Elizabeth Stoddard lets Victoria Winters into Collinwood. Vicky marvels, "What a large house!" and asks how many rooms there are. Elizabeth replies, "About 40, but not all of them are in use." Vickie asks how many servants they have to run the house. Elizabeth replies, "We only have one man to do the heavy work. We do all the rest of it ourselves."
At a bar called the Blue Whale, a petite blond woman is dancing. Burke Devlin, sitting at the bar, asks Wilbur Strake, "Is that her?" Strake replies, "That's her, that's Carolyn Stoddard." A man sitting at a table tells Carolyn that she's drunk and it's time for her to go home. The man Carolyn is dancing with objects to this. He and the man from the table start to fight, but Burke breaks it up. He tells the man from the table, "Haskell, after you take her home, come back here. I have something I want to talk to you about."
At Collinwood, Elizabeth Stoddard takes Vickie up to her bedroom. Vickie asks, "Why did you hire me, Mrs. Stoddard?" Elizabeth answers, "My brother Roger knew someone at the foundling home who recommended you." Vickie, puzzled, replies, "But I asked around and no one knew anything about the Collins' Family". Elizabeth replies, "You must have asked the wrong people". She excuses herself and leaves.
Carolyn returns home. Elizabeth tells her that the new governess has come. Vickie coVes downstairs. Finding the drawing room door closed, she decides to go out and take a walk. Outside, she stares over the cliff into the ocean. A man comes out of the trees and jokingly remarks, "Thinking of jumping? You wouldn't be the first one." He introduces himself as Roger Collins. She introduces herself and tells him, "I have you to thank for my being here." He asks what she means. She tells him, "Your sister told me it was you who hired me." Roger replies, strangely, "If that's what she said.." Vicky points out to sea and asks, "What are those lights out there?" Roger replies, "Oh, it's probably a ship of some sort. We get ships from all over the world here at Collinsport." Vickie remarks, "Strange. Ships from all over the world come here and I had trouble getting a taxi from the train station." Roger apologizes, "Sorry about that.There was some sort of mix up. I was supposed to come and pick you up." Vickie tells him, "No problem. A nice man I met on the train gave me a ride from the train station. I think he said he knew you. His name was Devlin." At the mention of the name, a look of shock crosses Roger's face. He gasps, "Devlin!? Are you sure?" She replies that she is. He rushes off. Vicky returns to Collinwood, puzzled...
written by Tony Lew on the alt.tv.dark_shadows newsgroup in the late 1990’s
Written by drosso46561 on Aug 12, 2021