1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Suspense! 2 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:32,000 The studio's outstanding theatre of thrills brings you an hour of suspense. 3 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,000 A full 60 minutes of The Larger. 4 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:40,000 An eerie tale of 19th century London directed by William N. Robeson 5 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:46,000 and produced by Robert Montgomery, who tonight also stars as The Larger. 6 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:52,000 The Larger 7 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,000 This is Robert Montgomery with a few words about a city. 8 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:05,000 A sprawling, furious city, which had slackened its pace to allow the miasma of horror to settle even to its furthest corners. 9 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:12,000 I say horror, but there was a fascination too, for there is always a fascination where there is violent death. 10 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:17,000 The city? It was London. And the year was 1888. 11 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:22,000 A London terrorized by the Fifth in a succession of horrible murders. 12 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:29,000 Such is the very real setting for The Larger, for Mrs. Bellic-Lown's novel is based on fact. 13 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,000 It was almost certain that these deeds were the work of one person, 14 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,000 for this meager identity was established by the victims themselves. 15 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,000 They were all young, all attractive women. 16 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 It was the killer, still at large, who absorbed the imagination of the great city. 17 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:51,000 The killer who had taken special pains to make it clear that some obscure and terrible lust for vengeance possessed him. 18 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:56,000 And because of him, laughter was forced, conversations waned, 19 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000 and there were silences where there should have been good talk between neighbors. 20 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Only in homes, doors bolted and blinds drawn, was the talk easy. 21 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:11,000 As for example, in the home of Ellen Bunting. In particular, Ellen Bunting. 22 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Ellen was no different from all the middle-aged housewives dwelling in London's squalid Whitechapel district. 23 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Her home was a small segment plastered into a block-long tenement in Maribon Road. 24 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Ellen read the newspapers as avidly as she said her prayers, so she knew all the facts of the case. 25 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:36,000 And she knew it was quite proper to refer to the wielder of the knife as the Avenger. 26 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:43,000 This particular night, she and Robert Bunting, her husband, sat before their fireplace, reading the newspaper account of the latest murder. 27 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,000 The Avenger had struck again. 28 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Why, he might be anybody. He might be the fellow you pass on the street, the one standing next to you. 29 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:59,000 He might be the one who's standing next to you. 30 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 He might be a friend of yours. He might be your friend. 31 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,000 He might be your friend. 32 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,000 He might be your friend. 33 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:20,000 He might be the fellow you pass on the street, the one standing next to you, the man you bump into. 34 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Oh, it's a terrible thought. 35 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Yes, if only the police had something to go on, but the Avenger's just too quick for them. 36 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Oh, they do say here, Bunting, that the police have a clue they won't say anything about. 37 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Them who says that says wrong. The poor chap who was on point duty in the street where the last one happened, 38 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,000 there's a yell, he says, but he took no notice. 39 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 The coppers will have to stick to it better than that to catch a slick one like the Avenger. 40 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:56,000 It says here he left his calling card again, a bit of grey paper on which the monster writes his name. 41 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Funny kind of visiting card, ain't it? 42 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,000 It isn't a thing to make a joke about, Bunting. 43 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,000 Or was it a square piece of paper or one of them three-cornered ones? 44 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 It don't say which, Bunting. 45 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Well, it should. Those are the things I like to know about. Keeps a body informed. 46 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Huh. And a fair girl again, just like all the rest. 47 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:29,000 And let's see. Described by her friends as a very light-hearted girl. What a pity. 48 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Hmm. Did you ever stop to think who fits that to a tee? In fact, fits all those girls? 49 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Did you ever stop to think about their talent? 50 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Why, no. Who? 51 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,000 My own Daisy. 52 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Yes. Yes, Bunting, that's a fact. 53 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Well, maybe it's a good thing she's with her aunt instead of here. 54 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,000 London night a safe place for any girl right now. 55 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Just the same. I can't help thinking how fine it'll be to have a bed. 56 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Now, Bunting, you know that Daisy seems like my very own, even if she is my stepchild. 57 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:11,000 But I'm telling you, there's no sense even thinking about having her back right now. We just can't afford it. 58 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:16,000 I know that, Ellen. Only, well, maybe we could manage it some way. 59 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Oh, haven't I scrimped myself off crazy trying to keep us going. But you don't care about that, do you? 60 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,000 No, your Daisy's more important to you than I am. 61 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 No, no, Ellen, that don't sound like you. 62 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:32,000 We haven't had a lodge for months. Nobody even comes to look at the rooms anymore. 63 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,000 But things will work out, Ellen. 64 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:39,000 They ain't never going to work out. Soon we won't even have a roof over our heads. 65 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Oh, I'm sorry, Robbie. 66 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Oh, no. Well, don't go worrying. Another second, old girl. 67 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000 For the first thing, you know you won't be pretty no more. 68 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Eh? 69 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,000 You'll have your face all wrinkled and... 70 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,000 No, see you, Bunting. 71 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,000 Come now, now. Let's see you smile. 72 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,000 Oh, leave me alone. I won't. 73 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,000 Oh, get on with you. 74 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,000 Now, who do you suppose that could be? 75 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 It's awfully light for visitors. 76 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Bunting, do you think it could be somebody looking for rooms? 77 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Why, it just might be. 78 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000 You want me to go to the door? 79 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:16,000 No, I'll go. 80 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,000 Mike, like as not it's Mrs Fane wanting the loan or something or other. 81 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Now, you be sure and get a good look before you let anybody in, dear. 82 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,000 I'm coming, I'm coming. 83 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Yes, sir? 84 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,000 Is it not true that... that you let lodgings? 85 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Yes, sir. Won't you come in, sir? 86 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,000 Thank you. 87 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Could I... could I take your cape, sir? 88 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Thank you. However, there's no need. 89 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,000 I am looking for rooms, quiet rooms. Above all, they must be quiet. 90 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Oh, yes, sir. You'll find all my rooms quite quiet, sir. 91 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,000 All of them? How many are there? 92 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Just now, I have four left. 93 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:00,000 The house is empty, save for my husband and me, sir. 94 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 Oh, that sounds very suitable. 95 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000 You'll pardon me, sir, but the door... 96 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,000 I am happy that you closed the door, madam. 97 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,000 It's not safe to leave one open in London these days. 98 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,000 That is a thing you should remember. 99 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,000 It would be so easy for anyone to slip in. 100 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,000 Oh, you're sure, sir. You needn't be afraid of that. 101 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,000 Now, your bag. May I touch it? 102 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000 No. No, I'll hold it. 103 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 If you'll be so good as to show me the rooms. 104 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,000 Oh, yes. Yes, sir. They're right up these stairs, sir. 105 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Thank you. This way. 106 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000 Thank you. You see, sir, there's just my husband and me here, 107 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 and we're ever so quiet. 108 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,000 And I'm sure you'll find these rooms to your liking, sir. 109 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,000 Here we are. 110 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Now, I'll just light the gas. 111 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,000 There. Ah. 112 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 It's very good. It is pleasant, isn't it, sir? 113 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,000 Capital, capital. First rate, quite first rate. 114 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Exactly what I wanted. 115 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,000 You must understand, madam, that I am a man of science, 116 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 and I often require the presence of great heat. 117 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,000 This seems like a capital stall. 118 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,000 Oh, it is, sir. 119 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 And the sink. It will be exceedingly useful to me. 120 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,000 Exceedingly. 121 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,000 And these pictures, sir. 122 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,000 There's not many rooms in such pretty pictures, are there, now? 123 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,000 The Three Graces. They've been in the family for years, sir. 124 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,000 Yes, yes, yes. I... I'm tired. 125 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,000 Tired, very, very tired. 126 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,000 Indeed, sir. 127 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:31,000 Then you mean to take my rooms? 128 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,000 Where's my bag? Surely I had a bag when I came in. 129 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,000 It's over there, sir. By the door, where you put it when we came into the room. 130 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,000 Oh, yes, I beg your pardon, madam. 131 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,000 But there is something in that bag which is very precious to me, 132 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,000 something I procured with infinite difficulty, 133 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,000 and which I could never come by again without getting into great danger. 134 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,000 I'm sure of it, sir. 135 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,000 Now, uh... now about the rooms. 136 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,000 Oh, yes, yes, yes. I'll take them. 137 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,000 The very simplicity, the bareness of them, impresses me. 138 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,000 And about terms, sir? 139 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,000 About terms. I... terms. 140 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,000 My name is Sleuth, madam. 141 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 S-L-E-U-T-H. 142 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,000 Think of a hound and you will never forget my name. 143 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 And assure yourself that I am quite willing to pay you. 144 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,000 I am quite willing to pay you, shall we say, 145 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,000 a month's rent in advance. 146 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:22,000 What would you say to 15 shillings a week, sir? 147 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,000 And if I offered you two pounds, 148 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,000 might I then rely on your not taking another larger? 149 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Oh, yes, sir. 150 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,000 First rate, first rate. 151 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:34,000 Then everything seems quite suitable, Mrs... 152 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,000 Bunting, sir. 153 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,000 Mrs. Bunting, Mrs. Bunting. 154 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,000 You see, I expect to do a great deal of studying here in this room. 155 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,000 The Holy Bible. 156 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Oh, yes, sir. 157 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,000 And please, sir, let me help you with your luggage. 158 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,000 No, no, don't touch it. 159 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,000 But, sir, I only wish to... 160 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000 Of course, of course, Mrs. Bunting. 161 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,000 You only wish to help. You must forgive me. 162 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,000 It's just that I am so very weary. 163 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,000 Oh, I'm sorry, sir. 164 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,000 He bringeth them to their desired haven. 165 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,000 Beautiful words, Mrs. Bunting. 166 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Indeed they are, sir. 167 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000 And now at last I've found my haven of rest. 168 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,000 I'll be going now, sir. 169 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Is there anything else? 170 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,000 Oh, yes, of course. 171 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,000 Of course there is. Your money, Mrs. Bunting. 172 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Ah, now, let's see. Here's five, six, seven, eight pounds. 173 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,000 There. 174 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,000 Thank you, sir. 175 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,000 And would you wish supper now? Tea? 176 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,000 Nothing, thank you. Nothing. 177 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,000 Good night, sir. 178 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,000 Good night, Mrs. Bunting. You have... 179 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Stop it! 180 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,000 You are humming a song. 181 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,000 Music, Mrs. Bunting, save that expressing the majesty of God 182 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,000 is an accompaniment for irreverent gaiety 183 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,000 and an instrument of sin. 184 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,000 It bespeaks of obscene gods in revelry. 185 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,000 It is the tongue of the devil mocking the saints. 186 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,000 Yes, sir. 187 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 And you, you assured me your dwelling was quiet. 188 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,000 But it is, sir. 189 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Believe me, sir, I didn't mean any harm. 190 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Believe me, sir. Of course, of course, of course. 191 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,000 I am sorry, Mrs. Bunting. I fear I spoke sharply. 192 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,000 I don't wish you to think me rude. 193 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,000 After all, you have been so very kind, so considerate. 194 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Oh, well, I hope I know a gentleman when I see one. 195 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Thank you. Thank you very much. 196 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,000 And on second thought, Mrs. Bunting, 197 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,000 perhaps a bit of bread and butter would be pleasant. 198 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Bread and butter, certainly, sir. I'll have it in an instant. 199 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,000 Ellen, Ellen, did he take the room? 200 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,000 Come into the kitchen where he won't hear us. 201 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,000 Ellen, he took it. Tell me, he took the room, didn't he? 202 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Yes, Robbie, we're all right now. 203 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Look, eight pounds a month in advance. 204 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,000 Oh, it's wonderful, it's wonderful. 205 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Ellen, oh, Ellen, you see what this means? 206 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Yes, Robbie, you can have Daisy now. You can bring her home. 207 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Here, hand me that dish. 208 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Right. Do you know something, old girl? 209 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:13,000 We're not going to worry too much about Daisy being in danger, that avenger fellow. 210 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Whatever do you mean, Robbie? 211 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Well, she's not one for dancing, you know, or any kind of like entertainment. 212 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,000 And what's that to do with it, please? 213 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,000 Something I read here in the paper while you was with the gentleman. 214 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:31,000 They found out that every one of the avenger's victims had just come from a dancing party or a musical. 215 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:34,000 Oh, never mind the avenger now, Bunting. 216 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,000 Here, hurry, take this bread and butter up to the lodger. 217 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:48,000 That was the first and the last time Mr. Bunting served the lodger. 218 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,000 The man who called himself Sleuth 219 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:56,000 made it at once clear that he preferred to be waited on only by one person and that person his landlady. 220 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:01,000 He gave her very little trouble. His oddities were something to occupy her mind. 221 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:02,000 They amused her. 222 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:08,000 And Mr. Sleuth had none of those tiresome disagreeable ways with which landlady's are only too familiar. 223 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,000 To take but one point, Mr. Sleuth did not ask to be called unduly early. 224 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:19,000 It was a great comfort not to have to turn out to make the lodger a cup of tea at seven or even half past seven. 225 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:37,000 Mr. Sleuth seldom required anything before eleven. 226 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:43,000 Nothing about her new lodger really distressed Alan until the evening of the third day. 227 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:51,000 It was time for Mr. Sleuth's dinner and she started up the staircase to his room. 228 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:57,000 She had cast down many molded from her. Many strong men had been slain by her. 229 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 Come in. 230 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,000 She saith unto him stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 231 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:08,000 But he knoweth not that the dead are there and that our guests are in the depths. 232 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 Why, Mr. 233 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,000 Yes. What is it? 234 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Those pictures, those pretty girls. 235 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,000 Half human monsters, madam, who stare at me and eat of my sinew. 236 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,000 You've turned all their faces to the wall. 237 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:46,000 A woman is a narrow gate. She also lieth and waiteth for a play and entreateth the transgressors among men. 238 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:51,000 And that maneuver, that strange action was the beginning of Alan's concern. 239 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:57,000 Logically it was nothing. Mr. Sleuth simply had a queer kind of fear and dislike of women. 240 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:03,000 And where one's lodger is concerned, a dislike of women is better than, well, the other kind. 241 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:11,000 Besides, the next morning brought Daisy and laughing welcomes, for the sight of such a carefree girl was enough to gladden any parent's heart. 242 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:18,000 And half-born suspicions withdrew into their own peculiar recesses of Alan's brain. 243 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:27,000 For Daisy was pink-cheeked, blue-eyed and gay. She was also young and lovely. And she was blonde. 244 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,000 Oh, it's so good to be home. 245 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Oh, Daisy, you're even prettier than I remembered you would be. 246 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:40,000 That's right, Daisy. Let me look at you, darling. Did you have a nice time at your auntie's? 247 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:44,000 Oh, yes, but I'm glad you wrote me to come back. 248 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,000 That old answer's nothing to do. At least nothing exciting to do. 249 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:53,000 And Joe will be coming around to see you now, Daisy. I told him you was coming home today. 250 00:15:53,000 --> 00:16:00,000 Joe Chandler? That policeman? I don't know whether I want to be serious friends with a policeman. 251 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:05,000 Him that walks around all day and's too tired when he comes home to have any fun. 252 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:11,000 A girl could do worse than have a policeman for a friend these days with the Avenger about. 253 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:17,000 The Avenger don't worry me none. Even though he's got two more victims last night. 254 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Two more? Yes, the cabbie was telling me about it. On the way down from the station. 255 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:27,000 The slutty devil. Got them within a few yards of each other. He's got a nerve. 256 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Daisy, you talk like you've been taken in by him. 257 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000 Oh, Mother. 258 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,000 Oh, that'll be Joe, I'm thinking. I'll go, Father. 259 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,000 Daisy. 260 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Hello, Joe. It's nice to see you. 261 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Oh, Daisy. I've missed you something terrible. 262 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,000 It's nice of you to say so. Won't you come in? 263 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,000 Thank you. Good afternoon, Mrs. Bunting. Mr. Bunting. 264 00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Hello, Joe. Daisy was just telling us she heard from a cabbie that the Avengers struck again. 265 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000 Aye, that he has. 266 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,000 Well, tell us about it, Joe. Have they got any clues? 267 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:10,000 Well, they have and they haven't. But the yard is circulating a description at last. 268 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,000 Well, go on, tell us, Joe. 269 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:18,000 Well, it ain't given out to the public yet. But I guess you folks aren't the public. 270 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,000 Of course not. Tell us, Joe. 271 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:24,000 Well, this is the way we got it at eight o'clock this morning. 272 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:32,000 Wanted. A man of age approximately 28, height five feet eight inches, complexion dark. 273 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:40,000 No beard or whiskers, wearing a black diagonal coat, hard felt hat, high white collar and tie. 274 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 Very respectable appearance. 275 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,000 What I'd like to know is why on earth did the people who saw him try and catch him? 276 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,000 Well, it's this way, Daisy. No one person did see all that. 277 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:57,000 You see, at such time when the murders took place, not much of anybody was about especially on a foggy night. 278 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,000 One woman declares that she saw a chap walking away from the spot where it's done. 279 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,000 And another one says the Avenger passed her by. 280 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:15,000 And well, the inspector who has charge of that sort of thing looked up what other people said and well, that's how he made up this wanted. 281 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Well, did they find the murder weapon yet? 282 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000 No. No, but from the condition of the bodies they know what it's like. 283 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000 What is the condition of the body? 284 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Daisy. 285 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,000 Well, Daisy, you ought to see the way he... 286 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,000 Joe! 287 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,000 Oh, I guess I'd better not go into that. 288 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:41,000 But I can say that the inspector described the murder weapon as a peculiar kind of knife, keen as a razor and pointed as a dagger. 289 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,000 And the Avenger knows how to use it. 290 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,000 Oh. 291 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000 I'd give anything, Joe. I'd give anything to see the locks of a knife like that. 292 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,000 You cruel, bloodthirsty girl. 293 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,000 I learn. 294 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,000 Of course I'd like to see it. It'd be fine looking at a knife like that. 295 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Well, if they catches them and you come along with me to see our black museum at the yard, you'll certainly see the knife. 296 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,000 Black museum? Well, whatever do they have a museum in your place for? 297 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:14,000 Oh, it's a regular chamber of horrors where they keep all sorts of things connected with crime. 298 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Things like knives murders are being committed with? 299 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:25,000 Oh, much more than knives, Mr. Bunting. Why, they've got there in little bottles the real poison what people have been done away with. 300 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,000 And can you go there whenever you like? 301 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:33,000 Why, of course. And I can take you too. And your daddy if he wants it. 302 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:41,000 Well, what do you say to today, Joe? The three of us. Daisy and you and me. I don't expect Ellen would want to go. 303 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,000 To turn me sick. 304 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,000 Well, I guess I could. 305 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:53,000 Sure you could, Joe. Ellen ain't on in this turn. She can just stay home and mind the cat. 306 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,000 I beg his pardon. I mean the lodger. 307 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:23,000 I won't have Mr. Sleuth laughed at. I'm sure it's very kind of you, Joe, to think of giving Bunting and Daisy such a rare treat. 308 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:32,000 How curious, how amazing to reflect that one unseen mysterious stranger had touched the lives of those ordinary people. 309 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,000 Ellen and Bunting and Joe and Daisy. 310 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,000 Here in this drab neighborhood on that bitterly cold dreary day. 311 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:48,000 Here they had all been thinking of, talking of, evoking one unknown mysterious personality. 312 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,000 That of the shadowy and yet terribly real human being who chose to call himself the Avenger. 313 00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:00,000 And the effect was a very real one. A sort of witchery. The very name Avenger seduced common sense. 314 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:05,000 And somehow even Mrs. Bunting realized the irony of her presence among such talk. 315 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:21,000 While this thought threaded vaguely through her mind, she took her tea, doing everything as was her way, with a certain delicate and clean precision. 316 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:26,000 A sound startled her. Shuffling, hesitating steps were creaking down the house. 317 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:33,000 She looked up and listened. Surely the lodger was not going out again into the cold and foggy afternoon. 318 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:39,000 Of course not. Mr. Sleuth was evidently about to do something that he had never done before. 319 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:43,000 He was coming down into the kitchen. 320 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:50,000 Yes, sir. What can I do for you, sir? I hope you didn't ring, sir. 321 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:56,000 No, no I didn't. The truth is I didn't know you were here, Mrs. Bunting. My gas stove has gone wrong. 322 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:57,000 Yes? 323 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:05,000 So I came down to see if I, if you had a gas stove. I'm going to ask you to allow me to use it tonight for an important experiment I wish to make. 324 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,000 You'll find it very cold down here, sir. 325 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,000 It seems most warm. Warm and cosy after my cold room upstairs. 326 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,000 For the matter of that, you ought to have a fire in your bedroom these cold nights. 327 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:21,000 Certainly not. I dislike an open fire. I thought I had told you as much. 328 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Yes, I remember. I, very good, sir. I'll be out of the kitchen in half an hour. You can use it then, sir. 329 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:37,000 Thank you all the same, Mrs. Bunting. But I shall come down later. All together later after you and your husband have gone to bed tonight. 330 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000 I assure you I will pay you something for the use of the stove, Mrs. Bunting. 331 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,000 Oh, no, sir. I wouldn't think of charging you anything for that. 332 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:56,000 That's very generous of you. Sometimes I believe that you are too generous towards me. I feel I have become a burden to you. Have I, Mrs. Bunting? 333 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,000 Oh, no, sir. 334 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Then I'll bid you good afternoon, Mrs. Bunting. 335 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:16,000 Yes, sir. 336 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,000 It was as simple as that. A simple request by her lodger. 337 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:28,000 But another part of Ellen's mind seemed to be working independently of requests, asking her insistent questions. 338 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Her house seemed to her alive with alien presences, and she would catch herself listening, which was absurd, for of course she could not hope to hear what Mr. Sleuth was doing two flights upstairs. 339 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:49,000 She wondered briefly on what the lodger's experiments consisted. It was odd that she had never been able to discover what it was he really did with that gas stove. 340 00:23:49,000 --> 00:24:10,000 All she knew was that he used a very high degree of heat. 341 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:32,000 And later, waiting for sleep to come to her that night, such thoughts persisted. They inserted themselves like a cloud between a sweet dream and the dreaming of it. Questions, questions and contrived answers and sudden realizations, as for example the curious matter of Mr. Sleuth's three suits, which he had purchased the very day he had arrived at Ellen's home. 342 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:51,000 Today, when she had dusted his room, she had noticed that one of those suits had completely disappeared. 343 00:24:51,000 --> 00:25:03,000 It was intensely dark, intensely quiet, the darkest quietest hour of the night when Mrs. Bunting was awakened by sounds at once unexpected and familiar. 344 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:14,000 Her sleep had been restless with constant disturbing images, and so when she heard the first stealthy footsteps outside her bedroom, she was fully conscious. 345 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:24,000 Suddenly she followed those steps down the stairs, down the hallway. She heard the front door open and then click shut. 346 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:51,000 Her stillness fell upon the house, and outside the streets were so silent she could hear distinctly the clock from a church tower a mile away told the hour. 347 00:25:51,000 --> 00:26:07,000 Like her troubled fancy, she pictured a long, long figure plodding through the swirling fog, moving quietly, stealthily, seeking, stalking, finding. 348 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:13,000 When soon after she heard the lodger return, there was no surcease from the horrible dread which possessed her. 349 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:21,000 It grew into something shrill, something that made her crouch in her bed, her thumb clasped between her teeth, stifling a scream. 350 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:36,000 And then she remembered, of course, the stove. The lodger had told her he would use the stove that night for an experiment, for an experiment that needed an intense amount of heat. 351 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:44,000 Then there was no more sleep, nearly a tormented state of half-awareness which suddenly stripped away soon after dawn. 352 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,000 Horrible murder! 353 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,000 Horrible murder, the piercing scream of a newsboy down in the street. 354 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,000 The Avenger strikes during night! 355 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Ellen Bunting heard the boy cry out the Avenger's latest stroke made during the night. 356 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:13,000 No! No! 357 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:33,000 In tonight's full hour of suspense, Mr. Robert Montgomery appears in the title role as the Lodger. Tonight's study in suspense. 358 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:37,000 In just a moment, we will return with Act Two of Suspense. 359 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:42,000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. 360 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:46,000 Now, back to our Hollywood soundstage. 361 00:27:46,000 --> 00:28:10,000 With Mr. Robert Montgomery in the title role, and with Act Two of the Lodger, we again calculate to keep you in suspense. 362 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:15,000 When Mrs. Bunting went down to her kitchen that morning, everything looked just as she had left it, 363 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:22,000 except that the cavernous whitewashed room seemed to be filled with an acrid kind of fog and the smell of burned cloth. 364 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:28,000 She twisted a newspaper, lighted it, then stooped and flung open the door of her gas stove. 365 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,000 A fierce heat had been generated there since she had last used the oven, 366 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:38,000 and through to the stone floor below had fallen a mass of stringy black soot. 367 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:44,000 Somehow she wasn't surprised. Somehow it was as she expected. 368 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Yet her first glimpse that morning of the gray-faced Lodger all but banished her sleepless night's terror. 369 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:55,000 Mr. Sleuth looked lonely, very, very lonely and forlorn. 370 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:59,000 There was a kind of pitiable, helpless weariness in his eyes. 371 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:03,000 She found she was hoping desperately that her unspoken fears were unfounded, 372 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:08,000 and she knew that she must be certain, certain before she voiced her fears to a soul. 373 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,000 And there was one thing she could do. 374 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,000 Examine the Lodger's single piece of luggage. What could it hold? 375 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:19,000 Not much in the way of clothing, surely. It was too small, too narrow. 376 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,000 It was more like a case, a case for a knife. 377 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,000 It was just noon when Ellen found her opportunity to search the Lodger's room. 378 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,000 When the bell was tolling the hour, Mr. Sleuth himself walked from the house, 379 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:41,000 and she watched the tall, thin figure in the black, invinous cape disappear down the street. 380 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,000 She waited a few minutes, and then she rushed upstairs. 381 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,000 Daisy! What are you doing in Mr. Sleuth's room? 382 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 Oh, whatever's the matter with you, Martha? 383 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,000 Oh, well, I'm... I'm all right. 384 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,000 But you've gone white. 385 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,000 You gave me a fright, child. 386 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,000 Ha! I'll bet father a sixpence that I'd have a dust cloth in my hand before you'd mention it. 387 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000 You see, I've won. 388 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,000 Oh. 389 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,000 Well, are you glad you've come home, Daisy? 390 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Oh, you don't know how fond it is to be back again. 391 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,000 Well, just yesterday I was saying to Jo, 392 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,000 the country's all right in its way, but there's nothing like London. 393 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,000 It's a truth now, Mother, isn't it? 394 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000 Yes. Yes, I suppose it is. 395 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,000 And Jo. 396 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,000 He's a nice one, Mother. 397 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000 I like Jo. 398 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,000 I'm glad of that. Jo's a steady one. 399 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,000 Daisy. 400 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,000 Daisy, as long as that avenge is about, 401 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,000 I say you should do something about those fair locks of yours. 402 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,000 Don't worry about that. 403 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,000 I'll dye them, maybe, or just pin them up under my hat. 404 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,000 I'm afraid that wouldn't do, Daisy. 405 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,000 What kind of a man is this? Larger of yours? 406 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,000 Oh, I don't know. He's... 407 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,000 He must be a queer one, sitting up here most all day by himself. 408 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,000 Awful lonely, like I calls it. 409 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,000 People do what they care to do, child. 410 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000 Well, whatever does he do with himself all day? 411 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,000 He reads. Reads the Bible. 412 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,000 Oh, never. 413 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,000 That's a funny thing for a gentleman to do. 414 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000 There's nothing to laugh at. 415 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:24,000 I should feel ashamed of being caught laughing at anything connected with the Bible. 416 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,000 He must be a queer card, that Larger. 417 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,000 He's no queerer than a lot of people I could mention. 418 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,000 Daisy, you go into the Larger's sitting room and dust up. 419 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,000 I'll take care of things in here. 420 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:41,000 And you won't send me back to Old Ants? 421 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,000 I can stay here, Mother, can't I? 422 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,000 I suppose, child. 423 00:31:47,000 --> 00:32:05,000 I suppose you can. 424 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,000 And Mrs. Bunting went about her work. 425 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,000 Quickly she moved to the closet. 426 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,000 The contents were a bit different from the last time. 427 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,000 Another one of her Larger's new suits had disappeared. 428 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,000 But somehow she expected that, too. 429 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,000 It fitted with the smell of burned cloth she'd noticed that morning in the kitchen. 430 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,000 But she found nothing under the bed. 431 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,000 She went then to the chest of drawers against the wall. 432 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:33,000 She opened the top drawer and found inside nothing but a frayed shirt and two handkerchiefs. 433 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,000 The next drawer, under clothes and socks. 434 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,000 The next, empty. 435 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:42,000 There remained then only one possible place for the small, narrow bag. 436 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,000 The bottom drawer. 437 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,000 And it was locked. 438 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,000 Tugging at the drawer, she heard suddenly the opening of the door behind her. 439 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:59,000 Panic-stricken, she froze to the spot and then slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head. 440 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,000 Mr. Sleuth. 441 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,000 Mrs. Bunting? 442 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,000 You...you've invaded my privacy? 443 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,000 Why, I...I was just... 444 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,000 My cupboard door is awry. 445 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,000 Does this mean that you have been searching my room? 446 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,000 It's about her, Snuffbox, sir. 447 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,000 My husband, Bunting, that is, remembered an old Snuffbox. 448 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:21,000 He thought still my... 449 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:25,000 Does this mean that I must keep each drawer locked to prevent your spying upon me? 450 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000 Oh, no, sir. 451 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,000 You see, sir, Bunting has a very high opinion of that Snuffbox. 452 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,000 What are you talking to? 453 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,000 Quickly, tell me, who is this? 454 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,000 This is my stepdaughter, sir. 455 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,000 Daisy. 456 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,000 She just arrived yesterday, sir. You see... 457 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,000 Pleased to meet you, sir. 458 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,000 She's been away for quite a long while, sir. 459 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,000 We really didn't know when she was returning home, Mr. Sleuth. 460 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,000 That's why I didn't mention Daisy when you took the rooms. 461 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:57,000 And I must say, sir, that I was surprised to hear about us taking in a lodger. 462 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,000 And pleased about it, too, sir. 463 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,000 Yes. Yes, I...I must say that I am the one who was surprised. 464 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,000 Yes. And perhaps even pleased. 465 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,000 Thank you, sir. 466 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,000 Yes, of course, I am pleased. 467 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:16,000 There are, Miss Daisy, all kinds of pleasures, are there not? 468 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:20,000 Yes. I'm sure there are. 469 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,000 The despicable evil joy of the abandoned. 470 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:27,000 Those who seek the darkness to sip the juice of forbidden fruit. 471 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:32,000 Surely, surely, Miss Daisy, you shun such pleasure as that. 472 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,000 Oh, yes. That is us, but... 473 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,000 A vast difference, that, from the divine happiness of the blessed. 474 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,000 Those of clean hands and pure heart. 475 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,000 You do understand me, don't you? 476 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,000 Oh, yes, sir. Yes, Mr. Sleuth. 477 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,000 I devidly hope so, Miss Daisy. 478 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:53,000 Nowadays, there are so very few young women like yourself who do understand. 479 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,000 In fact, I all but despaired ever of finding one. 480 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:00,000 I'm sure it's nice of you to say so, Mr. Sleuth. 481 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:05,000 It is a people who do err in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. 482 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:10,000 Unto them I swore in my wrath that they should not enter unto my rest. 483 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,000 True words, Miss Daisy. True. 484 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,000 Yes, sir. 485 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,000 Now, I must be putting things away downstairs, Mr. Sleuth. 486 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,000 Of course, Miss Daisy. 487 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,000 And I must rest. 488 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:26,000 Believe me, it has been a revelation to meet you. 489 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:28,000 Oh, thank you, sir. 490 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,000 I'm sure we shall have much to discuss. 491 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,000 Yes, sir. 492 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,000 He's a queer one, all right, Mother. 493 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,000 But such a gentleman, isn't he? 494 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,000 The End 495 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,000 At that moment, Ellen had been determined to pour out her terrible knowledge. 496 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,000 But the moment was fleeting, and Ellen's resolve fled with it. 497 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:13,000 She felt herself that perhaps the past few days had been nothing more than a tormenting play of imagination. 498 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:17,000 There would be a coroner's inquest tomorrow into the Avengers' last murder. 499 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:23,000 Jo would take her. With Jo, they would admit her, and there perhaps she would hear evidence to disprove all her fears, 500 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:28,000 to assure her there was no earthly harm in Daisy's being so near the lodger. 501 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:36,000 This was her gravest concern now, for on the next morning Mr. Sleuth made it a point to see the girl more than once, 502 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:42,000 and fearfully Ellen saw that Daisy welcomed the visits, that her eyes shined whenever the lodger's name was mentioned. 503 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:49,000 That afternoon, she heard once more the voices of her stepdaughter and the lodger coming to her through the kitchen door. 504 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:53,000 She hesitated before entering, tense, apprehensive. 505 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:58,000 Oh, doobly, Mr. Sleuth, I'd never known a gentleman with such funny ideas. 506 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,000 Oh, Mother. Mother, you should hear what Mr. Sleuth was just saying. 507 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000 Perhaps, Daisy, you would excuse yourself. 508 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,000 He thinks people, and especially girls, should spend all their time praying. 509 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:15,000 I sought to explain to her, Mrs. Bunting, that all women are placed on this earth filled with wickedness. 510 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,000 I'm not so sure of that, Mr. Sleuth. 511 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:21,000 And they therefore must cleanse from themselves that evil which they possess. 512 00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:24,000 They must struggle constantly to find the paths of righteousness. 513 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:28,000 Mr. Sleuth, you mean a girl's not to enjoy life at all, not have any fun? 514 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:33,000 Frivolity, my child, is the harbinger of destruction. It is the devil's breeding ground. 515 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:38,000 And all his implements are there. Temptation, pleasure, wine. 516 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,000 Oh, there's nothing allot better than a glass of wine and allot... 517 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,000 You drink? 518 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:47,000 She didn't know what she was saying, Mr. Sleuth. Just a child. She never tasted wine. 519 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,000 Daisy, you'd better go now. 520 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,000 Frivolity, my child, is the devil's breeding ground. 521 00:37:51,000 --> 00:38:00,000 Mark this. Those who consort with temptation, with impropriety, with illicit music and dancing, those are the accursed... 522 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:05,000 Oh, but that's crazy. However can you say that there's nothing allot better than an evening of dancing? 523 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,000 You dance? 524 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:10,000 She's joking, Mr. Sleuth. That's why she's joking with you. 525 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:14,000 Daisy's just a child. She's never been one for dancing. She's never even learned how to dance. 526 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:18,000 But I did learn, Mother, while I was away. 527 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,000 What's so wrong about it? What's the harm in just a nice dance? 528 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:25,000 She lieth in wait as for a prey and increaseth the transgressors among men. 529 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,000 I don't know what you mean. I'm sure I never heard such nonsense. 530 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:36,000 You call holy scripture nonsense? So what I prayed against has come to pass. You are beyond salvation. 531 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,000 That's not so. I'm a good girl. I am. I won't have you saying this. 532 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:41,000 Daisy, Daisy, go into the front room. 533 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:46,000 It's quite all right, Mrs. Bunting. I must be going upstairs anyway. 534 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:50,000 I'm used to being misunderstood, you know. 535 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:55,000 People never realize that my efforts are for the greater good of humanity. 536 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,000 They don't know that I'm their benefactor. 537 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,000 Of course. 538 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:06,000 And that power unhigh will direct my hand toward the expulsion of all evil. 539 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:10,000 All the evil in the world. 540 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:16,000 Daisy, Daisy, listen to me. 541 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,000 Yes? 542 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:22,000 Daisy, I've got to tell you about... about... 543 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,000 About what, Mother? 544 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:30,000 Nothing. I suppose nothing. 545 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:34,000 Then I'll go out for a while. I'll tell Joe I'd meet him. 546 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:42,000 Yes. Yes, I suppose it's... really... nothing. 547 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:50,000 But there was something. 548 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:59,000 Though the words had not yet shaped themselves in her mind, there was a knowledge stark and terrifying. 549 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:03,000 It was as if a grinning face were leaning towards her. 550 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,000 She was a woman of the past. 551 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:13,000 And in her mind, there was a knowledge stark and terrifying. It was as if a grinning face were leaning towards her. 552 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:17,000 Whispering and a hand at her back, thrusting her forward. 553 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:23,000 Ellen ran up the steps. She had to know. And who, who but the lodger could tell her. 554 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,000 You are welcome, Mrs. Bunting. 555 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:35,000 But I believe propriety dictates that you knock. 556 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:36,000 Mr. Sleuth. 557 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,000 Yes? 558 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:42,000 It's... it's about Daisy, sir. 559 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:46,000 She is a great disappointment to me, madam. And I suppose to you. 560 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:52,000 Yes. Yes, that must be it. You want me to help her seek salvation. You want me to kneel with her... 561 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,000 Oh, no! No, sir. It isn't that at all. 562 00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:03,000 Well, then what is it, madam? Come, I was preparing myself for a walk. It's a fine dark day for a walk. 563 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,000 Surely you wouldn't go out now. It isn't fit for anyone to be out in that fog. 564 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:13,000 You must be justing, Mrs. Bunting. From this window I saw Miss Daisy go into the street not five minutes ago. 565 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:21,000 A very sweet looking young girl, Miss Daisy. A pity she has estranged herself from innocence. 566 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,000 You don't know what you're saying, Mr. Sleuth. 567 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:27,000 Come to the window, Miss Bunting. Listen. 568 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:33,000 How very quiet and still London is in the fog. Not a sound. 569 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:39,000 Yes. Yes. It's very quiet today. 570 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,000 Too quiet, I'm thinking. Quite natural, like. 571 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:49,000 And I, for one, have a delicate feeling for nature. So now, Mrs. Bunting, if you'll excuse me, I... 572 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:55,000 But aren't you afraid, Mr. Sleuth? Aren't you afraid of going outside? 573 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,000 Afraid? Afraid of what? 574 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:03,000 I was thinking of the police. 575 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,000 The police? 576 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:17,000 But what is man? What is man's puny power and his strength when set against that of the highest power? 577 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:23,000 So Ellen had tried and she had failed. But even then she had had her moment of triumph. 578 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:30,000 Looking out of the window she had seen Daisy, arm in arm with Joe Chandler and smiling up into his face. 579 00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:35,000 She was relieved when the lodger left the house. She needed this time for thinking. 580 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,000 And now she knew what she must do. 581 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:44,000 In an hour or so Daisy would be coming home with Joe and then she would ask him to take her to the coroner's inquest. 582 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:47,000 She must give the lodger that last benefit of doubt. 583 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:57,000 And if that should fail then she would tell Bunting or go to the police. And in an hour as she expected. 584 00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:58,000 Oh. 585 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:03,000 It's me, Mrs. Bunting. I've come to see you about something. Mind if I come in? 586 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:08,000 Yes, yes, come in, Joe. But where's...where's Daisy? 587 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:13,000 That's what I've come to see you about, Mrs. Bunting. About Daisy. You see... 588 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,000 Where is she, Joe? What's happened? 589 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:20,000 You see, we were walking and Miss Daisy asked to be by herself for a while for the reason that... 590 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,000 No! 591 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:27,000 Now, now, now, don't take on Mrs. Bunting. I don't think what I've got to say can take you by surprise. 592 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,000 From the look or two you've been casting me lately. 593 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:34,000 Why, Joe? Whatever are you talking about? 594 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:43,000 Well, like I say, Mrs. Bunting, it's your daughter. It's Daisy. I want her hand. I want to marry her. 595 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,000 Mr. Bunting now said if it's all right with you, it's all right with him. 596 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:50,000 Then Daisy's all right. Nothing's happened to my Daisy. 597 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:56,000 Well, of course, of course she's all right. She told me she wanted to do something about me and she... 598 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:58,000 She didn't want me around while she'd done it. 599 00:43:58,000 --> 00:43:59,000 Oh. 600 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:02,000 I left her with her daddy just a minute ago at the corner pub. 601 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:09,000 Well, as far as I'm concerned, you have my blessing, Joe. 602 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:12,000 Oh, that's mighty fine, Mrs. Bunting. 603 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,000 And Joe, I want you to do something for me. 604 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,000 Of course I will. Just ask me, Mrs. Bunting. 605 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:23,000 Joe, I... I want to go to the coroner's inquest tomorrow. 606 00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:26,000 Coroner? But why? 607 00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:33,000 I've got a reason for wanting to go there. I want you to take me, Joe. 608 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,000 Well, I guess I could. 609 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,000 Why, sure. Of course I'll take you, Mrs. Bunting. 610 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,000 Oh, I'd be proud to take my future more any place, she says. 611 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:03,000 So the last frantic search for disproving evidence had begun. 612 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,000 And the next day, with the knowledge that Bunting was left in the house to look after Daisy, 613 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,000 Ellen boarded the underground train with Joe Chandler. 614 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:16,000 During the last few days, all her perceptions had become sharpened by suspense and fear. 615 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:20,000 She realized now, as she looked into the stolid but bewildered face of Joe, 616 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:24,000 how she herself would have regarded any woman who wanted to attend such an inquiry 617 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:30,000 from a simple morbid feeling of curiosity, and yet, seated at the coroner's court, 618 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:38,000 that was just what she was about to do herself. 619 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:43,000 Ellen, seated near the rear of the room, listened to each of the witnesses, 620 00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,000 and from them she found none of the hope she had come for, 621 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:51,000 for none of them had seen the Avenger or knew what he looked like. But then... 622 00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:55,000 Miss Lizzie Cole may step forward. 623 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,000 Right here, Miss Cole. Thank you. 624 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:06,000 Now, we quite understand, Miss Cole, that you think you saw the individual 625 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:10,000 who has perpetrated these terrible crimes. 626 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:15,000 Let us begin at the beginning. What sort of hat was this man wearing? 627 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,000 It was just a black hat. 628 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,000 A black hat, thank you. And the coat? 629 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,000 Were you able to see what sort of coat he was wearing? 630 00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,000 He hadn't no coat. I remember that very particular. 631 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:32,000 He's a queer one, I said. As it was so chilly, everybody as can wear some sort of coat this weather. 632 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:36,000 But the statement you gave to the newspaper reporters says that the Avenger, 633 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:40,000 according to you, was wearing a coat, a big heavy coat. 634 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:45,000 I never said so. I was made to say that by the young man from the newspaper. 635 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:49,000 Just put in what he liked in his paper he did, not what I said at all. 636 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,000 And you assert that he looked at you, is that correct? 637 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,000 Frightened me after death he did. 638 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:59,000 If you could really see his countenance, for we know that the night was dark and foggy, 639 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,000 will you please tell me what he was like? 640 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,000 Dark. He was dark. 641 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:08,000 So it went with Miss Lizzie Cole. Most positively, most confidently, 642 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:12,000 the witness declared the man she had seen hurrying by in the darkness was tall. 643 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:18,000 No, no, no, he was short. He was thin. No, no, he was a stoutish young man. 644 00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:23,000 And as to whether he was carrying anything or not, Miss Cole absolutely refused to commit herself. 645 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:26,000 The next witness was a Mr. Canot. 646 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:30,000 This elderly gentleman was certain that he had not only seen the Avenger, 647 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:32,000 but that he had talked to him. 648 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:39,000 It was near Whitechapel, he testified, only a few minutes before the murder of Mr. Coroner, when I saw him. 649 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:42,000 He was quite a tall man, a very gaunt looking. 650 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:46,000 I see. And this man you think was the... 651 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:48,000 The Avenger. 652 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:53,000 You're quite certain that you met him on the very night he committed the murder we are now investigating? 653 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:59,000 I do so declare, sir. And I might mention a thing about him to which you might attach importance. 654 00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:03,000 The man carried a bag, a rather light-colored leather handbag. 655 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,000 A handbag, you say? 656 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:12,000 Yes, sir. A small, narrow insert. It was such a bag as might contain a long-handled knife. 657 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,000 A knife! 658 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,000 Please, we must have quiet. Quiet. 659 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:24,000 Now, Mr. Canot, what made you suppose that this stranger could possibly be the Avenger? 660 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:28,000 Well, this man, as he approached me in the fog, stopped and turned to me. 661 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:33,000 And there was a very wild, mad look on his face, sir, if I may say so. 662 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:34,000 And he spoke to you? 663 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:39,000 Well, as he emerged from the fog, he was talking aloud to himself. 664 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:48,000 Then, as he saw me, he said, this night, my friend, a night fit for the commission of dark and salutary deeds. 665 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:52,000 Yes, sir, that's exactly what he said, sir. 666 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:53,000 Is that all? 667 00:48:53,000 --> 00:49:01,000 He had a rather high, hesitating voice. An educated man, I would judge, but quite mad as I've told you, sir. 668 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:02,000 What do you mean by that? 669 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:07,000 Well, as he passed by, then, he continued to speak into himself aloud. 670 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:12,000 Oh, believe me, sir, believe me, he was reciting scriptures from the Bible. 671 00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:15,000 Scriptures from the Bible? 672 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:20,000 Horrified Helen, half rose from her seat, only half hearing the confusion about her. 673 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:22,000 Scriptures from the Bible, you say? 674 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:23,000 Aye, sir. 675 00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,000 And you asked the court to believe that? 676 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:31,000 I would say, Mr. Canot, that the man we are looking for would be least of all a religious man. 677 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,000 And that's where you're in error, Mr. Coroner. 678 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:37,000 The religious note is the very key to the case. I'm convinced of that, sir. 679 00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:41,000 Very interesting. And now, if you please, you may stand down, Mr. Canot. 680 00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:48,000 Just a moment, sir, just a moment. You must understand, sir, the man you're looking for must be a religious maniac. 681 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,000 That is the only possible explanation. 682 00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:55,000 And you must understand, sir, time is going on. I have an important witness to call, a medical witness. 683 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:56,000 Now, if you could... 684 00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:57,000 But certainly you're not going to... 685 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,000 You may stand down, Mr. Canot. 686 00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:02,000 The court was dismissing the very truth. 687 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,000 Ellen knew that. She could no longer keep silent. 688 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,000 Her hand shot forth and she screamed. 689 00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:09,000 I... I want to... 690 00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:26,000 On the verge of speaking, she had fainted. 691 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:30,000 And then, when Ellen was revived a few minutes later, she said... 692 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,000 She said... she said nothing. 693 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:35,000 Her brain was in too great a turmoil, her nerves too shocked. 694 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:40,000 Like one in a dream, she allowed herself to be led by Joe Chandler from the courtroom. 695 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,000 Joe took his leave to go on duty. 696 00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:56,000 And as Ellen Bunting's train pulled away from the station, a new torture came to her. 697 00:50:56,000 --> 00:51:03,000 Forming in her mind was the awareness that if Sleuth were the murderer, she was equally responsible for his crimes. 698 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,000 She had been giving him protection. 699 00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:10,000 If anything should happen to Daisy, she would be equally guilty. 700 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:26,000 Fully as guilty as the Avenger. 701 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,000 As Ellen neared her neighborhood, her dread was increased. 702 00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:37,000 With each moving footstep, with each heavier boom of thunder from the rainstorm that was almost here, 703 00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:40,000 the grip of terror grew tighter and tighter about her. 704 00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:43,000 She moved faster and faster. If only she were in time. 705 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:49,000 The first light drops of rain sprinkled her brow as she turned into Marabon Road. 706 00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:53,000 Then she saw Bunting... walking toward her. 707 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:59,000 Sharply, like the dart of a knife blade, the one fact pierced her mind. 708 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:08,000 Daisy was now alone with the lodger. 709 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,000 Bunting! Bunting! 710 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:16,000 Ellen, Ellen, what is it? 711 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:22,000 Tell me, Bunting! Where's Daisy? Where is she? I say, where is Daisy? Where is she? I say, where? 712 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:25,000 At home, at home. Where I left her, Ellen. Where, where, where... 713 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:27,000 Oh, no, Bunting! No! 714 00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:29,000 What is it, Ellen? What is it? 715 00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:33,000 Listen to me. Try to understand. 716 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,000 Sleuth... Sleuth is the Avenger. 717 00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:38,000 What? What do you say? 718 00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:59,000 Roger is the Avenger, Bunting. Daisy's in danger. Hurry! 719 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,000 Daisy! Daisy! 720 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,000 Daisy! Where are you? 721 00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:09,000 Oh, look, in the kitchen, Bunting. You try the sitting room. 722 00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:12,000 Daisy! Daisy! 723 00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,000 Where are you, Daisy? 724 00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:16,000 Answer me, Daisy! 725 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:17,000 Try the bedroom. 726 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:20,000 I did. It's not there. It's not downstairs. 727 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:31,000 Oh, then that's just his room. 728 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,000 I am ready, O Lord, ready to smite thine enemy. 729 00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:40,000 For man born of woman is born unto trouble, and I shall cleanse thy kingdom on earth. 730 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:42,000 Yes, I shall show her thy wrath from heaven. 731 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,000 Go on, open the door. 732 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:49,000 Speak, Lord, I am ready. The power unhigh will direct the expulsion of evil. 733 00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:51,000 The knife! He's got the knife! 734 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:52,000 Daisy! 735 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:57,000 Thy servant heareth. I behold Satan and lightning fell from heaven. 736 00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:02,000 In this woman I behold him, and lightning strike him dead. I... 737 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:25,000 Bunting! Bunting! Is she all right? 738 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:27,000 Yes. Take her out, darling. 739 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:31,000 No, Bunting. You can't stop the fire. We must save ourselves. 740 00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:34,000 Come away, Daisy. 741 00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:36,000 He... he... 742 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:39,000 He's dead, child. He's dead. 743 00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:55,000 I... he's dead. 744 00:54:55,000 --> 00:55:01,000 Joe... Joe... the Lord... 745 00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:04,000 There, there, there, Daisy, there. Don't try to talk about it. 746 00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:12,000 I'll tell you, Joe, it was queer, it was, as if the Lord himself struck the house with lightning 747 00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:17,000 and spread the fires of Elder Cleanse whatever the lodger had touched 748 00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:22,000 to burn down the house and all that's in it. 749 00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,000 Our house, everything we own. 750 00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:29,000 No, not everything, Ellen. 751 00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:34,000 Daisy's safe. That's all that should matter to us. 752 00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:39,000 She's safe. Thank heaven. 753 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:43,000 Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. 754 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:46,000 Death by Act of God. 755 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:51,000 Thus the final entry in Scotland Yard's record of the famous Avenger case. 756 00:55:51,000 --> 00:55:56,000 Yes, the day which brought an end to Mrs. Bunting's lodger 757 00:55:56,000 --> 00:56:11,080 brought also an end to the knife slings we call the 758 00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:15,080 but also an end to the knife slings which had terrorized London. 759 00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:21,080 But curiously enough, there were those at Scotland Yard who were never quite sure 760 00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:26,080 that the charred remains of a man they removed from the ashes of the Bunting home 761 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:29,080 were indeed those of the Avenger. 762 00:56:29,080 --> 00:56:35,080 Any more than Mrs. Bellock-Lownes, who novelized the case, was ever quite convinced. 763 00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:38,080 And there are those who will tell you that the real Avenger, 764 00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:44,080 a tall man clad in an invinous cape, a man almost exactly like Mr. Sleuth, 765 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:52,080 left England and came to America to live in a town near your town. 766 00:56:52,080 --> 00:56:57,080 He would be quite old now, but it may be true. 767 00:56:57,080 --> 00:57:00,080 Yes, perhaps as it is written in Holy Scripture, 768 00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:08,080 he did fly upon the wings of the wind to walk as a stranger in many strange places. 769 00:57:08,080 --> 00:57:13,080 He knoweth now that the dead are there. 770 00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:18,080 Hast found me, all mine enemy? 771 00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:24,080 Beautiful words, those, don't you think? 772 00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:43,080 Beautiful words. 773 00:57:43,080 --> 00:57:47,080 This is Robert Montgomery without the invinous cape. 774 00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:50,080 And I want to thank Jeanette Nolan, who played Ellen, 775 00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:56,080 and Peggy Webber, who was Daisy, for their splendid performances in tonight's play. 776 00:57:56,080 --> 00:58:01,080 Next week we have chosen a story whose elements are natural counterparts of suspense. 777 00:58:01,080 --> 00:58:05,080 I guess you could call it a love story, one kind of a love story. 778 00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:10,080 For indeed there is a man and there is a woman who fall in love and they marry. 779 00:58:10,080 --> 00:58:15,080 It is practically probably only a mischance of fortune that the man has no material means 780 00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:18,080 and the woman comes from a family of substantial wealth. 781 00:58:18,080 --> 00:58:24,080 And the dire chain reaction of events, which are then set in motion against the bride's family, 782 00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:28,080 are undoubtedly matters of mere coincidence, I imagine. 783 00:58:28,080 --> 00:58:31,080 Yes, you could call it a love story. 784 00:58:31,080 --> 00:58:38,080 We'll leave it to your own good judgment after you hear Beyond Reason by Devry Freeman. 785 00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:42,080 Next week's study in suspense. 786 00:58:42,080 --> 00:58:47,080 Mr. Montgomery may currently be seen in the Universal International Production Ride the Pink Horse. 787 00:58:47,080 --> 00:58:53,080 The Lodger was adapted for suspense by Robert Tullman and directed by William N. Robeson. 788 00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:58,080 Lud Gluskin is our musical director and conductor, and Lucian Morrowak composes the original scores. 789 00:58:58,080 --> 00:59:08,080 Next week here, Beyond Reason on radio's outstanding theater of thrills, one hour of suspense. 790 00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:14,080 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.