Episode 1428

Aired: Wednesday December 15, 1971

After a replay of Tuesday's close, the walking corpse of Evan swats at Stanford from behind, knocking him unconscious. Stokes turns to see, and is terrified. He backs up towards the altar and is trapped as Evan gets closer and closer. We hear Stokes scream. We cut back to Kitty, who suddenly takes a deep breath and seems all right now. She stands before the fire and then smiles at Benjamin. "I can sense it.... our enemy is destroyed!" Benjamin smiles at her and then kisses her hand. We dissolve to Stanford waking up and rubbing his head. The altar is gone. He looks around and calls for Stokes and then finds his body laying in some brush. "Roderick!" he yells as he examines the body. We hear him think "His neck... broken! By the same person who hit me in the head when I wasn't looking. Where did the altar go? What is this place? I must tell someone at Collinwood!" He runs off. At Collinwood, Stanford runs through the door, but only finds Kitty and Benjamin in the drawing room. "Quickly!" he says. "A terrible thing has happened! It's Roderick!" Benjamin feigns innocence and says "Uncle Roderick?" Stanford looks at them both and says "He's dead!" Kitty hides a smile for a moment, and Benjamin fakes some shock. "Dead? How?" he says. Stanford says "We went to the woods....we saw some sort of altar...I believe Roderick was trying to destroy it, and something attacked us!" Kitty loses her smile and asks Stanford "An altar? In the woods?" Stanford "I hardly believe it, since it appears and disappears." Kitty looks quite seriously when she says "But you have seen this altar and stood before it's flame?" Stanford says "Yes, I.... how did you know it had a flame?" Kitty waves her hands and the doors to the drawing room slam shut. Stanford is terrified of her. "You!!!" he says.

"Those who look upon the flame must be consecrated..." Kitty says as she slowly approaches a terrified Stanford. "How did you do that? Benjamin! What is she?" Stanford tries to back away, but Benjamin takes hold of him. "You must obey her, there is no choice!" Benjamin says. Stanford struggles as Kitty laughs while approaching him. "Don't be so afraid, you pathetic old man," she says. "I'm only going to....kiss you...." She gets closer as Stanford struggles in vain. Meanwhile upstairs, Valery is packing when Trask comes in. He asks her why she is packing, and she says "My father wants to take a trip with me. I'll be back in a few days." Trask asks her why she didn't ask him before she decided to go. "I thought that with your work you'd stay here," she says. He takes her arms and says "A wife should stay with her husband." She pulls away, and he notices her coldness. "I don't think you should go," he says. She continues packing, and says "You'll have to take that up with my father." Trask spins her around and says "I want to keep you close to me." She snaps "Why? Keeping a close eye on me? Why is that?" Trask says he didn't mean it that way, and Valery says "I would think you'd enjoy my leaving since then you can spend more time with Alice." Trask gets concerned as Valery continues "That's an interesting reaction. You never felt guilty about being friends with Alice before." Trask angrily says "And I don't now!" Valery says "Tell that to Quentin and Carl!" Trask gets a little scared, and she continues "Yes, I know about all of it, dear Gregory! Now leave me! I have much packing to do!" He grabs her and says "Don't think you can order me around, my dear. Did you look carefully at those papers you signed? They gave me complete control of this house if I so choose. And if I so choose, I can declare you all but incompetent!" Valery yells for him to let go of her as she struggles. Suddenly, Harrison is standing in the doorway and says "Let go of her, Trask. You heard her."

"Stay out of things that do not concern you!" Trask bellows. Harrison walks into the room and yanks Trask away from Valery. "You concern me, Trask," he says. Valery runs from the room and Harrison shoves Trask away from her. "Quentin told me all about you, " Harrison says. Trask sneers. "He told you pipedreams. I will assert control of this house and soon you will no longer be welcome here!" Harrison smiles and says "Somehow, I doubt that. You may have no legal right to this house from what I understand, even though you try to usurp it from Valery." Trask says he'll do "whatever he likes as far as Valery is concerned." Harrison grabs him by the throat and says threateningly "I wasn't sure of the reasons I came here until I saw that girl, Trask. If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible and you cannot do anything you like as far as I am concerned." Trask tells him he makes empty threats. Harrison tells Trask that "If anyone is going to be thrown out of this house soon, it will be you. Possibly through that window!" Meanwhile, Valery comes downstairs, upset, and finds Kitty alone in the drawing room. She asks Kitty if her father has come back yet, and Kitty says no. Suddenly, Benjamin runs in from outside, carrying a stunned Stanford on his arm. "Help! Somebody help!" Valery runs in and asks what's going on. Benjamin says "Something terrible! Stanford has had some sort of seizure...he cannot speak or understand anything!" Valery looks at the lame Stanford and says "Oh my God..." Benjamin leads him to the couch and lays him down as Kitty pretends to be horrified. Valery asks again where her father is, and Benjamin looks at her sadly and says "I'm sorry, Valery... I'm sorry to be the one to tell you...." Valery demands to know, and Benjamin says "He's dead." Valery is shocked.

Valery is nearly in tears and frantic as she begs Benjamin to tell her what happened. "As near as I can tell, he fell in the woods and hit his head....I think his neck was broke. We need to call for help!" Valery begins to cry in Kitty's arms as Harrison comes downstairs. He sees Stanford and asks what's wrong with him. Benjamin says "A terrible thing has happened!" and fills him in. Harrison asks Benjamin how Stokes may have died, and Benjamin says "It looks like he fell in the woods. Perhaps when Stanford was stricken with this seizure, or even the other way around." Harrison takes Valery in his arms and tells her how sorry he is. Kitty says she'll take her back to her room, and Valery says she doesn't want to go there because she "hates Trask." Harrison tells Kitty to put her "in the west wing, near Quentin's room." Kitty takes Valery away as Benjamin remarks on how "strange" Stokes death is. Harrison says "I didn't want to say it in front of her, but I'm not so sure about his death being so strange." Benjamin looks concerned and says "Oh?" Harrison tries asking Stanford what happened, but he stares into space and says nothing. Benjamin says "I'm afraid he's completely unresponsive. We will need to get a doctor." Harrison grumbles on how "only Stanford knows what really happened. We have to get an answer out of him." Benjamin asks Harrison why he "sounds so suspicious." Harrison says "I may be wrong, Benjamin, but I have good reason to believe Roderick Stokes may have been murdered." Benjamin is shocked and worried. "Murdered?" He turns away and slyly asks "Who would want to murder Roderick Stokes?" Harrison takes a breath and says to Benjamin's delight "I have reason to suspect Gregory Trask."