Episode 1431

Aired: Monday December 20, 1971

In a replay of Friday's close, Jamison is walking through the woods with the knife. He stops and waits. Lucy is behind him, and also stops to watch what Jamison is doing. Jamison stands still as the altar appears before him, with the flame burning. He smiles. Lucy can't believe what she is seeing as Jamison holds the blade in the flame for a moment. He suddenly cries out in pain as the hot knife handle burns his hand, but he doesn't let go. Lucy reveals herself by shouting "Jamison! Let go of it!" He turns his head to face her, his eyes filled with hatred, and he yells "You cannot be here! You cannot witness the ritual! You must die!" He turns his body to face Lucy, and moves towards her with the smoking hot knife in his hand.

After the titles, Jamison lunges at Lucy with the knife, but she steps aside and gets behind him. She stands on the altar as Jamison turns to her, his hand still smoking from the burning knife. "You will be sacrificed for my mistress...." he says as he steps towards her. "Jamison, stop! Your hand! It's burning!" Lucy shouts. He hesitates a moment, and Lucy grabs his arm. As he struggles, she manages to whack the knife against the stone altar and knock it loose. When she does, the altar suddenly vanishes and Jamison falls limp in her arms. "Jamison!" she shouts as she watches these strange happenings. "Your hand..." she looks at what was his burning hand and sees that it's perfectly fine. She picks up the unconscious Jamison and walks away with him. Back at Collinwood, Lucy enters carrying Jamison and calls for help. There's no one there, so she carries him into the drawing room and sets him on the sofa. Beth comes in, and asks what happened. "I'm not sure," Lucy says. "But get some cold water and a blanket for him." Beth nods and runs out of the room as Jamison starts coming to. He moans and says "Lucy.... what are we doing down here? I was in my room!" Curious, Lucy says "Your room? You left your room and went outside." Confused, Jamison says "When?" Realizing, Lucy says "You don't remember?" Jamison says he was reading in his room and then woke up in the drawing room. Lucy asks him how his hand feels, and he says fine, and asks her why she asked. Beth comes back with a glass of cold water and a blanket, but Jamison says he's feeling better. Beth asks Lucy what happened, and Lucy says that "Something very strange, but something very interesting as well. I think I may have more clues as to what's been happening around here." Suddenly, Benjamin is standing in the drawing room entrance and says "What has been happening around here, Miss Drew?"

"Jamison, why don't you go upstairs with Beth and get back to your reading if you're feeling all right," Lucy says. He drinks the rest of the water and says okay, but when he passes Benjamin, Benjamin says "I can come by to check on you later, Jamison." Jamison looks confused and says okay, but on the way out, Benjamin overhears Jamison say to Beth "That's funny, Uncle Benjamin never was really interested in me before." Benjamin suddenly looks very concerned, and Lucy closes the drawing room doors. "You must listen to me," she says to Benjamin. "Something very strange just happened with that boy. I followed him to an altar in the woods that vanished before my eyes...it seemed to possess him, but once it vanished, he returned to normal." Benjamin says "Really? Are you sure?" She looks at him incredulously and snaps "I know what I saw, Mr. Collins. And with all the, dare I say, supernatural occurrences at Collinwood lately, I think you should be very concerned about this!" Benjamin says "Oh, I assure you I am. Tell me, is the boy back to normal now though?" Lucy says "It looks that way. But you should have seen him when I followed him into the woods. He had a knife and tried to attack me with it! It was like he was under someone else's control... he said something to me about a 'mistress,' but I don't know what it means..." Benjamin pours her a drink and says "You've been through a horrible experience, Miss Drew. Perhaps you should have a brandy and lie down." Lucy says she'd rather tell Quentin and Edward, "after all, Edward may ignore the boy, but he is his father!" Benjamin gives her the drink and says with a sly smile "Don't worry, I'll be sure to tell them both on your behalf. Perhaps they can get to the bottom of all of this." Meanwhile, Harrison finds Valery in her west wing room and tells her that Quentin has contacted a lawyer in town, and will "reveal the true will soon." Valery says she'll be happy when "all of this is over." Harrison asks her how she thinks Trask will react when it's "final" that he has no chance of controlling Collinwood through her, and Valery says "He'll most likely disappear from my life at that point. I'll only have the rotten memory of my mistake to deal with from then on, besides becoming the possible joke of the village." Harrison tells her he could never think of her as a joke. She asks him what he does think, and he kisses her.

Jamison is reading in his room when Kitty enters again. He says hello and asks her why she came to see him. She says "I was going to bring you those books you asked for," and he answers "What books were those? I forgot." We hear her think "The spell.... it's been broken somehow. What I sensed was right....I no longer possess this one." She smiles and tells him she has many books on ancient Babylonia and takes a step towards him when Rachel enters the room. Rachel asks Jamison how he is feeling, and Jamison says he's fine. Rachel tells Kitty she needs to see Jamison alone, and excuses herself. Kitty leaves them, and then runs into Benjamin in the hall. "I was just coming up here to Jamison," he says. "His mother seems to have beaten you to it," says Kitty. "What could have happened out there?" Benjamin frets. "It may not matter," Kitty says. Benjamin leads Kitty into another room and tells her "But he is no longer with us! And right now, Rachel is plotting to take him away." Kitty pats Benjamin's cheek with a sly smile. "Such a worrier, Benjamin, " she says. "He won't stay away forever, once that other will Quentin claims exists is read." Benjamin says "But Lucy Drew has seen the altar! She might put that together with whatever my Uncle Roderick told Quentin, and expose us!" Kitty frowns and says "You let me worry about Lucy Drew. And you also let me worry about Mr. Edward Collins....who ought to be the focus of our plans now that Jamison is about to leave us for a while..." As she laughs to Benjamin, we see that Beth has been listening outside the door.

Quentin enters the house and finds Lucy, pacing in the drawing room waiting for him. He asks her what's wrong, and she starts to tell him that something happened to Jamison. He grows angry and says "Was it Trask? If he harms that boy, I'll..." Lucy tells him it wasn't Trask, and that it was "something very strange." Quentin is intrigued. Meanwhile, Rachel has helped Jamison pack, and Jamison is once again excited about going to Boston with his mother for a while. "Will Uncle Quentin be coming with us?" Rachel says she doesn't know, and then Quentin and Lucy are at the door. Quentin sees Jamison packing, and asks Rachel if he had changed his mind about going to Boston. Rachel says "it seems so" and asks Quentin if Lucy told her "everything that happened. The sooner I get him away from this place, the better." Quentin says he agrees. Meanwhile, Beth is in Quentin's room looking for him, upset. She thinks "I must find Quentin and tell him what I overheard. I can't believe Benjamin and Kitty would be conspiring to get the money.... what could they have meant about that altar? Only Quentin would know, and he's not here.... perhaps I could leave a note...." She starts to scribble a note, and then hears footsteps. She leaves the half written note on the table and walks to the door, saying "Quentin? Is that you?" When she sees it's Benjamin, she gasps.

Valery is looking out the window with Harrison, and says "This house can be a very beautiful place, I suppose." Harrison agrees, and says "It always seems to hold its magnificence throughout time, yes." Valery asks Harrison why he "says such strange things all the time." He smiles and says he doesn't know. They hear some footsteps and some noises outside. Curious, they go out into the hallway and hear a door slam. "You don't think that's Gregory, do you?" Valery asks. Harrison says "No, I don't think he'd dare come up here if he knew I was here right now." Harrison walks towards the sound, and finds Benjamin. "Oh, I thought I heard someone," Harrison says. Benjamin acts a little nervous, and says "I...I don't usually go in this part of the house, but I wanted to check on Valery." Harrison says she's fine, and Benjamin leads Harrison away from where he was standing. "It's such a tragedy about her father, really," Benjamin says. As he leads Harrison away, we hear a thumping behind a nearby door. Inside the room, we see that Beth has been tied and gagged to a chair while Kitty stands over her with an evil smile.