Episode 1447

Aired: Tuesday January 11, 1972

After a replay of Monday's close, Gladstone is about to bring the scimitar down close to Charity when Gregory, still horribly disfigured, steps in the way and begins to fight against Gladstone. Charity screams "Who is that? He's.....horrible!" Carl grabs her and gets her out of the way as the deformed Gregory looks at Charity, reaching his arms out moaning something that sounds like her name - and then Gladstone brings the scimitar down onto him! Charity screams, and Carl takes the opportunity to grab her and run away as Gladstone continues to slash away at Gregory Trask. At the old house, Carl gets Charity inside and locks the door. She grabs him and says "That was horrible! Horrible! Who was that? That thing..... whatever it was, it gave its life for us..." Carl nods and says they may never know what it was. Stanford comes down the stairs and asks what's wrong. Carl, amazed, says "Stanford! You're better! You're walking!" Stanford smiles and says "Yes, it seems so. The accursed power I was under seems to have gone." Stanford says he suddenly woke out of his coma, though he was keenly aware of everything going on around him while he was in it. He tells Carl he'll explain it all later, but first he must get to Collinwood to find Judith and warn the family about what happened to him. Charity tells him to be careful outside because the "masked killer" is out there, but Carl says "He wasn't in the book. He should be safe." Stanford wonders what this might mean as he leaves. Carl tells Charity that even though Bradford's spirit claimed a victim tonight, he still wants her to be safe in the secret room. He opens the bookcase, and she's not thrilled with spending the night in it. He says he'll stay with her, and she smiles.

The next morning, Carl and Charity come out of the secret room. He tells her that she will be safe "as long as there's daylight." Charity asks Carl what they can do about Gladstone. Carl says he doesn't know, and that he wishes he won't have to kill Gladstone to stop the curse since "he's just as much a victim of it as the people Bradford cuts down." He tells Charity to get some rest, and that he'll find Gladstone to "try to figure out an answer." Meanwhile at Collinwood, Harrison is having coffee in the drawing room and looking upset when Petofi enters the house. "I see you are looking well, Mr. Harrison," Petofi says. "May I assume that means the monster you were pursuing is no longer a threat?" Harrison frowns at Petofi and says "Not to me, but somehow I feel you already knew that." Petofi says that his "second sight only goes so far." Harrison snaps "Edward is dead! I might have been able to prevent that if you had helped me earlier!' Petofi says he could not offer help, and that "perhaps more would have died had you done nothing. Be thankful for small favors." Quentin enters and asks Petofi if he's finding the Young cottage "comfortable." Petofi says he is, and that he hasn't "slept so well in years, knowing my enemies can never find me here." Quentin remarks that "one of our enemies is gone now, but not without a price." Petofi tells Quentin he's sorry about Edward, "but as I pointed out to Mr. Harrison, even my powers have their limits. There was nothing I could have done to save him." Quentin looks at him skeptically. Judith and Stanford enter, and Quentin tells Stanford he's glad to see him "back to normal." Stanford says that he regained his mind after Kitty's power was destroyed. Judith says it was a horrible experience, but Stanford remarks "On the contrary, I feel inspiration for a new book. Perhaps a gothic horror story will be popular in these rational times." He turns to Quentin and tells him that he'll dedicate the book to Edward's memory. Quentin thanks him. Harrison says that "some kinds of stories are popular whatever the time." Petofi adds "Time is certainly an interesting thing, isn't it, Mr. Harrison?" Harrison gets a little nervous, but then introduces Petofi to Judith and Stanford. Stanford asks him if he is a "count in exile" from the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Petofi answers "I have adopted this fine place as my home, Mr. Miller. I find this house....fascinating." Judith and Stanford seem interested by Petofi, as Harrison and Quentin look at him suspiciously.

Carl finds Gladstone at the jail, exhausted, but looking through the books and newspapers they had gathered. Gladstone asks Carl "Did I kill last night?" Carl nods, and Gladstone says "Then that's it....I am the last victim....a fitting end to what I've been forced to do.." Carl tells Gladstone that "it didn't happen the way the book said though!" Gladstone asks why, and Carl tells him that the book predicted that Charity Trask would be the next victim, but instead, "it was someone else. I don't know who it was, I'd only seen him once before. He was horrible disfigured and deformed. He must have escaped from some nearby institution, poor devil." Gladstone wonders that if this means the book can be wrong, perhaps he won't have to die as well. Carl opens the book to show him, and then gasps when he gets to the key page. Gladstone asks him what's wrong, and Carl says "It's different! The page is different! Charity isn't on it anymore!" Gladstone takes the book and says "And look who is instead...Gregory Trask! We've got to warn him! We've got to warn him that he's next to die!" Carl stops Gladstone and says "No, I don't think we have to." Gladstone says "You don't think that deformed man was Gregory Trask?" Carl says "No one has seen him in days. And the man who died last night seemed to be following Charity! I wonder what happened to him...." Gladstone says they should tell Charity, but Carl isn't sure. "I know in my heart her brother conspired with my late sister to do some horrible things in pursuit of the Collins family fortune. I'd rather she remember him as he was. I'm sure what happened to him was the result of his own plans going awry." Gladstone sits and says "Then I will be the last victim." Carl says that the book must alter itself to conform to whatever Bradford' spirit does. Gladstone asks how you can defeat a spirit, and Carl says "I don't know. But there's got to be a way to put Bradford's spirit to rest or destroy it."

Petofi is arranging things in the Young cottage, which turns out to be the PT version of Tate's studio. Harrison enters and tells Petofi that he missed Edward's funeral. Petofi says that he would have felt like he was intruding upon the family, "especially since the Edward Collins I know is still alive in that other time." Harrison remarks that since Petofi has escaped his gypsy enemies and come to "this different timeband, you could go anywhere. Why are you staying here?" Petofi smiles and says that he's grown "fond" of the grounds at Collinwood, and that "somehow, my familiarity with the people here provides a good starting point for my new life here." Harrison laughs and says he doubts those are the only motives. Petofi says "You're quite right, Mr. Harrison. I have many motives for staying here, at least for the time being. Most of them have to do with you and your knowledge of that mysterious room in the East Wing of Collinwood. I must know who else knows the secret of that room, because in order to fully protect myself here from those gypsies you mentioned.... I will need to know how to prevent anyone from traveling between the timebands ever again." Harrison is apprehensive about this.