Episode 1433

Aired: Wednesday December 22, 1971

After a replay of Tuesday's close, Beth climbs down the lattice and closes the window behind her. The door opens, and Benjamin enters the room. When he finds Beth gone, he looks around the room to see where she may have gotten away to, and then goes to the window. When he opens it and looks outside, he sees that Beth has reached the ground and is running away. We hear him think "I must stop her! I must!" He leaves the room in a hurry. Outside, Beth is out of breath a bit, but is making her way back to the front door. We hear her thinking "I must tell Quentin what's going on! Kitty and Benjamin are both dangerous... what's happened to him? Something she did...she must have some unearthly powers like Lucy said!" Inside, Harrison and Quentin are having drinks in the drawing room when they see Benjamin running downstairs in a hurry. Quentin asks him what's wrong, and he hummada-hummadas a moment before saying "I must run a quick errand." Quentin shrugs and goes back to the drawing room as Benjamin starts towards the front door. Outside, Beth gets closer to the front door, but it opens and Benjamin comes out! Beth takes a step back and gasps, as Benjamin smiles an evil smile. He closes the door behind him and commands "Stop right there, Miss Chavez... you will stop!" Beth turns and runs, and Benjamin follows. Back in the drawing room, Quentin says "I thought I heard something outside," and walks towards the front door. Harrison follows, but when they open the door, no one is there. Quentin closes the door and says "That's strange...Benjamin certainly took off in a hurry." Harrison says "Like I was telling you, it seems as if he is not himself lately." Quentin thinks about this as we cut to Beth running through the woods with Benjamin following her. "You cannot run forever, Miss Chavez," he calls out. "You are nearing the realm of my mistress... and you will pay heed!" Beth, terrified, keeps running. But as she turns a corner, she runs smack into the large Black masked figure with the scimitar (we now recognize him as Gladstone). She freezes in her tracks and screams. Benjamin hears the screams and wonders what it could be as he calls out "Miss Chavez! Miss Chavez!" The Black masked figure seems to walk toward us and slashes away with the huge blade. We hear Beth screaming.

Benjamin reaches a clearing in the woods calling for Beth, but finds her laying dead with her throat slashed and her eyes wide open. He is shocked and turns away from her corpse. "Oh my God!" he says aloud. From behind him, he hears some thrashing in the bushes, and he steps behind a tree. It turns out to be Quentin and Harrison, who find Beth and are also shocked. "Beth! NO!' Quentin screams, dropping to his knees next to her. Benjamin steps out from behind the tree, and Harrison says "Benjamin! What are you doing out here? Why were you hiding?" Benjamin thinks a noticeable moment, and says "I heard Beth scream, and I came over here and found her, dead. When I heard your steps in the woods, I thought it might be the killer, so I stepped behind that tree." Quentin agonizes over Beth and how he should have protected her. Harrison says "Nothing could have protected her from this. Her hands are gone. This is the work of that insane killer Mr. Gladstone and your cousin Carl are obsessed with finding." Quentin stands and angrily says "They're not the only ones now. I'll find that maniac and when I do...." Benjamin tells Quentin to come back with him to Collinwood, so that they can "call the police immediately." The three men leave the scene, with Benjamin looking back a moment and almost smiling. Back at Collinwood, Benjamin leads Quentin into the drawing room while Harrison dials the phone. He asks for the police. In the drawing room, Benjamin gives Quentin a drink and tells him that the police "will surely find this killer." Quentin says even if they do, it will be too late for Beth. Benjamin says "I know she was only a servant here, but you were quite fond of her, weren't you?" Quentin nods, and says they were very close. Benjamin asks "Did she often tell you her secrets?" Quentin says she did, but then adds "That's an awfully strange question to ask." Benjamin says he's still "in shock" from what he's seen, and was only trying to create a conversation "as a distraction." Harrison comes in and says that the police will send their investigators, and will try to reach Sheriff Gladstone at home. We dissolve to the cave filled with bones as Gladstone, in his black mask and cape, enters. He places the two bloody hands of Beth atop the long shelf with all the others, at the end, though we see there is enough space for more pairs. He takes off the mask and we see the same glow as before. Gladstone stares at it and says "I have served you once again! Behold!" He turns and points the mask at the bloody hands with a smile.

Benjamin enters Kitty's room and tells her that "Beth is dead." Kitty, shocked, gets up and slaps Benjamin's face, saying "You idiot! You had no right to dispose of her before we found out what she has told anyone!" Benjamin pleads that "She escaped from the west wing and ran into the woods.... the same murderer that Carl and Gladstone have been hunting seems to have killed her! Her throat was cut and her hands were...severed from her body." Kitty thinks a moment and then says "Well, while she won't be able to speak to anyone now, we still need to know what she has already told them!" Benjamin seems to resent this treatment by Kitty, feeling his face where she slapped him, but then he turns to her and says "I tried asking Quentin. He would be the one she'd most likely turn to. He seemed to know nothing." Kitty smiles at Benjamin and says "Well, let's keep it that way, shall we?" She walks by Benjamin and puts her hand on his shoulder, saying "You've done well. But I have other business to attend to now." She leaves the room while Benjamin seems to brood. Downstairs, Edward is at the front door speaking to a police constable who is about to leave. "You must catch this man if he is on our property," Edward says. "I will not allow my family to live in fear!" The police constable leaves, and Edward continues to complain about the "bumbling efforts" of the police in catching the killer until Quentin tells him to "shut up already. Can we at least show some sorrow for Beth before we complain about the incompetence of others?" Edward grumbles, but tells Quentin he's sorry, and that he knows Quentin "cared for Beth more than you should have, perhaps, but there you are." Edward leaves the drawing room and starts to head upstairs when he finds Kitty coming down. She feigns fright and asks Edward "Are we safe? I've heard the awful news about Beth...Edward, I'm positively frightened! I'm petrified! What could be going on? Edward, I....I....I don't understand!" Edward tells her to calm down, but she throws herself into Edward's arms and says "I just want to feel safe again, Edward. You'll make sure of that, won't you?" He tries to pull away, still frightened of her, but she looks at him again, this time more commanding and confident and says "Won't you?" He seems to fall under her spell as his expression changes and he says "Of course I will." At the top of the stairs, Benjamin watches and seethes.

In the cave, Gladstone places the mask back on the wall and then bows down to it as it continues to glow. "I have entered her into the book," he says. "And now, ye who taketh me from my sleep shall return me?" The mask glows more and we begin to hear laughter. "I possess thee!" a booming voice says. "You will continue to do my bidding...I must have my revenge!" Gladstone says "I will continue to do thy bidding....when I sleep, I belong to thee." The voice booms "Go! Go back to your own world now! Until thou sleeps again..." He turns and walks out of the cave. We see him climb out of the trapdoor in the woods and close it, moving the brush atop the door again. He takes a couple more steps and then collapses. Meanwhile at Collinwood, Benjamin paces in Kitty's room when Kitty enters. He asks her how her "other business" went. She says "Everything is working out according to my plans." Benjamin snaps "And do those plans include me or Edward?" Kitty looks at him angrily and says "How dare you question me?" Benjamin says "I am the chosen one, not Edward!" Kitty tells Benjamin that "Edward is Jamison's father. It's necessary to have control over Edward if not Jamison once Jamison is declared the heir." She walks to Benjamin and condescendingly pats his face where she slapped him earlier. "There'll always be room for you in my plans, dear Benjamin, please don't forget that. But never question my actions again." He smiles at her, and repeats "I am the chosen one." She says "Of course. Now leave me, I am tired." He kisses her hand and leaves as she smiles to herself. Outside, we hear Benjamin thinking "I know I am the chosen one, not Edward...but I will not make the mistake the Evan Hanley did.... I shall rid myself of Edward in a much more clever way...."