The Dark Fantasy Dark Fantasies Death is a Savage Deity Death is a Savage Deity Is that you Dolores? Yes, Warner. Don't stop playing. I heard the music coming from the conservatory so I stopped by. What are you playing? Just... just a simple melody of my own. So weird. I thought possibly you were playing a dirge. A dirge? Yes. Or Andrews. I fear neither dirge nor prayers nor candles burned on the altar will do Andrews any good. Oh, Warner, what made him do it? He was always so happy, so full of the love of life. Why did he do such a thing? He was blind. He couldn't stand the thought of being without the use of his eyes, so... Yes, but if only... I cautioned him. Over and over again I warned him to take care of his eyes. But he wouldn't listen to me. Now he's dead. Poor Andrews. I suppose you and James will postpone your marriage a while, Dolores. Yes, I think it best, don't you? It wouldn't be quite decent to have a funeral today and a wedding day after tomorrow, would it? I wouldn't permit it in my home. And this is still my house, you remember. Oh, now who's that? Yes, come in. All right, Alma, what is it? Thank you, Parton, Miss Jalmas. All right, all right out with it. Don't stand there stammering. Yes, Miss Jalmas. It's for Mr. Loris. Mr. Harvey's here. Oh, Jim said he'd drop by. Shall I show him in here, Mr. Loris? Yes, please do. Yes, ma'am. By the way, Alma. Yes, ma'am? How does your head feel today? Not so good, ma'am. It ached me all night long. I didn't get much sleep to speak of. Perhaps you should go to a doctor, Alma. I did, Mr. Loris. Yesterday. He said there was nothing wrong with me, but I know better. My head hurts something fierce all the time. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you, ma'am. I'll show Mr. Harvey right in. Hello. Hello, Jim. Oh, Dolores, my dear, you look tired. How are you, Miss Jalmas? Very well, thank you. Oh, Jim, I'm glad you stopped by. We've rather had the doldrums around here the past day or so. Yes, I know. I thought I'd stop by now and be here for the funeral this afternoon. Poor Andrews. You loved him too, didn't you, Jim? Yes, dear. I guess I did. I've known Andrews almost as long as you have. Well, all I can say is I warned him again and again. You only listen to me. Oh, Andy, please. Jim, let's go outside and get some air. I've been in the house all day. Oh, I do. You both better stay around close. I may need you. All right, Juana. We'll probably be in the garden very well. Oh, Jim. Yes? Remember about the lily pond. Oh, yes, of course I will. It's dangerous, you know. Be careful of it, Jim. Don't get too near to its edge. Yes, I'll remember. Come, dear. Jim. Yes, dear? What did she mean about the lily pond? Hmm? Oh, don't you remember that the railing around the pond was taken down for repairs. It hasn't been replaced yet. Yes, I know, but it's been down for almost a month. Here, let's walk on the grass, shall we? Why does she remind you about it now? Well, she probably doesn't want us to fall into it and soil our pretty clothes. But she seems so insistent. She said it's dangerous for you to be careful of it, for you not to go too near its edge. You, Jim, not me. Oh, she meant both of us silly. She just addressed me because she wants me to take care of you. Does she? Why, of course she does. What do you mean? Jim, I've had the impression for a long time now that she doesn't want us to be married. Oh, nonsense. She's delighted. No, she's not delighted. But Dolores. I've wanted to tell you this for a long time. But I've hesitated to say anything. I thought I might have been mistaken. Now I know it's true. She hates you, Jim. Juana hates me? Oh, why have all the silly things I've ever heard of? Juana and I are great friends. Oh, darling, you're wrong. Juana has no love for you. I don't know why. She'll be perfectly delighted if you and I never marry. Dolores. Jim, I want to be married as soon as we possibly can. Then I want to go away from here. Away? Where, dear? I don't care where. Just so it's someplace else, anywhere but here. But, darling, I thought you loved this place. Love it? I despise it. Dolores. I do, Jim. Oh, darling, I'm so upset. There's something terrible going on around here. I don't know what it is. But it was responsible for Andrew's death. Darling, how can you say that? Because I know. You know what? There was nothing wrong with Andrew's eyes. What? No. Nothing at all wrong with them. But he went blind. The autopsy proved it. That's why... I know. He died blind, yes. But I went with him to an optometrist about a week ago. Andrew's had perfect vision in both eyes. And no sign of defect or weakness. But, Dolores, that's not possible. I know, but it happened. But how? How, dear? I can't answer that. Oh, Jim, look out! Good Lord! Oh, dear, it's the lily pool. You almost walked right into it. Yeah. I thought it was over farther to the east end of the garden. I don't know why we should be so frightened of it. It's quite shallow. Even if one of us did accidentally fall in, we'd only get a bit wet. Is that all that would happen? Jim, what do you mean? I wonder. Come on, dear. We'd best be getting back to the house. I want to brush up a bit before the crowd begins to drift in. Dolores, will you play the organ a while? I'd like some music. Do you mind if I don't, Auntie? I'm rather tired. Look here, Dolores, how about a swim down on the beach? The moon's up. It's quite warm tonight. Jim, I think I'd like that. Certainly, if you're too tired to play the organ, you're too tired to swim. Oh, it'll be good for her, Miss Johnness. She needs some fresh air and exercise. Yes, Auntie. You don't mind so much, do you? No, I suppose not. Good. Is there a suit in the men's quarters of the bathhouse I can use? Yes, yes. You'll find several there, James. Take your choice. Oh, fine. Come along, Dolores. No, let's not go that way, Jim. Let's take the back door and cut through the garden to the bathhouse. All right, dear. We won't be long, Auntie. Just a plunge and we'll be right back. Very well. Oh, James. Yes, Miss Johnness? Remember about the lily pond. Oh, yes. All right. It's still quite dangerous, you know. Don't get too close to its edge. You may fall into it. Yes, all right. We'll be careful, Miss Johnness. We can see it all right in the moonlight. Come on, Jim. There. You see? She keeps reminding you about the lily pond. Well, I just proved she doesn't want anything to happen to me. I told you she doesn't dislike me. Jim, don't you think for a moment she doesn't. She dislikes you terribly. I think she even dislikes me. But why? Good heavens, Dolores. She took you in when you were a mere infant. Less than three years old. She's kept you clothes, a fine home, everything. Yes, I know. And still she hates me. Dolores, I don't understand. If you've known this all along, why didn't you say something to me about it? Because it's just recently she's changed. I don't know why she's changed, but she has. Well, dear, suppose we forget everything for a while. This has been a trying day for all of us. Come on. I'll race you down to the bath house. Well, Jim must not be dressed yet. It's odd. Plenty of time. Jim? Jim, do you hear me? Are you in the bath house, Jim? Jim? What's that over there? Surely it can't... Oh, no. Jim? Jim? The lily pond. It's head beneath the water. The lily stems around his throat. Oh, Jim. Jim, my darling, what happened to you? Jim! Please, try not to think about it. It's all over now, and there's nothing to be helped by thinking about it. But how did it ever happen to him? Dolores, you heard the coroner's verdict. Jim must have wandered over to the lily pond while waiting for you to finish dressing. He apparently stumbled and fell, striking his head on a rock, becoming unconscious. He fell with his head under water, and it strangled him. Oh, it was so sudden. I'd only been a little quicker dressing. I might have saved him. Don't think of that, dear. We can't help what's happened. Lie still, dear. I'll answer it. Hello? Yes, Mr. Evans? Yes? Very well. I'll come to your office right away. Yes, within the hour. Very well. Goodbye. Oh, Dolores, I'm sorry, but I'll have to leave you a while. That was my lawyer. There's some very important papers I must attend to immediately. I'll be all right, Anthony. I'll send Alman to take care of you, but I'm afraid she won't be of much help. She's been complaining of headache constantly, night and day. MUSIC Did you call me, Mr. Lawrence? Yes, several times. She was so long answering... I'm sorry, Mr. Lawrence. I was downstairs. Can I do something for you, ma'am? Yes, Alma. I want the key to this room. That room, Mr. Lawrence? Yes, and I want it right away. My aunt has kept this room locked for 18 years. She's always told me she wants no one in there because her father died in that room. Yes, ma'am. That's it. Nothing else. I'm not so sure. I intend to go inside that room now. Get me the key. Mr. Lawrence, I beg you, ma'am. Don't go into that room. Whatever you do, ma'am, in the name of heaven, don't go into that room. Why not? Tell me, Alma, what's in there? It's... it's frightful, ma'am. Please listen to me. My head's a-splittin'. I'm a sick woman. I'm almost a dead woman. But with the life that's left in me, I plead with you not to enter that room. Alma, stop this nonsense. It's not nonsense, miss. There's worse than the devil in there. Alma, do you have the key? Answer me. Do you have the key to that room? Yes, ma'am, that I have. I stole it from Miss Jalness a month ago. Then let me have it. Give it to me at once. I'll open the door. There you are, ma'am. I'll turn on the light. Why? This room is empty. Nothing here but an old table covered with a huge black cloth. That's all, miss. Come now. Let's shut off the light and lock the door. No. Wait a minute. What's on that table? Please, Mr. Lewis, don't go near that table. I want to see. I ask you not to, Mr. Lewis. Dolls. Four little dolls, each about 12 inches tall, lying here on the table. Please come away, Mr. Lewis. Good heavens. This doll looks exactly like... like Andrews. Look. Lying there on his back with a common pin stuck squarely in the middle of each eye. He went blind, Mr. Lewis. Good heavens. An exact image of Jim Harvey, lying with his head submerged in a miniature lily pond. Mr. Harvey died in the lily pond, in the garden. This doll, Alma, it's an image of you, with a pin stuck into its head. Oh, Mr. Loris, ma'am, my head's killing me with its ache and... Alma, this fourth doll... It's you, Mr. Loris. With another pin stuck into the doll's body, so it pierces the heart. Don't you feel pains in your heart, Mr. Loris? Alma, what in the world does all this mean? It's... it's witchcraft. Witchcraft? Black magic. But I don't understand. It's Miss John as your aunt. First, she convinced Andrews he was going blind. Then, she convinced Mr. Harvey he'd die in the lily pond. And now, she's trying to kill me with a headache. And you, with a heart attack. But how? How? They use it where she came from, Miss. Where she came from years ago. Where was that? Haiti. Haiti? Yes. When you've got an enemy in Haiti, you want to get rid of him, you make a doll that looks like him. You put hair from his head on the doll's head. Cloth from his clothes for the doll's clothes. Then, you stick a pin in the part of the enemy you want to make hurt. And it works. Alma. It does, Mr. Loris. Look at Andrews. Blind because of the hex. Look at Mr. Harvey. Dead in the lily pond. Look at me. Me with my terrible headache. And the pin sticking in the head of that doll. We'll pull out the pin. Oh, no, don't. If you do that, I'm sure to die right away. Alma, tell me how you know all this. I've been listening, Mr. Loris. And watching for years. I've been watching and listening. And... Oh, Mr. Loris, Alma. Alma, what's wrong? Alma, speak to me. Are you all right? Alma. She's dead. Uh, Mr. Loris, are you feeling better? Yes, much. How... How did I get here in my bed, Doctor? They don't find you here. Unconscious. Then I did manage to get here before I fainted. Have... Have you found Alma? Yes. Poor girl. Dead. Brain hemorrhage. Brain hemorrhage? Yes. Where did you find her, Doctor? In her room. She must have died in her sleep. No. No, she didn't die in her bed. My aunt must have placed her there. Loris, you know the truth. Do you, Dr. Seabrook? I've known it for years. I've been watching one of your aunt for years. When Andrus died, I became suspicious. When your fiancé perished in the Lily Pond, I was convinced. Convinced that Wannam was using her ancient jungle powers. Her what? Let me tell you a story. She was married to a wealthy plantation owner in Haiti about 18 years ago. One day, she decided to rid herself of him. So she fed him poison. When he realized what she had done to him, he went off into the jungle to die. But first, he made a will, leaving all his money and property to the baby daughter of his closest friend, a man who had died of jungle fever and whose baby had been taken to America by friends. Wannam's husband left his fortune to that baby girl. That girl, my dear, was you. Oh. Before the poisoned man died, he sought out a jungle witch doctor and had him make a charm. It was a doll-like image of the woman who had poisoned him. He took a lock of her hair from where he'd always carried it in a gold locket, and the hair became the doll's hair. And he took a long needle, dipped it in the most potent poison, and plunged that needle again and again into the body of the doll image. The poison was one that brings about instant and complete paralysis of the human muscles. Paralysis? Yes. It's a poison well known in Haiti. He cast a spell upon her, just as she's been casting spells on us. Precisely. But her spells were effective. His wasn't. No spell is effective unless the victim is made aware of its existence. Just a few moments ago, I told your aunt the same story I've told you. You mean you told her about the spell that was cast upon her years ago? In an offhand manner. I passed it on to her as just a story I'd heard from a friend of mine in Haiti. I pretended I didn't know that she was involved. Where is she now? You feel like getting up? Yes. Yes, I'm all right. This door leads to your aunt's room, doesn't it? Yes, it's not locked. Here? Is she in here? Yes, she's in there. Oh, oh, she's ill. Aunt Juana, I... Juana. Doctor, look at her. The spell she cast upon you is broken now. Your aunt is dead. But look at her. Yes, she died instantly of complete paralysis. Death is a savage deity. Dark fantasy.
