Episode 1452

Aired: Tuesday January 18, 1972

After a replay of Monday's close and the titles, Gladstone swings the scimitar at Carl, who lunges out of the way. Carl begins to run, but Gladstone follows, yelling that he will "spill the blood of the innocent!" Carl reaches Widow's Hill and stops in his tracks as Gladstone approaches. "You're trapped!" Gladstone says as he raises the scimitar. Carl tells him to get back and takes out a gun. "I didn't want to have to do this! Gladstone! Fight him! Fight Bradford! I don't want to kill you!" Gladstone laughs and says "Gladstone is already dead! Go ahead and shoot! You'll only fulfill my ultimate plan!" Carl wonders what this means, and then aims the gun. Suddenly, Gladstone jerks violently, and rips the black mask off. He is fighting against his own impulses as he struggles to say "Carl....no....don't....if you kill me...it won't end! It won't end!" Carl says "Gladstone! Fight him! That's it! You're winning!" Gladstone struggles and tells Carl not to kill him, but then Bradford's spirit appears and commands Gladstone to "spill Carl Collins' blood!" Gladstone screams "No!" at the apparition, but Bradford points at Gladstone, who helplessly begins to raise the scimitar. Shaking, he tells Carl "I'm sorry...I can't stop it....." Carl says "I'm sorry too," and fires the gun! Gladstone grabs his side and drops the scimitar. He falls to his knees but gasps heavy breaths. Carl holds the gun while looking at Bradford's ghost and says "You won't have him! You won't kill anymore!" Bradford laughs and says "You've only played into my hands!" Gladstone, bleeding, takes the cape off to get a better look at his wound. "He's right," Gladstone says. "Carl! You've got to get out of here! You've got to get out of here before I die!" Carl wonders why.

Gladstone implores Carl to leave, but Carl says that Gladstone needs medical help. Gladstone waves him off and says "Get out! Get out! You can't be here when I die, don't you understand?" Bradford laughs, but then Carl figures it out. "The first one to find his dead body is your next slave, isn't that right, Bradford?" Bradford smiles and says "The book has foretold it, Carl Collins. Five years from now, I will control thee...and you will bring me the blood of five new victims....your own child among them...." Carl screams "NO! I won't let you!" Bradford laughs and says "You cannot stop me!" Gladstone struggles to his feet with his last breath and says "I can stop you Bradford! The tide is going out! No one will ever find me!" With a burst of strength, Gladstone runs and leaps off the cliff at Widow's Hill! Carl, shocked, yells "Gladstone! No!" but Gladstone vanishes into the crashing waves below. Bradford's ghost screams, and starts to fade. "No! No! There will be no vessel for me!" he moans. "I....have no one in this world.....I cannot go on...." Bradford's ghost begins to turn into what Gladstone's body will at the bottom of the sea....a rotted green skeleton covered in mud and seaweed....before fading away in front of Carl's astonished eyes. With a last scream, Bradford vanishes as Carl listens to the scream blend in with the sound of the wind and crashing waves below. He picks up the cape, mask and scimitar and then takes a deep breath. "Goodbye, Gladstone," he says. "You're finally free." Back at Collinwood, Valery is having tea in the drawing room when Harrison enters. He asks her how she's feeling, and she says that it's nice to have her life back. Harrison tells her he's glad, though he asks her if she's disappointed that she wasn't her grandmother's heir. "No," she says. "In fact, I think grandmother may have been wise to think of Jamison. He'll grow up learning the responsibility of the estate and won't make the kind of mistake I did." Harrison tells her that "it's no crime to follow your heart." She looks at him and says "I know where to follow it now." They kiss, and he says "I have to tell you something about me, Valery. It's time you knew everything." Valery wonders what this might be.

Valery is still dealing with what Harrison has told her. "I can't believe everything you've told me," she says. He pours himself a brandy and says "It's all true. I've also told Quentin and Benjamin. I'm not sure why I arrived here instead of returning to my own time and my own world, but I have a suspicion." He smiles at her. She smiles back. "What is your world like?" she asks. He sits next to her and answers "Well, it ought to be different than when I left it. From what I saw, my father was alive again. And the Collins family of that world once again lived in this wonderful house." Valery says "If you could return at any time, why did you stay here?" He takes her hand and says "When I first arrived, I saw a beautiful young woman who I thought needed my help. And it turned out I was right. In the world I left, there was someone much like you, who I had to leave behind. I took it as a sign of fate that I was brought here to you." She kisses him and says "I don't know what would have happened to me, to any of us, if you hadn't been here. But I don't want to be the reason you never see your father if you stay here instead. Unless...." Harrison asks "Unless what?" Valery says "Unless...I came with you, to your time." Harrison mulls that over as she adds "What else is there for me here? My father is gone....my brother never speaks to anyone here. If I wrote him that I was going away, that's all he'd care to know. I suppose the only one I'd miss would be Quentin." Harrison answers "Well, in my world there's someone who'll remind you of Quentin quite a bit." Valery gets excited and says "Oh, will you take me with you then?" Harrison smiles and says "I couldn't be apart from you, ever. I love you." Valery tells Harrison she loves him too. He answers "We'll make a new life in my time, the both of us." They kiss.

Carl arrives at Collinwood, carrying the cape, mask and scimitar. Harrison comes out of the drawing room and sees the scimitar and asks Carl "where did you find this? Have you seen Gladstone?" Carl says "Yes, I saw him. He's gone. It's over." Harrison says "I'll get Quentin." Carl says "Get Benjamin as well. I....I came here to tell them what happened to Gladstone, but I also have some other news as well." Harrison asks "Why did you bring those things here?" Carl says "I don't know. Gladstone is dead." Harrison is surprised. "How?" he asks. Carl answers "It's a long story. Don't worry about these things, they're harmless now, with Bradford's spirit gone. I thought about throwing them over the cliff, but then I remembered Quentin had those books on the occult. Maybe there's something in those books that will tell us how to keep these things harmless. But I have to tell them what happened." Harrison says he'll get Quentin and Benjamin and goes upstairs. "Can I tell them what your other news is as well?" he asks before reaching the top. Carl says "Tell them it's good news." Harrison continues on as Carl smiles. Harrison stops again and says "Good news makes me curious. Can you tell me?" he asks. Carl answers "Gather as many people as you can. I'd rather tell everyone." Harrison is curious.