WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:12.300 Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers bring you Mr. Herbert Marshall in tonight's presentation 00:12.300 --> 00:17.440 of Suspense. 00:17.440 --> 00:26.200 Tonight, Auto Light presents an adaptation of Jeffrey Household's terrifying novel, Rogue 00:26.200 --> 00:32.720 Mail, starring Mr. Herbert Marshall. 00:32.720 --> 00:38.120 Oh, Harlow. 00:38.120 --> 00:42.520 Yes, Hap. 00:42.520 --> 00:43.520 What was that all about? 00:43.520 --> 00:46.720 Well, I was just demonstrating the Auto Light electrical system, Hap. 00:46.720 --> 00:47.720 You were? 00:47.720 --> 00:48.720 Sure. 00:48.720 --> 00:54.040 It goes to work every time you start your car, sound the horn, play the radio, or turn 00:54.040 --> 00:55.960 on your lights or heater. 00:55.960 --> 00:57.880 The electrical system does all that? 00:57.880 --> 00:58.880 Sure, Hap. 00:58.880 --> 01:03.160 The Auto Light coil, distributor, generator, and all the other units and thousands of component 01:03.160 --> 01:04.160 parts. 01:04.160 --> 01:08.840 They're all related by Auto Light engineering design and manufacturing skill and used as 01:08.840 --> 01:12.360 original factory equipment on many leading makes of our finest cars. 01:12.360 --> 01:14.880 A real team operation, eh, Harlow? 01:14.880 --> 01:18.640 You said it, Hap, for the smoothest car performance money can buy. 01:18.640 --> 01:24.240 So, friends, when your Auto Light equipped car needs replacement parts, insist on Auto 01:24.240 --> 01:26.560 Light original factory part. 01:26.560 --> 01:33.000 Be sure, because from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light. 01:33.000 --> 01:38.640 And now with Rogue Mail and the transcribed performance of Mr. Herbert Marshall, Auto 01:38.640 --> 01:49.840 Light hopes once again to keep you in suspense. 01:49.840 --> 01:58.320 I had him in my sights, the biggest game on earth. 01:58.320 --> 02:03.120 There was no mistaking him with his chaperone moustache and his mincing strut. 02:03.120 --> 02:09.240 I spent a day checking all points commanding the terrorists and I timed the guards on their 02:09.240 --> 02:10.240 beats. 02:10.240 --> 02:15.280 Then I chose my spot on a grassy slope at the edge of a cliff. 02:15.280 --> 02:21.040 I estimated the range of 550 yards, when the great man appeared, I got the three pointers 02:21.040 --> 02:24.320 of my sights ready on the V of his waistcoat. 02:24.320 --> 02:28.640 He was facing me, winding up his watch. 02:28.640 --> 02:33.720 He would never have known what shattered him, that is, if I meant the fire. 02:33.720 --> 02:36.960 Just then I felt a slight breeze on my cheek. 02:36.960 --> 02:38.960 I'd have to allow for wind. 02:38.960 --> 02:39.960 Stop! 02:39.960 --> 02:40.960 Stop! 02:40.960 --> 02:41.960 Careful! 02:41.960 --> 02:44.480 That's a hair trigger adjustment. 02:44.480 --> 02:45.480 Dirty dog! 02:45.480 --> 02:48.640 You don't understand, it was only a sporting stalk. 02:48.640 --> 02:51.640 A session, you dirty dog! 02:51.640 --> 02:52.640 Killer! 02:52.640 --> 02:53.640 All fired. 02:53.640 --> 02:59.320 All morning I felt his eyes watching me, I felt strange. 02:59.320 --> 03:02.400 So I turned back seven minutes early when I reached the purchase. 03:02.400 --> 03:04.400 He was going to kill our Fuhrer. 03:04.400 --> 03:07.120 Your Excellency, sir, who helped you? 03:07.120 --> 03:08.120 Nobody. 03:08.120 --> 03:09.120 I was alone. 03:09.120 --> 03:10.120 Were you acting for your government? 03:10.120 --> 03:11.120 Of course not. 03:11.120 --> 03:12.120 We are at peace. 03:12.120 --> 03:13.120 So far, yes. 03:13.120 --> 03:14.920 I'm a sportsman, a big game hunter. 03:14.920 --> 03:17.600 With what we call a sporting stalk. 03:17.600 --> 03:18.600 You expect us to believe that? 03:18.600 --> 03:20.560 Only what you wish, it's true. 03:20.560 --> 03:21.560 Corporal! 03:21.560 --> 03:22.560 Take him inside. 03:22.560 --> 03:23.560 We'll break him. 03:23.560 --> 03:24.560 There are ways. 03:24.560 --> 03:25.560 Heil Hitler! 03:25.560 --> 03:26.560 Heil Hitler! 03:26.560 --> 03:27.560 Is he conscious? 03:27.560 --> 03:28.560 No, sir. 03:28.560 --> 03:29.560 He's not. 03:29.560 --> 03:30.560 He's not. 03:30.560 --> 03:31.560 He's not. 03:31.560 --> 03:32.560 He's not. 03:32.560 --> 03:33.560 He's not. 03:33.560 --> 03:34.560 He's not. 03:34.560 --> 03:35.560 He's not. 03:35.560 --> 03:36.560 He's not. 03:36.560 --> 03:37.560 He's not. 03:37.560 --> 03:38.560 He's not. 03:38.560 --> 03:39.560 He's not. 03:39.560 --> 03:40.560 He's not. 03:40.560 --> 03:41.560 He's not. 03:41.560 --> 03:42.560 He's not. 03:42.560 --> 04:06.940 You mean the 04:06.940 --> 04:07.940 man? 04:07.940 --> 04:09.440 Yeah, I just thought so. 04:09.440 --> 04:12.440 Corporal, bring his things. Gun, binoculars and papers. 04:12.440 --> 04:13.440 Yes, sir. 04:13.440 --> 04:17.440 I ought to banish myself a bit before I leave. 04:17.440 --> 04:20.440 But you're not leaving. We can't release you. 04:20.440 --> 04:24.440 Your appearance, that left eye, and your hands. 04:24.440 --> 04:27.440 Oh, no, you'd certainly want to get even with us. 04:27.440 --> 04:29.440 How would you explain the state of your fingernails? 04:29.440 --> 04:31.440 I'm willing to call it even now. 04:31.440 --> 04:33.440 Yes, I believe you really mean that. 04:33.440 --> 04:36.440 It's no wonder we admire you, English. 04:36.440 --> 04:38.440 No, we can't risk it, old man. 04:38.440 --> 04:40.440 Too much criticism abroad of our methods. 04:40.440 --> 04:42.440 I tell you, the story will die with me. 04:42.440 --> 04:45.440 It will indeed, this very evening. 04:45.440 --> 04:49.440 If you're concerned about world opinion, my murder most certainly... 04:49.440 --> 04:51.440 Oh, but it won't be murder. 04:51.440 --> 04:53.440 It will be an accident. 04:53.440 --> 04:56.440 A sporting accident. 05:02.440 --> 05:05.440 They drove me north 50 miles, took me to the edge of a cliff, 05:05.440 --> 05:08.440 and put me over, all but my hands. 05:08.440 --> 05:09.440 That was cunning. 05:09.440 --> 05:12.440 Scrabbling at the rough rock would account for the state of my fingers 05:12.440 --> 05:14.440 when I was found. 05:14.440 --> 05:17.440 I did hang on, of course, until I had to drop. 05:17.440 --> 05:19.440 But they'd bungled the job. 05:19.440 --> 05:22.440 There was a terrifying instant of pain, 05:22.440 --> 05:24.440 then I plopped into something soft. 05:24.440 --> 05:27.440 I had crashed into a patch of swamp, small and deep. 05:27.440 --> 05:30.440 When I moved, I found I was wrapped in mud. 05:30.440 --> 05:33.440 It was dark, and I was quite numb. 05:33.440 --> 05:35.440 I couldn't stand. 05:35.440 --> 05:39.440 So I traveled on my belly, using my elbows for legs, 05:39.440 --> 05:42.440 leaving a track like a wounded crocodile. 05:42.440 --> 05:45.440 I had only one thought to hide myself. 05:45.440 --> 05:49.440 A mile, two miles. 05:49.440 --> 05:52.440 I came through a river and, crawling into the shadows, 05:52.440 --> 05:56.440 I made my trail look as if I had taken to the stream. 05:56.440 --> 06:00.440 Then I crawled back over my own track to a tree. 06:00.440 --> 06:03.440 I caught at a low branch. 06:03.440 --> 06:06.440 The muscles of my hands were still intact. 06:06.440 --> 06:10.440 And went up the first ten feet in a single burst. 06:10.440 --> 06:12.440 I couldn't rest my legs on the lower branches 06:12.440 --> 06:14.440 without leaving a smear of blood. 06:14.440 --> 06:16.440 I pulled myself higher. 06:16.440 --> 06:19.440 When I reached the thick branches of the upper tree, 06:19.440 --> 06:21.440 I wedged myself in. 06:21.440 --> 06:33.440 Then I fainted. 06:33.440 --> 06:36.440 The sound of their search woke me. 06:36.440 --> 06:41.440 This afternoon, I peered down and saw the half-English major 06:41.440 --> 06:44.440 with two uniformed men and three dogs. 06:44.440 --> 06:46.440 His trail goes into the river. 06:46.440 --> 06:48.440 He couldn't swim. His legs. 06:48.440 --> 06:49.440 He had to be sure. 06:49.440 --> 06:52.440 You, go downstream. I'll go up with the dog. 06:52.440 --> 07:04.440 We must find his buddy. 07:04.440 --> 07:07.440 I stayed in the tree all night. 07:07.440 --> 07:10.440 Just before dawn, I came down. 07:10.440 --> 07:13.440 I could walk after a passion, but I had to have different clothes, 07:13.440 --> 07:17.440 a razor, and many things, or I might as well turn myself in. 07:17.440 --> 07:19.440 Then a tall, stooping man with a fishing rod 07:19.440 --> 07:22.440 came through the woods to the riverbank. 07:22.440 --> 07:24.440 I crept closer to study him. 07:24.440 --> 07:28.440 His face was melancholy, but there was courage in it. 07:28.440 --> 07:31.440 I had to take that one chance. 07:31.440 --> 07:34.440 Good morning. Any luck? 07:34.440 --> 07:36.440 No, I... Who are you? 07:36.440 --> 07:40.440 Don't be afraid. I need help. Look, look at my hands. 07:40.440 --> 07:42.440 Do you know how that was done? 07:42.440 --> 07:45.440 Yes. I mean, I've heard... 07:45.440 --> 07:47.440 No, I don't know anything. 07:47.440 --> 07:48.440 I have money, if you'll help me. 07:48.440 --> 07:49.440 I don't want money. 07:49.440 --> 07:50.440 I'm English. 07:50.440 --> 07:52.440 It's better for you not to know my name or what I've done, 07:52.440 --> 07:55.440 but I need clothes, food, gloves to hide these hands, 07:55.440 --> 07:59.440 a razor to shave, things that can't be traced back. 07:59.440 --> 08:01.440 Wait, don't go. Where are you going? 08:01.440 --> 08:04.440 You need something to hide that eye, too. 08:04.440 --> 08:09.440 Ah, a patch, I think. Yes, an eye patch would be best. 08:09.440 --> 08:15.440 I'll put the things under that, sorry. 08:20.440 --> 08:22.440 He was back for an hour, 08:22.440 --> 08:24.440 but I waited till dark to pick up the bundle. 08:24.440 --> 08:26.440 I changed, shaved, adjusted the eye patch, 08:26.440 --> 08:28.440 and studied myself in the mirror. 08:28.440 --> 08:31.440 It was a fair disguise. 08:31.440 --> 08:39.440 That same night, I stole a punt and pushed off downriver. 08:41.440 --> 08:44.440 It took me a week to reach the sea. 08:44.440 --> 08:45.440 There was a large harbor there, 08:45.440 --> 08:48.440 and walking along the wharves, I saw several English ships. 08:48.440 --> 08:51.440 From two English sailors I met in a bar, 08:51.440 --> 08:55.440 I learned that one freighter was sailing next morning for London. 08:55.440 --> 08:59.440 Her first mate was named Mr. Vayner. 08:59.440 --> 09:02.440 Yes, who is it? 09:02.440 --> 09:05.440 Mr. Vayner. Who is it? 09:05.440 --> 09:09.440 Oh, the police didn't catch you. 09:09.440 --> 09:10.440 Didn't you know? 09:10.440 --> 09:13.440 They've searched every ship in the harbor. 09:13.440 --> 09:14.440 Found that punt you abandoned. 09:14.440 --> 09:16.440 How did they place it to me? 09:16.440 --> 09:18.440 They had reports of a man wearing a black eye patch, 09:18.440 --> 09:20.440 seen on the river. 09:20.440 --> 09:21.440 That's how I know who you are. 09:21.440 --> 09:23.440 Can you help me? 09:23.440 --> 09:26.440 I could hide you in the storeroom. 09:26.440 --> 09:27.440 No, no, too risky. 09:27.440 --> 09:30.440 No place in the hold. 09:30.440 --> 09:34.440 I've got it. Come on. 09:34.440 --> 09:35.440 Anyone see you come aboard? 09:35.440 --> 09:36.440 I don't think so. 09:36.440 --> 09:39.440 Everybody's ashore except me and the cook. 09:39.440 --> 09:42.440 It's time to hide you. 09:42.440 --> 09:43.440 It's all clear. 09:43.440 --> 09:47.440 Come on, run. 09:47.440 --> 09:48.440 Keep your head down. 09:48.440 --> 09:50.440 Police might come back, spot you from the wharf. 09:50.440 --> 09:52.440 What's this manhole cover for? 09:52.440 --> 09:56.440 Empty fresh water tank. 09:56.440 --> 10:00.440 I'll be in fast. 10:00.440 --> 10:02.440 I'll bring you food and blankets. 10:02.440 --> 10:04.440 Would you like some whiskey? 10:04.440 --> 10:06.440 Very much. Thanks. 10:06.440 --> 10:09.440 And Mr. Vayner, when we dock in the Thames, 10:09.440 --> 10:10.440 will you keep a sharp lookout? 10:10.440 --> 10:12.440 See if the ship's watched? 10:12.440 --> 10:14.440 You'll be safe in England, sir. 10:14.440 --> 10:29.440 Maybe, but I'm going to look before I leave. 10:29.440 --> 10:30.440 We're docked. 10:30.440 --> 10:31.440 You're right, sir. 10:31.440 --> 10:34.440 There's a funny-looking chap watching the gates. 10:34.440 --> 10:35.440 Could I row ashore? 10:35.440 --> 10:38.440 I have the dinghy ready under the starboard quarter. 10:38.440 --> 10:39.440 Fine. 10:39.440 --> 10:42.440 I'll leave it at the Hurlingham East Wall so you can pick it up. 10:42.440 --> 10:44.440 Have you friends, sir, who'll hide you? 10:44.440 --> 10:46.440 I can't let them be involved. 10:46.440 --> 10:48.440 I'll see my lawyer first thing in the morning, 10:48.440 --> 11:00.440 then I'll disappear. 11:00.440 --> 11:02.440 Oh, come in quickly. 11:02.440 --> 11:04.440 You're taking a frightful risk coming here. 11:04.440 --> 11:06.440 I know, Saul, that I have to. 11:06.440 --> 11:09.440 There's no telling who saw you come into the building. 11:09.440 --> 11:11.440 I noticed a man in a black hat 11:11.440 --> 11:13.440 feeding the birds in the courtyard. 11:13.440 --> 11:15.440 Oh, yes, he's been there all week. 11:15.440 --> 11:17.440 And I just glimpsed a certain Major. 11:17.440 --> 11:18.440 You mean you know him? 11:18.440 --> 11:21.440 When he called on me and asked all those pointed questions about you, 11:21.440 --> 11:23.440 I thought he was lying. 11:23.440 --> 11:25.440 He said he was a friend and a neighbor, 11:25.440 --> 11:27.440 called himself Major Keefe Smith. 11:27.440 --> 11:29.440 He's no friend, Saul. 11:29.440 --> 11:31.440 He's a half-English major in the German army. 11:31.440 --> 11:33.440 How are you tangled up with the Germans? 11:33.440 --> 11:35.440 Why, their ambassador's been asking about you, too. 11:35.440 --> 11:36.440 I can't tell you, Saul. 11:36.440 --> 11:38.440 I'm in a mess. 11:38.440 --> 11:40.440 I can't go to the police or involve the government in any way. 11:40.440 --> 11:43.440 I have to disappear, and I need 5,000 pounds in cash. 11:43.440 --> 11:44.440 Hmm. 11:44.440 --> 11:47.440 Then I'll send Sims out to cash a check. 11:47.440 --> 11:51.440 But, uh, they'll follow you when you leave 11:51.440 --> 11:53.440 Black Hat and the Major up? 11:53.440 --> 11:55.440 They'll try. 11:55.440 --> 11:57.440 But I'll shake them somehow. 12:02.440 --> 12:04.440 When I started for the Hoban Underground Station, 12:04.440 --> 12:07.440 the man in the black hat was close behind me. 12:07.440 --> 12:10.440 Then I saw, before I dived into the station, 12:10.440 --> 12:12.440 that he'd stopped at the newsstand. 12:12.440 --> 12:13.440 That puzzled me. 12:13.440 --> 12:15.440 Until I looked further back and spotted the Major 12:15.440 --> 12:17.440 moving toward me fast through the crowd. 12:17.440 --> 12:19.440 Our eyes met and clashed in recognition, 12:19.440 --> 12:21.440 and suddenly I saw their plan. 12:21.440 --> 12:23.440 Black Hat would stay behind to guard the exit. 12:23.440 --> 12:25.440 The Major would keep on my heels. 12:25.440 --> 12:28.440 I ran to the escalator and went down to the third level, 12:28.440 --> 12:31.440 and I raced across the platform to a southbound train. 12:31.440 --> 12:34.440 I jumped aboard and worked my way forward, peering out. 12:34.440 --> 12:36.440 The Major was delayed on the jam platform, 12:36.440 --> 12:38.440 and he barely hurled himself through the same door I'd entered, 12:38.440 --> 12:41.440 while I stepped off the train through another door. 12:41.440 --> 12:43.440 The door slid shut. 12:43.440 --> 12:45.440 The train hauled the Major off toward Piccalilly. 12:45.440 --> 12:47.440 I started back toward the escalator, 12:47.440 --> 12:49.440 then stopped in panic. 12:49.440 --> 12:51.440 Black Hat was there on the platform. 12:51.440 --> 12:54.440 He'd been there all along, not at the newsstand. 12:54.440 --> 12:57.440 I plunged into that platform like a frightened rabbit. 12:57.440 --> 12:59.440 Black Hat and I were alone. 12:59.440 --> 13:02.440 He moved toward me, his hand poised over the pocket. 13:02.440 --> 13:04.440 I was sure he held a gun. 13:04.440 --> 13:06.440 I jumped off the platform and ran, 13:06.440 --> 13:08.440 keeping well away from the third rail. 13:08.440 --> 13:10.440 His footsteps pounded behind me. 13:10.440 --> 13:12.440 The tunnel curved into blackness. 13:12.440 --> 13:16.440 Just beyond the curve, I flattened myself against the tunnel wall. 13:25.440 --> 13:27.440 You might as well come out. 13:27.440 --> 13:29.440 The Major wants to talk to you. 13:29.440 --> 13:31.440 Just come along. Talk. 13:31.440 --> 13:34.440 You need a gun in your hand to talk? 13:34.440 --> 13:55.440 Autolite is bringing you Mr. Herbert Marshall in Rogue Mail. 13:55.440 --> 14:05.440 Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 14:15.440 --> 14:17.440 Well, Hap, how's the team? 14:17.440 --> 14:19.440 You mean our basketball team, Harlow? 14:19.440 --> 14:25.440 No, I mean the autolite team in your autolite-equipped car. 14:25.440 --> 14:27.440 That team of autolite electrical system units, 14:27.440 --> 14:30.440 including the coil, distributor, generator, starting motor, 14:30.440 --> 14:33.440 and all their thousands of component parts. 14:33.440 --> 14:36.440 Why, they're all related by autolite engineering design 14:36.440 --> 14:41.440 and manufacturing skill to give your car the smoothest performance money can buy. 14:41.440 --> 14:44.440 The autolite electrical system does a big job, eh, Harlow? 14:44.440 --> 14:46.440 You said it, Hap, and it vitally does. 14:46.440 --> 14:49.440 It's the smooth and efficient operation of your autolite-equipped car. 14:49.440 --> 14:52.440 And I'm off to treat my car to a periodic checkup 14:52.440 --> 14:55.440 at my nearest authorized autolite service station, Harlow. 14:55.440 --> 14:58.440 Right, Hap, and friends, it will pay you to do the same. 14:58.440 --> 15:02.440 Visit your car dealers or nearest authorized autolite service station. 15:02.440 --> 15:06.440 You'll find the authorized autolite service station nearest to you 15:06.440 --> 15:09.440 listed in the classified section of your telephone directory. 15:09.440 --> 15:13.440 Or call Western Union by number and ask for a call. 15:13.440 --> 15:18.440 Or call Western Union by number and ask for operator 25. 15:18.440 --> 15:23.440 And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with autolite. 15:23.440 --> 15:28.440 And now, autolite brings back to our Hollywood soundstage 15:28.440 --> 15:33.440 Mr. Herbert Marshall in Elliot Lewis' production of Rogue Male, 15:33.440 --> 15:36.440 a tale well calculated to keep you in... 15:36.440 --> 15:51.440 suspense. 15:51.440 --> 15:54.440 I can still hear his scream when he fell on the fair rail. 15:54.440 --> 15:56.440 It echoed along the tunnel, 15:56.440 --> 16:04.440 a queer place for a soul to find itself adrift. 16:04.440 --> 16:07.440 I had to leave London, hide somewhere in the country. 16:07.440 --> 16:10.440 At a series of shops, I bought camping equipment, 16:10.440 --> 16:13.440 a primer stove, pans, a sleeping bag, 16:13.440 --> 16:16.440 a heavy slingshot, and a hunting knife. 16:16.440 --> 16:18.440 I couldn't buy a gun without having it registered. 16:18.440 --> 16:21.440 Finally, I bought a bicycle, and by evening, I was pedaling southwest 16:21.440 --> 16:26.440 toward Dorset, looking, I hope, like a carefree man on a rambling holiday. 16:26.440 --> 16:31.440 I picked my hiding place above Marshwood Vale between two lonely farms. 16:31.440 --> 16:36.440 It's not on any map. Choke with dead wood, blocked at both ends by tangled thorn. 16:36.440 --> 16:40.440 Nobody would ever find it except a curious child, 16:40.440 --> 16:42.440 which is why I knew of it. 16:42.440 --> 16:45.440 For in love, one becomes a child again. 16:45.440 --> 16:49.440 That bit of road had been our discovery, hers and mine, 16:49.440 --> 16:54.440 during the brief two weeks which were to begin our life together. 16:54.440 --> 17:01.440 Two weeks which were instead our last, our only time. 17:04.440 --> 17:09.440 The next days, I slept and watched. Nights, I worked. 17:09.440 --> 17:12.440 I tunneled back ten feet into the soft stand, 17:12.440 --> 17:17.440 totaled a bank, hollowing out a low room and a hut. 17:17.440 --> 17:19.440 My chimney went straight up into a blackberry bush. 17:19.440 --> 17:21.440 Over the entrance, I fitted a heavy door, 17:21.440 --> 17:25.440 camouflaged with sandstone dust and dead twigs and vines. 17:25.440 --> 17:28.440 If anyone should blunder into that piece of road, 17:28.440 --> 17:30.440 you'd see no sign of my hiding place. 17:30.440 --> 17:34.440 I would be warm, dry, reasonably well fed, 17:34.440 --> 17:39.440 troubled only by my memories and my loneliness. 17:39.440 --> 17:46.440 Then one morning, down my chimney, came a thin, black, powerful tomcat, 17:46.440 --> 17:50.440 who seemed to think me the trespasser. 17:50.440 --> 17:53.440 Hello there. Here, here. 17:53.440 --> 17:55.440 Share a biscuit? 17:55.440 --> 17:58.440 Not with your civil old man. 17:58.440 --> 18:00.440 Would you rather have some bully beef? 18:00.440 --> 18:03.440 Here, here you are. 18:03.440 --> 18:08.440 I bet that's the first cook meeting beaten. 18:08.440 --> 18:11.440 What do you live on mostly? Mice? Peasants? 18:11.440 --> 18:15.440 Look at your ribs. You haven't had good hunting of late. 18:15.440 --> 18:20.440 Ha-ha! The bully beef brings out your better nature. 18:20.440 --> 18:24.440 Maybe you'll let me scratch your ear. 18:24.440 --> 18:31.440 Why, you're a veritable asmodious, demon of hatred and malignity. 18:31.440 --> 18:34.440 Now, easy. I'm not going to hurt you. 18:34.440 --> 18:38.440 That's right. I won't tell anyone. 18:38.440 --> 18:41.440 Stick around and keep me from being lonely. 18:41.440 --> 18:46.440 I won't tell a soul that old asmodious is a sentimental fool. 18:52.440 --> 18:55.440 But in the end, my loneliness seemed more acute. 18:55.440 --> 19:01.440 In the long nights of that silent fulcide, I was haunted by a memory of her violet eyes. 19:01.440 --> 19:06.440 By a futile wish that I'd followed my premonition, forced her to stay with me in England. 19:06.440 --> 19:13.440 Strange, when I first heard that she was dead, I'd suffered very little. 19:13.440 --> 19:20.440 But at night, in that cave, remembering, I felt such pain. 19:26.440 --> 19:32.440 The next afternoon, lying hidden in the top of an oak tree, I saw a car drive into the yard of the farm to the east. 19:32.440 --> 19:37.440 A man climbed out, carrying a gun case and bag. 19:37.440 --> 19:41.440 The car drove away and the man went into the farmhouse. 19:41.440 --> 19:49.440 I stayed in the tree and in the evening saw the farmer and his visitor emerge with guns under their arms, probably going out to hunt wood pigeons. 19:49.440 --> 19:54.440 After a while, they came out from a thicket to my left. 19:54.440 --> 19:59.440 The farmer's visitor was Major Keeve Smith. 19:59.440 --> 20:02.440 We haven't much luck for your first evening shooting, sir. 20:02.440 --> 20:05.440 That's all right. I have two weeks holiday. 20:05.440 --> 20:09.440 What's behind that growth of porthorn over there? 20:09.440 --> 20:12.440 Nothing, but dead wood and more horse horn. 20:12.440 --> 20:14.440 I ought to find pigeons nesting in there. 20:14.440 --> 20:16.440 Most likely, because of the cat. 20:16.440 --> 20:17.440 What cat? 20:17.440 --> 20:21.440 Perishing black cat. Can't shoot him, can't tame him, neither. 20:21.440 --> 20:25.440 Right there, there he goes now, that black devil, where? 20:25.440 --> 20:27.440 Oh, yes, into the hedge. 20:27.440 --> 20:30.440 He's very fat for a stray, isn't he? 20:37.440 --> 20:41.440 I was underground nine days, watching daylight and starlight through my chimney. 20:41.440 --> 20:44.440 Then as Modius disappeared. 20:44.440 --> 20:47.440 That night I heard noises. 20:47.440 --> 20:49.440 There were two men. 20:49.440 --> 20:52.440 They were moving something heavy. 20:52.440 --> 20:57.440 Then I heard a thud against a door when I knew with terror that my door was barred. 20:57.440 --> 21:00.440 I was trapped underground. 21:03.440 --> 21:05.440 Can you hear me? 21:05.440 --> 21:06.440 Yes. 21:06.440 --> 21:08.440 Wonder how I found you? 21:08.440 --> 21:10.440 It was a cat. 21:10.440 --> 21:12.440 I was sure that somebody was feeding him. 21:12.440 --> 21:15.440 How sentimental you English are about animals. 21:15.440 --> 21:18.440 Can't you give me a cleaner death than this? 21:18.440 --> 21:20.440 My dear fellow, I don't want you to die at all. 21:20.440 --> 21:23.440 Put your signature on a document I have here and I'll release you immediately. 21:23.440 --> 21:25.440 A document? Which says what? 21:25.440 --> 21:28.440 Well, I'll read you the most important sentence. 21:28.440 --> 21:33.440 On April the 5th I attempted to assassinate the leader of the German people 21:33.440 --> 21:36.440 and did so with the knowledge of the British government. 21:36.440 --> 21:39.440 See it? A very simple, straightforward statement. 21:39.440 --> 21:40.440 It's a pack of lies. 21:40.440 --> 21:42.440 Oh, come now, no heroics. 21:42.440 --> 21:44.440 Truth is relative. 21:44.440 --> 21:47.440 You think about it overnight, old fellow. 21:47.440 --> 21:49.440 I'll be back at seven in the morning. 21:49.440 --> 21:52.440 Oh? Who do you have on night duty? 21:52.440 --> 21:55.440 The paid hand. Swiss fellow. 21:55.440 --> 22:00.440 You must have realized it took two of us to lift the log of firing your door. 22:00.440 --> 22:04.440 But by the way, why did you try to assassinate our leader? 22:04.440 --> 22:09.440 I told you. I wanted to see if it was possible. 22:09.440 --> 22:12.440 And then I didn't think his death would be any loss. 22:12.440 --> 22:14.440 Ah, then you did mean to shoot. 22:14.440 --> 22:16.440 I'm glad you finally admit it. 22:16.440 --> 22:18.440 Why, yes. 22:18.440 --> 22:20.440 I did mean to shoot. 22:26.440 --> 22:30.440 I'd given myself away, not to him, to myself. 22:30.440 --> 22:32.440 It had not been a game. 22:32.440 --> 22:34.440 I had rarely meant to kill the head of a state. 22:34.440 --> 22:36.440 I must have been mad. 22:36.440 --> 22:41.440 And indeed I was driven mad by rage and grief so great I didn't let myself know what I was thinking. 22:41.440 --> 22:46.440 I am a man who was loved only once and didn't know it until she was dead. 22:46.440 --> 22:48.440 They killed her. 22:48.440 --> 22:51.440 He, that leader, killed her. 22:51.440 --> 22:55.440 She was so swift, so sensitive, so generous of spirit. 22:55.440 --> 22:59.440 She made the cause of all oppressed, unhappy people her own. 22:59.440 --> 23:02.440 And so they caught her and killed her. 23:02.440 --> 23:05.440 For reasons of state. 23:05.440 --> 23:08.440 And so I had declared war on them. 23:08.440 --> 23:11.440 One man at war with a nation. 23:11.440 --> 23:14.440 And I would have destroyed their leader. 23:14.440 --> 23:17.440 If the wind hadn't shifted. 23:17.440 --> 23:20.440 I slipped and was awakened by the sound of a shot. 23:20.440 --> 23:25.440 And then something was stuffed down my chimney, shutting off my only source of fresh air. 23:25.440 --> 23:27.440 Hours passed. 23:27.440 --> 23:30.440 The air grew foul and I banged on the door. 23:30.440 --> 23:32.440 Keith Smith paid no attention. 23:32.440 --> 23:35.440 Finally I reached up the chimney to see what he'd stuffed it. 23:35.440 --> 23:39.440 And pulled poor Asmodeus down into my cave. 23:39.440 --> 23:42.440 He'd been shot at close quarters. 23:42.440 --> 23:45.440 I was choking with sorrow and rage. 23:45.440 --> 23:48.440 It wasn't an easy shot, old man. 23:48.440 --> 23:50.440 Very difficult and sporty. 23:50.440 --> 23:53.440 That's a lie. He trusted you because he'd learned to trust me. 23:53.440 --> 23:55.440 Oh? Well, perhaps you're right. 23:55.440 --> 23:59.440 The Anglo-Saxon love of animals is a weakness I'm happy to be without. 24:04.440 --> 24:08.440 And so, with the death of Asmodeus, 24:08.440 --> 24:11.440 the Major condemned himself to death. 24:11.440 --> 24:14.440 All my plans were directed to that end. 24:14.440 --> 24:19.440 I had no gun, no access to my victim except through the chimney hole. 24:19.440 --> 24:22.440 No weapon but the slingshot. 24:22.440 --> 24:25.440 There was only one way to kill him. 24:25.440 --> 24:29.440 To shoot a lethal missile through that opening. 24:29.440 --> 24:34.440 After some hours I hit on an iron spit with my weapon. 24:34.440 --> 24:37.440 To be fired by the slingshot. 24:37.440 --> 24:41.440 Then I set about luring the Major to the hole. 24:41.440 --> 24:44.440 Ah? Want to talk? 24:44.440 --> 24:47.440 Yes, I've been thinking. 24:47.440 --> 24:50.440 You'd only use that document in case of a war, is that right? 24:50.440 --> 24:51.440 Exactly. 24:51.440 --> 24:55.440 So it doesn't matter if I sign it or not, since there isn't going to be a war. 24:55.440 --> 24:58.440 You're perfectly right. The mere formality. 24:58.440 --> 25:00.440 Then hand it down. 25:00.440 --> 25:02.440 And give me a pen and a flashlight. 25:02.440 --> 25:04.440 Right away. 25:04.440 --> 25:07.440 I'm glad you decided to be sensible. 25:07.440 --> 25:11.440 You're a cut above the average Englishman. 25:11.440 --> 25:13.440 There it is. Got it? 25:13.440 --> 25:15.440 Yes. 25:15.440 --> 25:17.440 Here's the pen. 25:17.440 --> 25:20.440 Where are you? I can't see... 25:27.440 --> 25:30.440 There was a look of surprise in his eyes. 25:30.440 --> 25:32.440 But he was already dead. 25:32.440 --> 25:35.440 The iron spit took him square about the nose. 25:35.440 --> 25:37.440 Then he toppled backward. 25:37.440 --> 25:41.440 Immediately I had to wait at the end of the chimney until it was large enough to receive my body. 25:41.440 --> 25:43.440 Then I burst out into the blackberry bush. 25:43.440 --> 25:48.440 The Major was lying on his back with the spit projecting through the back of his skull. 25:48.440 --> 25:54.440 I searched him through this revolver, burned that scandalous document he'd meant me to sign. 25:54.440 --> 25:57.440 And sat down to wait. 25:57.440 --> 26:00.440 It was dark when I heard the Swiss agent coming. 26:00.440 --> 26:04.440 When he was a few paces away, I flashed the light on him. 26:04.440 --> 26:06.440 Put your hands up. 26:06.440 --> 26:08.440 Now walk over here slowly. 26:08.440 --> 26:10.440 What do you want? 26:10.440 --> 26:12.440 Your gun. Turn around. 26:12.440 --> 26:16.440 Oh, you killed the Major. 26:16.440 --> 26:18.440 Oh, please, sir. 26:18.440 --> 26:20.440 Don't turn me in. They will hang me. 26:20.440 --> 26:22.440 They will hang me for treason. 26:22.440 --> 26:24.440 Now we are at war. 26:24.440 --> 26:25.440 At war? 26:25.440 --> 26:27.440 Oh, yes, sir. It came over the wireless. 26:27.440 --> 26:29.440 Germany has marched into Poland. 26:29.440 --> 26:31.440 England has declared war. 26:38.440 --> 26:42.440 And so my private war merged with the greater cause. 26:42.440 --> 26:47.440 And I had no need to worry further about the ethics of my revenge. 26:47.440 --> 26:50.440 They were the same as the ethics of war. 26:50.440 --> 26:52.440 True. 26:52.440 --> 26:56.440 It had not been as I had claimed a sporting stop. 26:56.440 --> 26:59.440 But you can't call me unsporting. 26:59.440 --> 27:03.440 After all, if I'd pulled the trigger, 27:03.440 --> 27:27.440 I would have achieved one of the two or three most difficult shots in the world. 27:33.440 --> 27:36.440 This is Harlow Wilcock speaking for Auto Light, 27:36.440 --> 27:41.440 the world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. 27:41.440 --> 27:45.440 Auto Light is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry. 27:45.440 --> 27:48.440 That is why during the early months of 1952, 27:48.440 --> 27:53.440 the Auto Light family will join together in saluting the leading car manufacturers 27:53.440 --> 27:58.440 who install Auto Light products as original equipment right on their assembly line. 27:58.440 --> 28:03.440 The Auto Light family is made up of the nearly 30,000 men and women 28:03.440 --> 28:06.440 in 28 great Auto Light plants from coast to coast, 28:06.440 --> 28:09.440 as well as more than 18,000 Auto Light stockholders, 28:09.440 --> 28:13.440 97,000 Auto Light distributors and dealers in the United States, 28:13.440 --> 28:17.440 and thousands more in Canada and throughout the world. 28:17.440 --> 28:21.440 The Auto Light family will salute the Packard Motor Car Company 28:21.440 --> 28:24.440 in the next Auto Light Suspense Television Program. 28:24.440 --> 28:29.440 So if you live in a television area, check the day and time of suspense on television 28:29.440 --> 28:31.440 so that you won't miss this program. 28:31.440 --> 28:36.440 And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light. 28:36.440 --> 28:42.440 Next week on Suspense, our star will be Mr. Jeff Chandler in a story taken from life, 28:42.440 --> 28:46.440 a factual document concerning the San Francisco Tongue Wars, 28:46.440 --> 28:50.440 which we call the Case Against Lou Dock. 28:50.440 --> 28:54.440 In weeks to come, we shall also present Ms. Agnes Moorhead, Mr. Charles Boyer, 28:54.440 --> 29:00.440 and Mr. J. Carroll Nash, all on Suspense. 29:02.440 --> 29:05.440 Suspense is transcribed and directed by Elliot Lewis 29:05.440 --> 29:09.440 with music composed by Lucian Morawieckin, conducted by Lud Bluskin. 29:09.440 --> 29:14.440 Rogue Mail was adapted for Suspense by Sylvia Richards from the novel by Jeffrey Household. 29:14.440 --> 29:17.440 In tonight's story, best read by the author, 29:17.440 --> 29:20.440 the novel by Jeffrey Household. 29:20.440 --> 29:23.440 In tonight's story, Ben Wright was heard as the major. 29:23.440 --> 29:27.440 Featured in the cast were Larry Dobkin, Ramsey Hill, Harry Brartell, 29:27.440 --> 29:31.440 Peter Owen, Joseph Kearns, William Johnstone, and Earl Keen. 29:31.440 --> 29:37.440 Herbert Marshall may be heard each week on his own radio program, The Man Called X. 29:37.440 --> 29:47.440 This is the CBS Radio Network.