credit belongs also to your country, 17 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,000 for producing this excellent wine which adds so much to our enjoyment. 18 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:37,000 For this is Roma Wine, from California in your own USA. 19 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Now, it is a fact that connoisseurs of many other lands know the excellence of Roma Wines, 20 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000 made in famous wineries located in the heart of the choice wine districts of California. 21 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:56,000 But millions of Americans also know these things, and have made Roma by far America's largest selling wines. 22 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Here at home, Roma wines are truly inexpensive. No duty, no overseas shipping costs to pay. 23 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:11,000 And for only pennies a glass, your meals, your entertaining, can have the added delight of superb Roma wines. 24 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:18,000 You will find them of truly excellent flavor and character, fine products of age-old winemaking skill, 25 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,000 perfected by modern quality controls and tests. 26 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Ask for R-O-M-A, Roma Wines, made in California, for enjoyment throughout the world. 27 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And now with the diary of Sopronio Winters, and with the performances of Agnes Moorhead and Ray Collins, 28 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,000 we again hope to keep you in suspense. 29 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 February 1st, St. Petersburg, Florida. 30 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:59,000 I, Sopronio Winters, have hereby begun this diary because on this date I feel for the first time that I've begun to live. 31 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Diaries are no good unless one has thrilling experiences. 32 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,000 For 40 years I've never had what could really be called a thrilling experience, 33 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,000 but Papa's death has changed everything. 34 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,000 Here I am in beautiful St. Petersburg with everything to start life anew, money and buy purse, 35 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 two suitcases full of new clothes, and a gorgeous new permanent way. 36 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 And Florida is really the land of romance. 37 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:27,000 It doesn't matter whether you're 17 or 70. There are parties and dances and bingo games and flirtations for all. 38 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:33,000 My landlady, in fact, tells me that people often become engaged and even married to perfect strangers overnight. 39 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:38,000 I'm still shy, of course, but just the same, it's such fun and so thrilling. 40 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,000 To think one's fate may be just around the corner. 41 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,000 February 3rd. Oh, diary, it is beginning. 42 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,000 This morning when I came out of my lodging house to go down to the beach, 43 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,000 I noticed a man, a thrilling-looking man, sitting across the street on a bench. 44 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000 It was just as though he were waiting for me because when I came out, he sort of started up as though he knew me. 45 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Of course, I didn't speak first, but I knew the minute I started down the street that he was following me. 46 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Well, I got to the beach and sat down with my magazines and suddenly there he was, strolling toward me with a broad smile. 47 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Well, sitting out here all by your lonesome? 48 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Oh, yes, yes, I am. 49 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:20,000 And down here at St. Pete Long? 50 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Just three days. 51 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 Three days? That's a long time. It's a wonder I didn't spot you before. 52 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Oh, oh, Mr. Ed. 53 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Johnson's the name, Hiram Johnson. I came from Green Harbor, Maine, run a big hotel up there summers. 54 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Well, that's my whole history in a nutshell. 55 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Oh, my name's Sopronia. Sopronia Winters. 56 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Sopronia? You know, that's quite a coincidence. 57 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:47,000 My sister-in-law's name was Sopronia. Sopronia Johnson. You ever heard of her? 58 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000 She looked quite a bit like you, too. 59 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Sopronia Johnson? No, no, I'm afraid I haven't. Who was she? 60 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Someone very famous. I'm so ignorant about these things. 61 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Well, that's all right. Say, look at that sun, will you? I'd say it was pretty nearly time for lunch. 62 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:10,000 You know, Sopronia, it's kind of mysterious us finding that nine-point starfish on the beach together. 63 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,000 My sister-in-law, Sopronia, used to collect nine-point starfishes. 64 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:20,000 But think your name, Sopronia, and you find a nine-point starfish with me. 65 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,000 Well, it kind of draws us together, huh? 66 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Diary, darling, he is wonderful. Strong, kind, warm-hearted, so generous. 67 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:38,000 I feel as though I knew him completely, as though I'd known him all my life. 68 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:44,000 What's the good of waiting, Sopronia? I've got to be back at the hotel in a week. We may never see each other again. 69 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Oh, Hiram, don't say that. I couldn't bear it. 70 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Then let's do it right away, tomorrow. There's a parson out on Coral Avenue who'll do the job for us. 71 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,000 We could take a nice moonlight drive out to the alligator farm, afterward have a nice short dinner, 72 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,000 then climb on board the orange blossom tomorrow night from Maine. 73 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Maine. Oh, it's all so wild, so mad, so thrilling. But what would your family think? Wouldn't they be shocked? 74 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Oh, my family's all dead. I'm my own boss. 75 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:14,000 I'd have to help you run that big hotel. I wonder whether I could do it, meeting all those people. 76 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Oh, don't worry about that. Just think of Maine. The big dark pine woods, the sand, the bay. The two of us alone together. 77 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,000 The two of us alone together. 78 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:42,000 February 7th, on board the orange blossom. I was married in a wedding dress of Alice Blue Moray, 79 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:46,000 with a frill of white organdy at the collar and wrists, and a rhinestone belt buckle. 80 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:58,000 Hiram sent me talisman roses. I'm pressing one precious flower between the pages of this diary for luck. 81 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:03,000 You'll see it beyond this bend in a couple of minutes. Bag's heavy? 82 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,000 No, not particularly, dearest. Oh, I can't get over that taxi manifestation. 83 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,000 Imagine his insulin saying he didn't want to drive this. 84 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:12,000 There's the place. 85 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,000 Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't want to look until I put down these bags. Now, where? 86 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,000 There, through those big pines. 87 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,000 Oh, it is big, isn't it? 88 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:25,000 125 rooms. 89 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,000 So many fire escapes and balconies and porches and towers. 90 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:38,000 I, I stayed in a hotel like that once years ago with Papa. It was very fashionable and... 91 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,000 My grandfather built that place 50 years ago. It hasn't been changed much since... 92 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,000 No. Of course you put in modern plumbing. 93 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Not yet. Well, here we are. Walk in. 94 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,000 What's that? 95 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:55,000 Just a foghorn out in the bay. 96 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Fog? 97 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:01,000 We get it almost every night in this kind of weather. 98 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:02,000 What are you locking the gate for? 99 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:09,000 Why not? Is nobody coming in after us? Or going out again for a while? 100 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:10,000 I thought you said the hotel... 101 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:11,000 The hotel's empty. 102 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,000 Empty? Hiram? 103 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:15,000 What is it now? 104 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,000 Hiram, darling, I know it sounds silly, but let's not go in there tonight. Let's, let's wait until morning. 105 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:21,000 Why? 106 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Oh, just because it's so dark and empty, there's not a light in the whole place and no one's expecting it. 107 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 What'll we eat and where'll we sleep? Let's stay in the village just for tonight. 108 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000 I've got things to eat and a place to sleep. Come on. 109 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:38,000 Oh, my arm. Hiram. Hiram. 110 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,000 You remember my telling you down in Florida about my sister-in-law, Zephronium? 111 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:49,000 Well, that's her over there on the wall. Take a look at her. 112 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,000 Hiram, darling, just now you hurt me. Do you realize that? You twisted my arm. 113 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,000 I said take a look at her. Tell me what you see. 114 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:09,000 Well, the glass is very dusty. She must have died many years ago. Her face is sweet. It's very sweet. 115 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000 Her eyes, something very sad and wistful about her eyes. 116 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:20,000 She was a murderess. She was hanged in Portland 25 years ago for the murder of my brother, Hiram, here in the lobby of this hotel. 117 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,000 She murdered him in cold blood with an axe, that fire axe hanging over there on the wall. 118 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,000 It was a summer day. There were guests sitting on the front porch in the rockers. It was just after lunch. 119 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:34,000 My brother Ephraim was sitting at the desk counting his loose change. My mother was crocheting an adobe casso in that old wicker rocking chair. 120 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Zephronia came downstairs humming a hymn. 121 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,000 Oh, don't, don't, Hiram. Please don't tell me anymore. 122 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Why not? 123 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Well, it is, it makes me nervous to hear it like this in this big shadowy lobby. 124 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,000 And your eyes, Hiram. 125 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:55,000 Hiram, you're acting so strange. What's the matter with you, Hiram? I know it was a terrible tragedy, but it happened 25 years ago. 126 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,000 Don't touch me, Zephronia. 127 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Don't touch you. 128 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Do you remember what I said to you in Florida? 129 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:07,000 What did you say? You said a million sweet and wonderful things to me, huh? 130 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:13,000 I said you resembled my dead sister-in-law. I looked at her again. Look at her closely. Zephronia. 131 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:21,000 Why? Oh, no, I can't. It's too horrible. I can't look at her face with any pleasure now, knowing she was a murder. 132 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:22,000 You're afraid to look, is that it? 133 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:23,000 No, not afraid. 134 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,000 You... 135 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:29,000 Hiram! Please, my arm. 136 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Very well. I'll look. 137 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:46,000 Now, stand there quietly. Like that. Take off your glasses. That's all I wanted to see. That's all I wanted to see. 138 00:10:52,000 --> 00:11:01,000 February 12th. Green Harbor Hotel, Maine. I cannot understand it. I try to fathom it, but my head aches and my heart is heavy. 139 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:06,000 The hotel is deserted, unchanged, and apparently uninhabited for 25 years. 140 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:11,000 Wash bowls and pitches still stand in the empty rooms, covered with spiders and cobwebs. 141 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:17,000 Dust is everywhere, and the printed regulations on the walls are tattered and yellow with age. 142 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Our old broken rocking chairs on the front porch faces, emptily out to sea. 143 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,000 Can he mean this to be my home? 144 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000 He's downstairs now, in the shabby parlor off the lobby, playing the harmonium. 145 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Rody, I... 146 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,000 Yes? Yes? Yes, Hiram? 147 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Sleeping? 148 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,000 No, dear. 149 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Why is your door locked? Come out. I want to show you around the place. 150 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,000 It's all right, dear. I've seen it. I've seen just about everything. 151 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,000 No, no, you haven't. You haven't seen the grounds at all. 152 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,000 The grounds? But, Hiram, it's after midnight. 153 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:07,000 I want to show you where my sister-in-law, Sopronia, is buried. 154 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Well, not tonight, dear. Please, it's so late and I have a headache. 155 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,000 Open the door, Sopronia. I want you to come now. 156 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:21,000 No! No, I shan't. Now go away and let me alone. I won't. I won't. I won't. I won't. 157 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:28,000 It's no use carrying on like that. You see, I've got pasties to all the doors. 158 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:45,000 And beyond, where those four birches are standing, is where my sister-in-law, Sopronia, was laid away 25 years ago. 159 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:50,000 It was the biggest funeral in the neighborhood. Folks crowded outside the gate with the dozens, trying to get a look, 160 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:56,000 but we wouldn't let them. Buried her ourselves, without a service, out here by herself on the grounds. 161 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Ephraim is buried in town, but not Sopronia. I had a feeling that I'd have to keep an eye on her even then. 162 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,000 Keep an eye on her? 163 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Oh, I knew she was one of those restless sleepers who wouldn't stay quiet in her own grave. 164 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:12,000 I knew before the year was out she'd find some way to start roaming around, hunting for mischief again. 165 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:17,000 She was a young she-devil to the core, Sopronia. They could hang her till doomsday and it wouldn't do any good. 166 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,000 You mean, you mean, you think she haunts this hotel? 167 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:28,000 No, no, no, not this hotel. She never had any use for it, dead or alive. No, she makes for the warmer climates. 168 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:34,000 She was always a cold-blooded little fish, freezing and shivering all the time. It's places like California and Texas. 169 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,000 And Florida, she makes for her. 170 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:38,000 Florida? 171 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:46,000 Yeah, that's one of her favorite haunts, particularly around St. Pete. She likes the flowers and the sun and the romance. 172 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,000 How am I? Do you mind if I go inside? 173 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,000 Just a minute. I haven't explained everything. 174 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:58,000 You think I'm crazy, I guess. Crazy. But I'm a lot smarter than some people give me credit for. 175 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Because you see, I have found her now. Three times. 176 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:11,000 Do you see that grove of birches over there? 177 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Under every one of them's a grave. I've found her wandering the earth in disguise three times. 178 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:23,000 And I've killed her three times. And it still doesn't do any good. She's still restless. 179 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,000 You mean, you mean, you've killed three different women? 180 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,000 So now I keep another grave to remind her. It's waiting now. Would you like to see it, Sopronia? 181 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,000 No, no, Hiram, no, please, please. 182 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,000 Are you afraid to see it, Sopronia? 183 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:41,000 No, Hiram, you don't mean to say that you think just because my name happens to be Sopronia that... 184 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:42,000 And that I look a little like... 185 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,000 Think what, Sopronia? 186 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,000 Nothing. 187 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:58,000 February 14th. My mind is made up. I've made a terrible mistake. 188 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:05,000 I must get away from this place. I must get away from Hiram as quickly as I can. 189 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:12,000 I shall wait for dusk when he generally sits down in the parlor and plays the harmonium. 190 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:22,000 I can hide, I can hide a little earlier in one of the deserted rooms. 191 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:28,000 And then, when he's back in toward the lobby, slip out the front door. 192 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:50,000 Sopronia, Sopronia, Sopronia. 193 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:55,000 Oh, oh, there you are. What's the matter? Anything wrong? 194 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:56,000 No, Hiram. 195 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,000 You didn't want anything outside, did you? Because if you do, you'll have to ask me to get it for you. 196 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,000 You see, I always keep this front door locked. 197 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,000 Yes, yes, Hiram. 198 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,000 And the back door, too. All the doors leading out into the porches and the fire escapes. 199 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:14,000 And a good many of the windows makes one feel safe from thieves and peeping toms. 200 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,000 Oh, you've got a cold. That's too bad. 201 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Yes, I must have caught it last night outdoors. The damp. 202 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000 You ought to be in bed. Good one. 203 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,000 The only good bed in the house is in my sister-in-law Sopronia's old room. 204 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:34,000 Oh, no, no, Hiram. I'm all right. I'm all right. It's just a little head cold. 205 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,000 Little head colds often develop into pneumonia. It's too bad I didn't think of that before. 206 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,000 You might have slept in it from the very beginning. Here, up these stairs. 207 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 What's the matter? Are you so weak? 208 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,000 No. No, I'm all right. 209 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:58,000 This room is the cleanest in the hotel, too. I've always had a sort of suspicion about that. 210 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,000 There, you see? I've kept everything as it was. 211 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,000 What's the matter? 212 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,000 Nothing. Nothing. It's just... 213 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,000 Seems kind of familiar? 214 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:16,000 No, no. No, it's just that seeing it so clean, seeing it as though someone were living there, 215 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,000 as though they'd only just stepped out for a moment. 216 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,000 It's just that she left it that afternoon when she walked down to murder my brother. 217 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,000 You see her needlework on the table with a needle sticking in it, her hymn book still open? 218 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:33,000 She was very fond of singing hymns, Sopronia was. Had a nice voice, too. I used to accompany her. 219 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:39,000 I'll turn down the bed for you. Then you can get undressed while I go and make you some hot tea. 220 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,000 No, I don't want any. 221 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,000 Here's the closet you can put on one of Sopronia's dressings. 222 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:59,000 Dary, I'm beside myself. I shall go mad. I shall go mad. 223 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:05,000 Two hours have passed since he locked the door on me. Night has fallen. I'm alone. 224 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Alone in this horrible room with its hideous little moment of the death. 225 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:17,000 I'm sitting here at her little wicker table trying to be calm, trying to write this. 226 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000 Somehow when one writes about a thing it doesn't appear so real. 227 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:27,000 My hand is just brushed against her needlework, her hymn book. 228 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:34,000 I can't bear having them near me. I must get them out of my sight anywhere in that closet or bureau drawer. 229 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Ready for your tea? 230 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:41,000 No. Yes, Hiram. 231 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Why aren't you in bed? You'll take worse cold, you know. 232 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:49,000 I'll get in bed in a minute. First I... 233 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Ah, brushing up on your needlework again. 234 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,000 My needlework? 235 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,000 You've got it in your hand. 236 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Hiram? Oh, yes. Yes, so I have. 237 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,000 Oh, but I wasn't working on it, Hiram. I swear I wasn't. 238 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,000 I've never done a stitch of needlework in my whole life. I don't know one number or a stitch from another. 239 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,000 Now let me show you. Look, look, look. I don't even know how to hold the needle. 240 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,000 No, get into bed, Zephronia. You're feverish. 241 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,000 Before we go on, Hiram, before you go on thinking, we've got to have an understanding. 242 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:21,000 You've got to let me explain. I was born in 1892 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. My name is Zephronia. That's true, but they name lots of people Zephronia. 243 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000 I was named for my grandmother. She just died. 244 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:24,000 Yeah. 245 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Oh, no, no. You've got to listen to me. I lived in Kalamazoo all my life. 246 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,000 My father was vice president of the Kalamazoo First National Bank. Everybody in town knew him, and they know me. 247 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:36,000 If you'd only just write a letter or send it yy, I'd never heard of Green Harbor in my whole life. I'd never went anywhere. 248 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:37,000 No. 249 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,000 For almost 10 years, I stayed home day and night, nursing Papa, he had a stroke. I was not in the house. 250 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:54,000 It was a red brick house with green shutters. 251 00:19:54,000 --> 00:20:05,000 February 15th. Now I live only for moment to moment, listening to each creak upon the stairs. 252 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,000 Oh, my cold is growing worse. 253 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:20,000 I've been in bed all day. It's night now. The fog on is going to blow again. 254 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:27,000 February 19th. I woke up early this morning after a wretched night and the date was burning in letters of fire in my brain. 255 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,000 He's planning to kill me. It'll be today. 256 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:35,000 But the hours have been crawling on. It's almost midnight. 257 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Why does he torture me like this? 258 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,000 I would rather be dead than sit here in this room one moment longer. 259 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:46,000 If he doesn't come in five minutes, I shall force him to come. I shall beat on the door. 260 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000 No. No. 261 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:55,000 Brother, let me sit quiet praying that he doesn't come. 262 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,000 Oh, I want to live. 263 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:06,000 I want to live. 264 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000 LeBronia. 265 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,000 It's come. 266 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:16,000 LeBronia, come downstairs. I want you to sing me a hymn. 267 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000 Sing? Sing? He never asked me to sing for him before. 268 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,000 But she sang. 269 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:29,000 I can't sing, dear. I told you that long ago. 270 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,000 Did you? Well, I've forgotten. 271 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,000 And besides, how can I come downstairs when my door's locked? 272 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000 It's unlocked. Try it. 273 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Unlocked? Oh, no. How could it? 274 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Oh, it is. It is. And I never knew it. I never knew it. 275 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,000 Coming. 276 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,000 Oh, he unlocked it sometime while I was just singing. Why didn't I try a few more times? 277 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000 LeBronia. 278 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:10,000 Yes. Yes, Hiram. I'm coming. 279 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,000 Hiram, where are you? 280 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,000 In here. In the parlor. 281 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,000 What are you doing there, Hiram? 282 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,000 Waiting to hear you sing. 283 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:24,000 You're at the harmonium? 284 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,000 Yes. 285 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:34,000 All right. I'll sing. I haven't sung in years, but I might as well. 286 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:38,000 I'll sing for you out here in the hall. My voice will carry better. 287 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,000 It always did carry better in the hall, didn't it, Sopronia? 288 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:48,000 So you remember that, too. Of course, you know both the front and back doors are locked. 289 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Yes. Yes, Hiram, dear. 290 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:56,000 Shall I sing, too, Sopronia? Would you like me to sing along with you? 291 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,000 If it pleases you, Hiram. 292 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:28,000 Work for the night is coming, Work in the morning sun, Work for the night is coming, When man's work is done. 293 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:55,000 Work while the daylight darkens, Work in the summer sun, Work for the night is coming. 294 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:06,000 When man's work is done. 295 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:32,000 There's only one more page. Shall I read it to you? 296 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,000 Yes. Yes, go ahead. 297 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:40,000 March 22nd. I've been sick, I think, for a very long time. 298 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:48,000 The pages of my diary are blank, but I shall take you out again, poor diary, today and start you over again. 299 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:53,000 No. No, I shall never look back at the other pages. 300 00:24:53,000 --> 00:25:11,000 I shall only write on and on about this nice, quiet place, so that no one reading this diary will ever know that I did it. 301 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,000 But I did do it, diary. I was smarter than he. 302 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:28,000 When I opened that door at the head of the stairs and heard the music, when I saw the fire axe still hanging on the wall, 303 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:37,000 I was so cautious, so terribly cautious, I tiptoed like a little mouse, even as I sang the hymn into that room where he was playing. 304 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:43,000 If a reflection of that axe had so much as glimmered across the wood, if he had turned, 305 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:53,000 but I was clever, so much cleverer than he, I kept on singing. 306 00:25:53,000 --> 00:26:06,000 And now, now I'm free. Free as a bird. I'm free and he shall never catch me now, not this time or ever again, because he's dead. 307 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,000 Isn't he, nurse? 308 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:22,000 Nurse, isn't my dear brother-in-law Hiram really dead? 309 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:51,000 Yes, miss, he's dead. And now I'll thank you to hand me over that diary. The doctor doesn't approve of the patient's writing anything. 310 00:26:51,000 --> 00:27:00,000 And so closes the Diary of Sophronia Winters, starring Agnes Moorhead and Ray Collins. Tonight's study in Suspense. 311 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,000 Suspense is produced and directed by William Spear. 312 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:17,000 It's my job, it's my privilege, to tell you how much pleasure and enjoyment you can add to everyday living by serving Roma wines with meals when entertaining or anytime. 313 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:29,000 And in hot weather, let me suggest Roma wine cooler offers. Just put ice cubes in a tall glass, half fill it with your favorite Roma wine, then fill it up with sparkling water. 314 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:40,000 For a sweeter drink, just add sugar and stir. Ah, that, my dear people, is really something. And it's so simple, so good, and so inexpensive. 315 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:51,000 It's a fact. The cost of Roma wines is only pennies a glass full. Get Roma wines today, enjoy them regularly. If your dealer is temporarily out, please try again soon. 316 00:27:51,000 --> 00:28:03,000 Just be sure you ask for R-O-M-A Roma wines, America's largest selling wines, made in California, for enjoyment throughout the world. 317 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:12,000 Agnes Moorhead appeared through the courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and is currently being seen in their production, Dragon Seed. 318 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:27,000 Next Thursday, same time, in an unusual feature performance, Suspense will bring you, in his first appearance as an acting storyteller, the noted American novelist and playwright, Mr. Ben Hecht. 319 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:44,000 Sharing honors with Mr. Hecht as star of the performance will be Mr. Frederick March. You won't want to miss hearing Frederick March and Ben Hecht in Actor's Blood, which will be next week's tale of Suspense. 320 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:57,000 Presented by Roma wines, R-O-M-A, made in California, for enjoyment throughout the world. 321 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:26,000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.