Episode 1296

Aired: Monday June 14, 1971

At Collinwood, Liz tosses and turns in her sleep, and begins to dream. In her dream, she is wandering in the foyer of Collinwood with the requisite dream fog. She hears the grandfather clock chiming, but when she looks at it, it is running backwards. As she watches this confused, she glances down to the swinging pendulum....which morphs into Julia's medallion swinging before her eyes as she hears Julia's voice say "blocks of time will no longer be connected to your consciousness.....no longer connected.....no longer connected...." She backs away from the clock into the drawing room, and when she turns around, she sees herself standing by the window, with two bleeding wounds running from the neck.... and with a scream wakes up terrified.

After the titles, Quentin is sitting in the drawing room having some coffee and reading a newspaper when there is a knock at the door. It is Stokes, arriving to tell Quentin that he has done some research on Petofi and his powers. As he begins to explain, Liz enters, still shaken from her dream and asks for some coffee. Quentin asks her if she is all right, and she says she could hardly sleep because of nightmares that she can't remember, only that "I have a sense that I've lost part of my life. I can't remember things that happened to me and I think they are turning up in my dreams in strange and twisted ways!" Stokes is interested in her problem, but Liz says that Julia has been attempting to retrieve some memories through hypnosis. "But," she adds "I feel as if I am losing my ability to keep track of time." Stokes asks her what she means by that as opposed to merely forgetting some things, and Liz answers "I'm not sure, but I feel as if I can no longer sense the passing of time as the day goes on." Quentin and Stokes look at each other.

Stokes tells Quentin that the "sorcery of Petofi has a long and interesting history" but Quentin only wants to know if Stokes found out anything about Daphne. Stokes isn't sure Quentin would want to hear what he thinks, even though "it's only a theory." Quentin wants to know, and Stokes tells him that he found many instances where, according to the accounts, Petofi seemed to have some limited command of the forces of life and death, and was able to manipulate them for his own purposes. "What does that mean?" Quentin asks. "For one thing," Stokes answers, "it would certainly have given Petofi the secret of immortality. One can assume that he was able to make others immortal as well...." This comment makes Quentin nervous, and he offers Stokes some coffee. Stokes continues that Daphne's only memories brought up through the same sort of hypnosis Liz is undergoing were that of a Daphne Harridge Collins who lived in the 19th century. "This can mean many things," he goes on. "Normally, I might theorize that we were dealing with a possible case for reincarnation." Quentin laughs a little and asks Stokes if he, as a man of science, believes in reincarnation. Stokes says "Yes, I do. And for a reason you may very well be interested in yourself." "What do you mean?" Quentin asks. "Are you telling me that Daphne is a reincarnation of the Daphne who married my namesake ancestor?" Stokes puts down his coffee and answers "No, Mr. Collins, I do not believe that Daphne is the reincarnated soul here. I think you are." Quentin is surprised to hear this.

Quentin asks Stokes what he's talking about, and Stokes answers that "if we weren't dealing with Petofi, I might not think this, but put it all together. If Petofi's plan was targeted at you and he chose to use Daphne as a way to lower your guard, it would make sense if you were indeed the reincarnation of your namesake ancestor who once loved Daphne." "But not this Daphne, Professor!" Quentin answers. "You're not making sense!" "Let me finish," Stokes interrupts. "Another power Petofi had was to establish a connection with the souls of the dead and re-embody them through some kind of spell." Quentin begins to think about this. "I found ample evidence that he had done this in the 19th century with someone named Garth Blackwood. I believe he has done this again." Quentin looks at Stokes and says "You mean that Daphne and the Daphne of the 19th century are...." "Are one in the same," Stokes says. "I believe Petofi had re-embodied her spirit knowing it would respond to your reincarnated one." Quentin tries to take this all in.

Quentin is looking out the window when Daphne comes in from outside. They greet each other and he asks her to sit down. "Stokes was here earlier," he tells her. She wants to know if Stokes found anything out about her background. Quentin hesitates a bit, and tells her "No, not yet. But I'm sure he'll find out something very soon." Daphne is disappointed and frustrated, but Quentin tells her that everything will be all right, and with a hug that "I won't let anything hurt you, ever."