Episode 1378

Aired: Wednesday October 6, 1971

Keith Prentice's voiceover: "There is an ominous shadow of evil over Collinwood.... but no one suspects that it is found in the form of Julia Hoffman, now possessed by an evil warlock from an earlier century. She and Nicholas Blair, who brought the evil spirit to her, conspire to unlock the secrets of time discovered by Barnabas Collins... and conspire towards revenge against him as well...."

Nicholas enters his house and looks around for Julia. He stops at the mirror for a moment and wonders why she is not there. Julia comes downstairs and he asks her what has been happening with "the plan." Julia answers "Everything is going according to plan. Barnabas has his Sarah again and couldn't be happier." Nicholas smirks. "Do you enjoy tormenting that child with nightmares?" Julia smiles and answers "Once was amusing enough. I'm sure she has forgotten the experience by now, though the seeds of the truth were planted in her mind. It will be enough to destroy her when the time is right." Nicholas remarks that "destroying little girls" was not the reason he brought Judah to this century, and Julia snaps "I have already moved forward with the major objective before us." Confused, Nicholas asks "What have you done to Harrison Collins? Did you get the ring?" Julia smiles and says "I have.....a ring" as she holds up a jeweled ring in her hands.

After the titles, Nicholas asks her "How did you get that? Does he know?" Julia scoffs "Of course not, how could he? This is not his ring, Nicholas. It's a replica I had made in the village." Nicholas catches on. "And all you think we need to do is switch them somehow?" Julia nods. Nicholas answers "That may be impossible. It means we have to get Harrison to remove the ring from his hand." Julia answers "Nicholas, you surprise me in your limited thinking. We have many ways at our disposal..." as we pull in to study the crystal in the ring, we dissolve to the ring on Harrison's hand, and pull back to see him sitting in the Collinwood drawing room reading the newspaper. Quentin enters, but then turns to exit to avoid Harrison. Harrison sees him and calls after him. "Quentin! Please, I've been waiting for you." Quentin turns again and stands at the entrance of the drawing room. "Why?" he says. "What kind of nonsense are you going to tell me now?" Harrison puts the paper down and says "We both know what I told you is far from nonsense. But if you still don't believe me, there's something else I can show you." Quentin snaps "All I want you to do is tell me what this is all about." Harrison stands before him and says "I promise to tell you everything after I show you that I am telling the truth." Quentin skeptically asks "What will you show me?" Harrison says "Come with me" and starts leading Quentin out of the drawing room when Julia enters the house. Quentin says hello as Harrison continues to lead him, but Julia stops them and says "Oh, Harrison. I'm glad I caught you. I needed to discuss something with you." Harrison answers "Well, perhaps later. Quentin and I have some business to attend to..." Julia looks at him seriously and says "It concerns Sarah." Harrison thinks a moment, and says "Perhaps we should talk now, Doctor. Quentin, if you wouldn't mind waiting..." Quentin says sarcastically "Well, I've been waiting for a long enough time, what's a few more minutes?" Harrison takes Julia into the drawing room and closes the door. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Harrison asks Julia. She looks at him and answers "You've seen Sarah a few times since your arrival here, haven't you?" Harrison says yes, and Julia suddenly takes Harrison's hand. "Yes, Harrison. I know you have. I also know you are concerned for her, but that is not what interests me now. You understand that, don't you?" Harrison stands still and says nothing. Julia smiles "Oh, I see suddenly you have lost your ability to answer me. Well, no matter. This shouldn't take too long." Julia lifts his other hand and we see the ring. Harrison otherwise remains immobile and unresponsive. "I only need to make a trade with you. You need not know it is happening, nor do you need to remember." Julia takes Harrison's ring off his hand and holds it in the light, admiring it and smiling. She drops in into her purse and takes out the replacement, carefully sliding it onto Harrison's finger. She lowers his hand again, and then grabs his other hand again as before, continuing with "Are you all right?" Harrison suddenly becomes awake and says "Yes, I'm perfectly fine. You were saying, about Sarah?" Julia says "I've just seen her myself, on the way over here. She was outside the old house, but then I lost sight of her." Harrison looks at her skeptically and says "Did you really come here to tell me you saw Sarah, Doctor Hoffman? Somehow I don't believe you." Julia is surprised to hear this.

Harrison continues "What did you want me to say about her? We both know you know more about Sarah than I do. You and Barnabas. Why don't you just tell the truth?" Julia breathes a sigh of relief and says "I don't know anything more about her than you." Harrison looks at Julia and shakes his head. "I am in no mood for games, Doctor, not from you or from Barnabas. Is that all? I have business with Quentin, as I discussed." Julia says "I am not playing games with you, Harrison. Perhaps one day you will tell me everything you know." Harrison smiles as he opens the drawing room doors to leave and parts with "Perhaps one day you will as well, Doctor." After he leaves, Julia smiles as we zoom in on her purse. Meanwhile, Quentin is waiting in Harrison's room. He looks through a few things when Harrison enters. "I thought I might find you here when you weren't in your own room in the west wing," Harrison says. "I thought I might find a few clues as to this great truth you're about to tell me," Quentin snaps. "No, not here," Harrison answers. "This was where I began my own search for clues, actually." Quentin asks him what he means, and Harrison says "Never mind for now. I can only tell you once I know you trust me. Follow me." Quentin follows him out. They walk down the hall as Quentin asks "Where are we going?" Harrison says "I want to show you the old laboratory downstairs. There's something you must see." But suddenly, Harrison stops. Quentin asks what is it, and Harrison answers "But first, there's something I must see." He walks past Quentin to a locked door. "This door leads to a small attic, does it not?" he says. Quentin gets a little nervous but answers yes. "There's something up there I'd like to see, Quentin. We both know what it is. If you allow me to see it, I'll trust you enough to show you what I must show you in the laboratory." Quentin answers "It doesn't matter anyway. That door is locked. There's no way of getting up there." Harrison takes a key out of his pocket and holds it up. "Quentin, please. We have to time for these games. You have nothing to fear from me, I swear it." He unlocks the door and reluctantly, Quentin follows him up the stairs.

In the attic, Harrison and Quentin enter and stand before Quentin's portrait, which is covered by a blue cloth. Harrison looks around and says "Yes....this is the place. A place that will remain unaltered...." Quentin angrily snaps at Harrison "How do you know about all this? Are you going to tell me?" Harrison answers "I am going to tell you everything. I owe you that much since I know everything about you. Quentin Collins, born in the year 1870 and kept perpetually young by this portrait." Harrison removes the cloth to reveal the picture of the decaying old Quentin. Harrison is startled by it for a moment, and says "I didn't quite expect it to look like that..." Quentin grabs the cloth out of his hand and covers the portrait again. "What did you expect, dear Harrison Collins, if you know the truth? And is your name really Harrison Collins?" "Indeed it is, Quentin," Harrison answers. "What do you want from me then, Harrison? Why prove to me that you know the truth about me?" Quentin says. Harrison looks thoughtful for a moment, and then answers "I wasn't sure if I should tell you I knew. I was afraid of what might happen, but then I thought that I needed to change what might happen. I want you to remember me, Quentin, to remember that we both know the secret of this room." Quentin asks why, and Harrison answers "That is what I want to show you in the laboratory. Come with me." Harrison leaves, and Quentin, growing curious, follows.

Harrison and Quentin come down the stairs into the 1840s Quentin's lab. Harrison says "Our ancestor and your namesake was quite an eccentric scientist. He was fascinated by theories of time, and has stumbled upon a rudimentary form of time travel." Quentin answers "I've heard all about that from Stokes. What are you going to show me?" Harrison smiles and says "I'm going to show you the secret of how it works. I've spent years researching our ancestor's work, and the key to the staircase through time that those rotted planks in the corner were once a part of." Quentin says "What does that have to do with my portrait in the attic or my secret?" Harrison answers "It has everything to do with my secret, Quentin. A secret you will know one day, so why can't that day be today? Watch." Harrison gets the planks from the pile and lays them in a square on the floor, and then backs Quentin away from them. "There must be a closure in the field," Harrison says, "or else the vortex will close in on itself." Quentin asks "Vortex?" and after looking at the planks adds "A vortex through time?" Harrison says yes, and Quentin says "A portal through time.... that can't be possible!" Harrison says "Is your age any less possible? Of course the time portal is possible, and it is possible to travel through it." Quentin answers "How could it be controlled?" Harrison lifts his ring and says "With this. The crystal in this ring. It is linked to metallic elements in the planks of those stairs. When focused by the concentration of someone touching the crystal, the vortex can itself be focused as well. That was our ancestor's discovery." Quentin says "And where did you get the crystal?" Harrison points and answers "From out of that desk." Quentin asks "How did you know it was there?" Harrison says "A simple deduction from reading our ancestor's journals. Watch, Quentin, I will open the vortex." Harrison lifts his ring and says "Open...show me Quentin Collins in the year 1897...." Quentin looks but as Harrison watches the planks, nothing happens. Quentin asks "Well? What should be happening?" Harrison says "Open...show me Quentin Collins in the year 1897.." again, but nothing happens. Harrison says "I don't understand... this should not be happening." Quentin says "Perhaps you need to tell me something that doesn't require a demonstration." Harrison angrily says "The vortex should have opened! This crystal...." Harrison stops a moment, and then removes the ring. Quentin sarcastically says "Are you going to take your magic ring into town and have it fixed?" Harrison looks at the inside of the ring and says "This isn't my ring... it's a copy, a fake! Someone....someone has stolen the vortex crystal!" Quentin wonders if he is telling the truth.