1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Suspense! 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Tonight, as we open a special limited series of five Friday night performances at this hour, 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000 suspense brings you an incomparable study in terror. 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,000 This Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum. 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:32,000 In a new setting as a radio play especially written for suspense by contemporary master of the art, John Dixon Carr. 6 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:38,000 As star this evening, we bring you a noted actor of the New York stage, Mr. Jose Ferrer. 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:57,000 And as usual, Suspense is produced, edited and directed by William Spear. 8 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:11,000 I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony. 9 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:17,000 And when at length they unbound me and I was permitted to sit, I felt my senses were leaving me. 10 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:23,000 The sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged into one dreamy indeterminate hum. 11 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:31,000 Yet for a while I saw, but without terrible and exaggeration, 12 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,000 I saw the soft and nearly imperceptible waving of the sable draperies on the walls of the room. 13 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 I saw the flames of the seven tall candles which burned on the table. 14 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 I saw the lips of the black-robed judges, and these lips appeared to me white. 15 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,000 White as paper, white as horror. I saw them writhe with a deadly locution. 16 00:01:50,000 --> 00:02:04,000 I saw them passion the syllables of my name. 17 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000 John Dalbray, Captain John Dalbray. 18 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,000 Good Fathers, Gentlemen. 19 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:12,000 We hear you, my son. 20 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:17,000 I am very weak and infirm. I have been confined for many months in a dungeon. 21 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 I have been tormented by nightmares. 22 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:20,000 One conscience, one trust. 23 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Pray silence, Fra Antonio. 24 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Even now I have no knowledge of where I am or to whom I may be speaking. 25 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,000 You're speaking to me, my son. 26 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:41,000 I am Fra Pedro de Spidia, prior of the Dominicans of Segovia and Grand Inquisitor for all Spain. 27 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 Is this the court of the Inquisition? 28 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,000 It is. 29 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,000 May God help me. 30 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,000 He will help you, my son, if you trust him. 31 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,000 But I am a French officer. 32 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000 That is true. A soldier and creature of the archfiend Napoleon Bonaparte. 33 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,000 But a French officer, nonetheless. A prisoner of war. 34 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 By what right do you try me in this court? 35 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,000 Let the clerk read the charges against this prisoner. 36 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 Pray silence while the clerk reads the charges. 37 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,000 The charges against the prisoner are as follows. 38 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,000 In primus, that he is one, John Dalbray, a captain of artillery in the army of Bonaparte, 39 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,000 so-called Emperor of the French. 40 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,000 This means nothing, as the prisoner says it is no crime. Proceed. 41 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,000 Item, that on the fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord 1808, 42 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000 the said John Dalbray did wed a spouse and married that most noble lady, 43 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,000 the Donna Beatrice Valdez, niece and ward of the Elucidus. 44 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 One moment. 45 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 Your Excellency spoke. 46 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Fra Antonio, was any cheat employed to trap this girl and to marry to Gamestor Will? 47 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,000 No, we have no actual evidence of any cheat. 48 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Was the girl of age? 49 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,000 I believe so. 50 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Then wherefore is the prisoner here? 51 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 This marriage was a deplorable thing, if you'd like. 52 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Bonaparte himself is almost at the gates of Madrid. 53 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,000 His General Assal menaces our city of Toledo itself, 54 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,000 but lawful marriage, however regrettable, is no sin or crime. 55 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,000 There are other matters in the indictment, I think. 56 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Then continue, but give us nothing that is not material. 57 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Item, that on the 12th of October, 1808, the said John Dalbray, 58 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,000 being in command of a five-gun battery of light artillery, 59 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:26,000 did direct the fire of his guns against the Holy Church of St. Martha the Innocent, 60 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,000 and thereby of his wicked malice, destroyed that church utterly. 61 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Captain Dalbray, is this charge true? 62 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Yes. 63 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,000 You admit it! 64 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Good Father, hear what I have to say. 65 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,000 If you recall, the church blew up. 66 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000 You boast of your sin, young man! 67 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000 It blew up because it was stored with kegs of gunpowder for your army. 68 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000 I had every right to fire on it. 69 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 And that is all the defense you have to make. 70 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,000 I tell you, I had every right to fire on it! By military law... 71 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Is military law above God's law? 72 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,000 I don't know. I did my duty. 73 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Long live the Emperor! 74 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Captain Dalbray, hear the sentence of this court. 75 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Must I stand up to hear it? 76 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 I am very weak. 77 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:11,000 I remain seated. 78 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,000 I thank you most humbly. 79 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Had your offense been any except this, 80 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000 the Holy Office would have been merciful. 81 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Mark what I say. 82 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,000 No man, however great his heresy, 83 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,000 is ever condemned to be burnt in the fire. 84 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Fire! 85 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:35,000 If he first recant and acknowledged the error of his ways. 86 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:42,000 But for you, Jean Dalbray, it can be no mercy, no pity, no atonement. 87 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,000 The only sentence of this court can be... 88 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Death! Death! Death! 89 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:50,000 The secular of government armed to which we must release you 90 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,000 is devised two ways of punishment in cases such as yours. 91 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,000 You hear the tolling of bells. 92 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 I hear them. 93 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,000 It is the procession of the condemned going to the autodeté. 94 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,000 Soon the yellow light of the flames will stream through the window. 95 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And flicker on floor and ceiling. 96 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,000 No get in horror mortis into his mounibus. 97 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,000 Domine in nomine patre. 98 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Most of those condemned out of mercy 99 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,000 will be strangled before they are burned. 100 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,000 It cannot be so with you, Jean Dalbray. 101 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:27,000 You must die in one of two ways. 102 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Either with the direst of physical agony. 103 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,000 A slow fire of green wood. 104 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,000 Ice bandages about the head and heart 105 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,000 so that the fire does not approach too quickly. 106 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Not too... 107 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,000 Be silent, Frantonio. 108 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,000 I cry your pardon, Grand Inquisitor. 109 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:48,000 Or else, Jean Dalbray, you must die in a certain other way. 110 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:49,000 I'm done with this. 111 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Pass your sentence and let me go. 112 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000 The law does not permit me to tell you now what this other way is. 113 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:01,000 It must approach you slowly and force itself into your mind. 114 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,000 It must stalk you like a tiger. 115 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:10,000 It must bring you face to face at last with the king of carrots. 116 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,000 The sentence of this court. 117 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:26,000 I had swooned. 118 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Yet still I will not say that all of consciousness was lost. 119 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,000 There are shadows of memory which tell me indistinctly 120 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:38,000 of tall figures that lifted me and bore me in silence down. 121 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Down, still down, until a hideous dizziness 122 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,000 suppressed me at that descent into the earth. 123 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,000 There was a vague horror at my heart 124 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,000 because of that heart's unnatural stillness. 125 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Then consciousness swam back to my wits again. 126 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,000 Darkness, stone floor and darkness. 127 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 Oh, oh Beatrice, oh my wife. 128 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,000 Did you call me, Jean? 129 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Beatrice, was it you who spoke? 130 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,000 Yes, Jean. 131 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,000 You here in the dungeons of the Inquisition? 132 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,000 I am not really speaking to you, my poor Jean. 133 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,000 I am only in your imagination. 134 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,000 Am I mad then? 135 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,000 No, but your brain is fevered. 136 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,000 You only think you hear me. 137 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,000 I hear you clearly, as clearly as I once heard you. 138 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,000 In the little church near the Abro where we were married. 139 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:43,000 Yes. 140 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:45,000 I destroyed that church, Beatrice. 141 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:46,000 I had to. 142 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:47,000 It was my commanding officer's order. 143 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,000 I know, Jean. 144 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,000 Be comforted. 145 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,000 There are those who care. 146 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,000 You won't leave me? 147 00:08:53,000 --> 00:09:00,000 As long as I am in your heart, I shall be here. 148 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,000 I was strong once, but now I am weak. 149 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,000 Once I was reckless, but now I am afraid. 150 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Where am I, Beatrice? 151 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,000 What are they going to do to me? 152 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,000 I cannot tell. 153 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,000 Remember, my voice comes only from your own brain. 154 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,000 Are you fettered? 155 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:19,000 No. 156 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:20,000 They have not chained you to the wall? 157 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:21,000 No. 158 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,000 They have taken away my uniform. 159 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:28,000 They have given me sandals and a robe of what feels like coarse surge. 160 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,000 But I am still free. 161 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Free. 162 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Take courage, Jean. 163 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Free and in the grasp of the Inquisition. 164 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Give me a kiss. 165 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:40,000 Yes, Jean. 166 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:41,000 It is completely dark. 167 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,000 There is hardly any air. 168 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,000 I dread to get up and I dread to stretch out my hand. 169 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:52,000 Suppose they have burned me alive. 170 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000 Courage. 171 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:00,000 Can you stand up? 172 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,000 I think so. 173 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 Then walk. 174 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Walk as far as you can. 175 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,000 Measure the limits of the cell. 176 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,000 If this is not a tomb... 177 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,000 You are right, Beatrice. 178 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,000 As always, I will try. 179 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Courage. 180 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,000 Yes, courage. 181 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,000 Now pray for a poor devil who always meant well. 182 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:21,000 One pace. 183 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:22,000 Two. 184 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:23,000 Three. 185 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,000 Four. 186 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,000 You are very weak, Jean. 187 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:27,000 Rest a moment. 188 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:28,000 Yes. 189 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,000 Yes. 190 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Where are you now, Beatrice? 191 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,000 In the flesh, I mean. 192 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,000 You know that, Jean. 193 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:40,000 In the old house by the olive grove. 194 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,000 Scorned of my people. 195 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:44,000 Yes. 196 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,000 I know it. 197 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Each morning I climb to the hilltop and watch. 198 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,000 Go on. 199 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:58,000 Sometimes I think I hear gunfields rumble in the hills. 200 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:03,000 And long moving columns with the red dust rising above them. 201 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:05,000 Go on. 202 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,000 First come the heavy cavalry in plume-crested helmets. 203 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,000 On their flanks, wheeling like hawks. 204 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,000 Light hasars in blue and scarlet. 205 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:19,000 And behind them in a glitter of bayonets as vast as light points on the sea. 206 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,000 Rank upon rank. 207 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:25,000 The long gray coats and tall bare skin caps of... 208 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:29,000 The Old Gods and the Grand Armies. 209 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:38,000 It is only a vision, my dear one. 210 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,000 They do not come. 211 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:44,000 Will they ever come, dear Beatrice? 212 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,000 I cannot tell. 213 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:52,000 Then I must face what has been prepared for me. 214 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:53,000 Beatrice. 215 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Yes, Jean. 216 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,000 I tried to walk. I took some steps. 217 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:57,000 Four steps, yes. 218 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,000 In which direction? I can remember. 219 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Are you facing the same way? 220 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,000 I don't know. Perhaps. 221 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Then walk again. Try. 222 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Keep your hand in front of you. 223 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,000 Yes. As Robin leads me, the floor is treacherous with slagging. 224 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,000 I'll try. Four pieces. 225 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,000 Five. Six. Seven. 226 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,000 It can't be a tune. 227 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Eight. Nine. Ten. 228 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,000 Look out! 229 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,000 I'm all right. I felt the rope grip me. 230 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,000 But... 231 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:32,000 What is it? 232 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,000 My hand is in front of me. 233 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Lower than my face. 234 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,000 But I feel nothing. 235 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:40,000 Nothing, Jean? 236 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,000 It's a pit. A circular pit. 237 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 And I fell on... 238 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:46,000 On the very edge of it. 239 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,000 It would have made you walk into it. 240 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:49,000 Yes. 241 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,000 There's a loose fragment of rock just inside the edge. 242 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,000 If I can dislodge it... 243 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,000 Listen. 244 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,000 Water. 245 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:09,000 There's something down there. 246 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:10,000 Rats, it may be. 247 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Rats, yes. But something else. 248 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,000 I heard it move. 249 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:15,000 So do I. 250 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Accidents saved me. 251 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,000 They would have had me plunged there symbolically like the descent of the soul 252 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,000 to keep company with something else. 253 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,000 And quick death forms no part of their plan. 254 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,000 What is in the pit, Jean? 255 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:28,000 I can't say. 256 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:29,000 But you were saved. 257 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,000 Saved, Beatrice. Saved. 258 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,000 From the imposition. 259 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,000 My torture has been merely... 260 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 Postponed. 261 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,000 Please, sleep well upon me. 262 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,000 A sleep like that of death. 263 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,000 How long it lasted, I know not. 264 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:00,000 But when I opened my eyes once again, I could see. 265 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000 Yes, see. 266 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:09,000 My prison was large and lofty, its walls formed of massive iron plates bolted or joined together. 267 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:14,000 A wild sulfurous luster, I could not trace its origin, lit up the dungeon. 268 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,000 And the circular pit and the crudely dodged skeleton figures painted in evil colors on the iron walls. 269 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Skeleton figures, demon figures, gargoyle figures. 270 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Their colors a little blurred as from the effects of the damp. 271 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:28,000 And I... 272 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,000 Must approach you slowly and force itself into your mind. 273 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,000 It must stalk you like a tiger. 274 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,000 It must bring you face to face at last with the king of terror. 275 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:43,000 I now lay on my back and at full length and on a low framework of wood. 276 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:49,000 To this framework I was securely bound by a long fastening resembling a surgical bandage. 277 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,000 Bound? 278 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:52,000 But why? 279 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,000 Why? Why? Why? 280 00:14:54,000 --> 00:15:00,000 The bandage passed round and round my body, leaving at liberty only my head and my left arm. 281 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:05,000 With much exertion I could supply myself with food from an earthen dish on the floor beside me. 282 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,000 It was meat, highly seasoned, and there was no water. 283 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Beatrice, Beatrice, where are you? 284 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,000 I am here, Jean, as always. 285 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:26,000 My voice sounds stronger. 286 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Does it, Jean? 287 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,000 I can see you now. I can see you as clearly as I saw you months ago. 288 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,000 How I wish it were true. 289 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,000 You were born in the parasol you carried in summer and the high-waisted blue dress... 290 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,000 You are weaker, my dear, and more fevered. 291 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Have I been asleep? 292 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,000 Yes, Jean. 293 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,000 They must have been here while I slept. They have bound me. 294 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:47,000 Why? 295 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000 Why? Why? Why? 296 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,000 Stop those voices! Stop them! 297 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,000 Mine too, Jean. I am not here either, you know. 298 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,000 Don't drive me away. 299 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,000 Beatrice, look! 300 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,000 Where? 301 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,000 At the ceiling of this room, 30, 40 feet up. What do you see? 302 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,000 Rated on the ceiling, a figure of Father Time. 303 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:07,000 Anything else? 304 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,000 But Father Time carries no scythe. 305 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:17,000 He carries instead what looks like a gigantic pendulum from an ancient clock. 306 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:23,000 About one thing I swear I am in my right senses. I saw that pendulum move. 307 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:24,000 Painting cannot move. 308 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:29,000 Yet I swear the pendulum did. It swung a little, back and forth, just like a real pendulum. 309 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Try not to trouble your brain. 310 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,000 Father Time is not like those other paintings dogged on the walls, the imps and devils and skeletons. 311 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,000 That pendulum is real. Beatrice, take care! 312 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,000 Take care of what? You are not looking at the pendulum now. 313 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Take care of the rats! The rats from the pit! 314 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,000 I see them. 315 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000 They're swarming out in dozens. You can see their glimmer. 316 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,000 One of them ran across the hem of your dress. 317 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,000 Did it, Jean? 318 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:51,000 What do I want? 319 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:55,000 They have caught the scent of the meat in the dish beside you. 320 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000 You'll not get it. Go, go away, you vermin! 321 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 Move your hand above the plate, Jean, move! 322 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,000 Beatrice, where are you going? I can hardly hear you. 323 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:03,000 You are sending me away. 324 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,000 I'm sending you away? 325 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:10,000 My poor loved one, you can't bear to see the rats running about my feet, can you? 326 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,000 Even when you know I'm not here. 327 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,000 Beatrice! 328 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,000 It is true, Jean. You are sending me. 329 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000 Yes, it's true. 330 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:25,000 Go! In a cell swarming with vermin, there are others I had rather see here. 331 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,000 I had rather see... 332 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000 Did you call me, Captain Dalbray? 333 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 Then in spirit I am here. 334 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:46,000 Who are you? 335 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:47,000 Don't you recognize me? 336 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:48,000 No! 337 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:54,000 I am that second Inquisitor, Frantoneo, whom you thought unfair at your trial. 338 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:59,000 But we were not unfair. We administer the law. That is all. 339 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:00,000 Go! I command you, go! 340 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,000 Not until I have first told you what you already guess. 341 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:05,000 Which is? 342 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:11,000 As the Grand Inquisitor said, there are two forms of death for such as you. 343 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:16,000 One, death with its direct physical torture. 344 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,000 The other, death with its direct mental torture. 345 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000 And I have been condemned to the second... 346 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,000 Your guess is good. Listen. 347 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000 Do you hear anything? 348 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,000 Yes. I hear... something. 349 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,000 Turn your eyes upwards. Look at the ceiling. 350 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,000 Oh! The pendulum! 351 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,000 Aye, the pendulum. 352 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,000 It has descended. 353 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Only a foot or so as yet. As you notice, it is not really a pendulum. 354 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,000 No? 355 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:56,000 No. Its underside is a crescent, formed of sharp, of razor sharp steel. 356 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,000 A ponderous weight, Captain Dalbray. 357 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,000 Its movement is slow now. 358 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Soon it will take on momentum. 359 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,000 It will swing wider and wider. 360 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Thirty feet perhaps. 361 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,000 Presently as it swings, you will hear it hiss. 362 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:19,000 And with each broad movement, it will creep a trifle lower. 363 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Steel is directly above me. 364 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,000 Yes. Above the region of your heart. 365 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,000 Lie still and look up at it. 366 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:33,000 How long before? 367 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,000 You need have no immediate fear. 368 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,000 It will not be too soon. 369 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,000 But how soon? 370 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,000 In the name of Peter, give me some answer. 371 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,000 Hours. Perhaps days. 372 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,000 Its motion can be arrested while you sleep. 373 00:19:50,000 --> 00:20:08,000 And now Captain Dalbray, still in spirit, I leave you to your meditation. 374 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:19,000 Minutes. Hours. Days. 375 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,000 Down. Steadily down it crept. 376 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,000 Days passed. It might have been many days. 377 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000 Before it swept so closely as to family with its accurate breath. 378 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,000 The odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils. 379 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000 The right. To the left. 380 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Far. Wide. 381 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,000 Restricted. For damned spirit. 382 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,000 To my heart, with the stealthy pace of a tiger. 383 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000 Down. Certainly relentlessly down. 384 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,000 I prayed. I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more speedy descent. 385 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:57,000 I grew frantically mad and struggled to force myself up against that swinging, glittering death. 386 00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,000 With no avail. 387 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Down. Still. Unceasingly down. 388 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000 Still. Inevitably down. 389 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,000 The sharp steel clashed past within three inches of my chest. 390 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:19,000 And then, only then... 391 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,000 I heard you calling, John. I am here. 392 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,000 It is a strange thing, Beatrice. I am quite calm. 393 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,000 You are resigned, then? 394 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:33,000 No, that is the strange thing. Even now, I am not resigned. 395 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,000 Is there a way out? 396 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,000 How can there be? Ten, twelve more vibrations than it will fray the surge of my robe. 397 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,000 One slightly, as a razor in a delicate hand. 398 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 There will be many sweeps before it bites deep. 399 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,000 I can't escape it. 400 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:46,000 And yet... 401 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,000 And yet... 402 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000 I could only use my wits. 403 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:54,000 You kept me away from you, John. You locked me out of your thoughts. 404 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:59,000 If I am here only in your thoughts, why should I fear the rats? 405 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,000 The rats? The rats? 406 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:03,000 Do they still swarm here? 407 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Across the floor and over the meat platter, they have taken nearly all your food. 408 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,000 Yes, they are ravenous. And they have sharp teeth. 409 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,000 Well... 410 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:15,000 The meat is oily and spiced. If I take what remains of it, scatter you, Vernon, 411 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,000 and rub that meat on the bandages that hold me here. 412 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Try it, John, try. 413 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 It may be too late. If I move my body a fraction of an inch out... 414 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Try it, I tell you, try. 415 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000 Look, they scatter as soon as I do try. 416 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,000 But they are watching you. I can see their eyes glitter. They are creeping back. 417 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Can I stand those rats crawling across me? Can the flesh bear it? 418 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,000 A little has leaped on the wooden framework. Another follows. 419 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,000 They are gnawing at the bandage. 420 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000 Seven, eight more sweeps of the pendulum. 421 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:38,000 Does the bandage give way? 422 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,000 A little. 423 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,000 Lie still, John, lie still. 424 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:46,000 Ten, a dozen rats gnaw. Is death, I wonder, worse than this disgust? 425 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,000 A dozen sharp knives would do no better. 426 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:57,000 The bandage is loosened to ribbons. If you move sideways, carefully, and drop to the floor. 427 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,000 Fearless, I can't. I haven't the strength. 428 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,000 The steel has frayed. You roll the minute more. It will be too late. Try. 429 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:09,000 Then, and with all the good powers that is in me, and the hatred that I bear my enemies... 430 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,000 Fear! 431 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:26,000 A second time. 432 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:36,000 See, John, the pendulum stopped. They are drawing it back up through the roof. 433 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Each move I make is watched. You never doubted that. 434 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:44,000 No. Yet with all they could do to you, they have failed twice. 435 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:48,000 They will not fail a third time, my dear. There must be no more dallying with the king of terrors. 436 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000 What else can they do? 437 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,000 I can't say. See how the rats gnaw and silence the bandage. 438 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,000 To what food, I wonder, have they been accustomed in the pit? 439 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,000 But you escaped the pit. 440 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:04,000 I escaped it once. Listen. 441 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:05,000 What do you hear? 442 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,000 Roaning and grinding as of metal. 443 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,000 It was only the cogwheels of the pendulum knife. 444 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:09,000 I think not, Beatrice. 445 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:10,000 Why not? 446 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:15,000 It seemed to come from behind these iron-plated walls. It seemed to shake the dungeon as a mill-wheel might shake it. 447 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,000 Stand up, my poor John. Get up off your knees. 448 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,000 I can't, Beatrice. I can't anymore. 449 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:26,000 The paintings on the wall of this dungeon, the skeletons and imps and devils, they seem different. 450 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:33,000 They are different. The colors sharpened grow bright, the demon's eyes glare, the skeleton's hands outstretched. 451 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Don't you catch even yet the odor of the heated iron? 452 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,000 Heated iron! 453 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,000 I have been much humbled, but I won't have you seen in tears. 454 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,000 I order you to go! 455 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000 John, in the name of Heaven! 456 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,000 Yes, in the name of Heaven! Go! 457 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,000 The suffocating heat pervades the prison. 458 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:05,000 The deeper glow settles in the painted eyes that glare at me. 459 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,000 I could draw no breath of air into my lungs. 460 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:17,000 Against the loom of that fiery destruction, the thought of the pit and its coolness came like balm. 461 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,000 I stagger to the edge of the pit. I look into it. 462 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,000 The entangled walls and roof light it to its depths. 463 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:31,000 Yet for one wild moment, even then, I refuse to believe the meaning of what I see. 464 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:36,000 Does the pit please you, Captain Dalbray? 465 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000 You again! 466 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,000 Do you find its contents pleasing? 467 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000 Not the pit! Most people guard anything but the pit! 468 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,000 And how shall you avoid it? Look! 469 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,000 This dungeon has changed its shape! 470 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:55,000 That is true. The walls are closing in. It was formerly a square, and now it is. 471 00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:00,000 That means slowly towards the center. To force me into the pit? 472 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000 Of course! It will force you along with me! 473 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,000 Then apparently you must be told, Captain Dalbray, that you are speaking only to your own sick fancy! 474 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,000 No! We are not here at all! 475 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,000 Farewell! 476 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:21,000 And now, flatter and flatter, through the red-burning walls, with a swiftness that left me no time for thought, I shrank back. 477 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:29,000 But as the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward, at length for my sad and writhing body there was no longer an inch of foothold. 478 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:36,000 These blinged worms! I tottered on the edge of the pit! I averted my eyes! 479 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:44,000 There was a discordant hum of human voices! There was a loud blast! As of many trumpets! 480 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:56,000 The fiery walls rushed back, and outspread charm caught my own as I fell, painting through the abyss. 481 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:01,000 Through the arm of General Lassalle, the French army had entered Toledo. 482 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:07,000 The Inquisition was in the hands of its enemies! 483 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,000 Suspense! 484 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:26,000 Produced, edited and directed by William Spear. 485 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:31,000 Tonight you heard Mr. José Ferrer as star of The Pit and the Pendulum. 486 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:40,000 First in a limited series of five Friday night performances at this hour, which will present radio's outstanding theatre of thrills, Suspense. 487 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:47,000 Tonight's radio play was adapted by John Dixon Carr from the famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe. 488 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,000 José Ferrer will soon be seen with Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Lorraine. 489 00:27:51,000 --> 00:28:00,000 Appearing tonight with Mr. Ferrer were Jeanette Nolan, John McIntyre, Elliot Lewis, Joseph Kearns, Eric Snowden and Paul McVeigh. 490 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:07,000 Music for Suspense is under the direction of Lud Bluskin with original music composed by Lucian Morrowick. 491 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:17,000 Next Friday same time we will again bring you Suspense! 492 00:28:37,000 --> 00:29:04,000 Music 493 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:08,000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.