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In this intriguing episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, host EG Marshall delves into the mysterious and tragic love story of Archduke Rudolph of Habsburg and his lover, Marie Vetsera. Set in 1889 at the Mayerling hunting lodge near Vienna, the episode explores the enigmatic circumstances surrounding their deaths, which remain unsolved to this day. The suspense drama, "Mayerling Revisited," written by Nancy Moore, stars Marion Seldes and Paul Hecht, and takes listeners on a journey through history, romance, and the supernatural.

Listeners are introduced to Kitty Scott and David Carlton, two young Americans who find themselves drawn to the Mayerling mystery. As they explore the past, Kitty experiences a profound connection to Marie Vetsera, leading her to believe in reincarnation. The episode weaves together themes of love, destiny, and the possibility of past lives, as Kitty and David navigate their own romantic challenges, drawing parallels to the tragic fate of Rudolph and Marie. Will they learn from history, or are they doomed to repeat it? Tune in to find out.

(00:15) Introduction to Mayerling Mystery

(02:12) Kitty and David's Connection to the Past

(10:00) The Bulgarian Proposal

(21:04) Meeting the Parents

(28:00) Revelations at Mayerling

(37:00) The Final Message

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[00:00:00] Unknown:

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[00:00:16] Unknown:

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents   Come in.   Welcome.   I'm EG Marshall,   a man fascinated by the great love stories of history.   Recall, please,   the tragic story of Archduke Rudolph of Habsburg   and his enamorata,   Marie Wetzlewicz.   In the year 1889,   they died at Mayerling,   the prince's hunting lodge near Vienna.   How did they die?   No one really knows what happened at Mayerling.   Multiple theories exist.   Not one of them proved.  

[00:01:11] Unknown:

David, if we can find out what really happened at Marling   and why it happened,   we'll know what to do about us. Kill ourselves?  

[00:01:21] Unknown:

Well, that's what Marie and Rudolph did. We don't know that.  

[00:01:25] Unknown:

Somewhere, they took a wrong turn.   Whatever happened at Mirelin was because of them.   They'll show us how not to take a wrong turning.  

[00:01:43] Unknown:

Our suspense drama, Meierling   Revisited,   was especially written for the Mystery Theater by Nancy Moore and stars Marion Seldes and Paul Hecht.   It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division.   I'll be back shortly   with act one.   Today, the hunting lodge called Mayerling is a nunnery,   but the room where Rudolph and Marie died by whatever hand is kept as a shrine. Romantic and curious tourists come there often.   On a day not long ago, there came a pair of young Americans.   Kitty Scott taught English in a Viennese school.   David Carlton,   on a tour of Europe, met Kitty, fell in love, and stopped touring.  

On the day they made their pilgrimage to Miling   oh, but this is Kitty's story.  

[00:02:50] Unknown:

I had read everything I could find about Rudolph and Marie Vesteroff.   From the very beginning, I thought a kinship with Marie   more than sympathy and fascination with what happened to her. Oh, much more than that. As if   I know it sounds foolish, but   as if it had happened to me.   After I fell in love, the feeling was stronger.   On that spring morning, when David and I, holding hands, stood in front of the nunnery,   It was almost   overwhelming.  

[00:03:22] Unknown:

What are you thinking,   miss Kitty Scott with the large blue and lustrous eyes? You'd laugh at me.   Your hand  

[00:03:31] Unknown:

suddenly cold. Yes. Put your arm around me, please. Oh, nothing I'd  

[00:03:36] Unknown:

darling, you're shivering. What's wrong? What is it? Well, it's just that if  

[00:03:39] Unknown:

or if we could just be in that room together,  

[00:03:42] Unknown:

we might find out what really happened there. Sweetheart, it was all so long ago. I mean, does it really matter? Yes. I can't explain why, but it matters. Kit, what is with you? You've been here before. I mean, what's so important this time? Well, I I I just want you to see it. No. It's more than that.  

[00:03:59] Unknown:

And what do you mean we'll find out what happened? Because we're in love the way Rudolph and Marie were in love.   If we can find out what happened to them and why it happened,   we'll know what to do about   us.  

[00:04:12] Unknown:

And that's why we're admired. Isn't it crazy, honey?  

[00:04:15] Unknown:

We're like them in other ways. They're the parallel.   Your father will try to stop our marriage.   Rudolph's father did exactly the same thing. There is no parallel.  

[00:04:26] Unknown:

We're just ordinary people. Rudolph was a prince. His father was an emperor. Well, your father gives commands like an emperor? He hasn't even has an empire. An empire that you'll inherit   if you don't marry a penniless nobody named Kitty Scott. I am marrying Kitty Scott. Now didn't I write him that? What do I care about his damned oil wells? You say that, but you don't really mean it. Oh, sure. I'd like a little money. Who wouldn't?   There's gotta be some way to get around the old man so he won't completely disown me. But I think Rudolph and Marie will tell us what to do. Kill ourselves?  

[00:04:57] Unknown:

Well, that's what they did. They died. That's all we know.   But they did take a wrong turning,   and they'll show us  

[00:05:06] Unknown:

how not to take one. How the devil will we find out about wrong turnings just by standing in a room? I don't know.  

[00:05:13] Unknown:

I only know they have something to say to us.   I know.   The mother superior smiled   and opened the door to the sanctuary.   The very large room was empty   except for the shrine.   I closed my eyes   trying   desperately to understand what had happened there.   Nothing came to me. Nothing.   And then   then   for every individual,   there is a moment in life   when the soul   dies.   This is not necessarily the moment   when he reaches his physical end.   How clear the words   and how certain I was that I had heard the voice of Marie Vetterer.   When I told David about it,  

[00:06:18] Unknown:

he didn't believe one word. Now let's have that again, Kit, for for every soul No.  

[00:06:23] Unknown:

For   every individual,   there is a moment in life when the soul dies. Oh, what an imagination. Oh, I swear I didn't   wait a minute.  

[00:06:34] Unknown:

I can prove I didn't imagine it. Rudolph's mother said those exact words. What what, Kev? I read them somewhere. I remember now. Well well then don't you see that that's what made you think you heard them? Not a voice from the past, but something called up out of your subconscious. Only you mixed it all up. The empress said it, not Marie Vetser. But Marie must have said it too.   Is she it's a key for us to unlock the path. Come on, Kit. You're trying so hard to identify with Marie. To identify?  

[00:07:01] Unknown:

But I do.   I have ever since I first heard her name, and today more than ever.   Could I be   Marie Vetsera?   Reincarnation?  

[00:07:13] Unknown:

Well, if this makes me Rudolph, no thanks. He shot his girl and then himself. We don't know that. Well, we do know I'm not about to shoot mine. Oh, don't tease me, please. You're serious? Good lord, kid. Living more than one life, I mean, do you believe in that stuff? Well, I've leaned toward it for a long time.  

[00:07:28] Unknown:

If we've left something   undone in one life, then maybe we've got a chance to finish it in the next. Or if we've done something wrong,   then we're given a chance to make it right.  

[00:07:45] Unknown:

My Aleutian,   my little Marie, yours is the face I was born knowing and shall die. See?   Trust me now.   Bulgaria is the answer for us.   All will be well.   Kit?   Kit, it happened to you again, didn't it? I was with Rulof.  

[00:08:06] Unknown:

He told me to trust him. You believe you're Marie Vetsera?  

[00:08:10] Unknown:

Yes.   I do.  

[00:08:17] Unknown:

I did believe it, and I knew I've been given another key.   Bulgaria.   What could it mean? I hadn't the faintest idea,   but I did have the utmost faith that some way   the different keys   would unlock the past.   Driving back to Vienna, I couldn't stop rehearsing all I knew about Rudolph.   Franz Joseph wouldn't let Rudolph have anything to say about politics   here or abroad.   Some books claim the prince was a weak.   Others say he was a man of vision ahead of his time. Didn't you tell me he believed in world federation? Yes. He did.   He had the mind to accomplish marvelous things for Europe,   but his father wouldn't let him be anything but a puppet prince.  

Franz Joseph demanded absolute submission for everyone, especially his son. Yes. Like my father. And Rudolf kept trying to break his chains,   but he couldn't.   Last two years of his life, he just  

[00:09:13] Unknown:

gave up. Gave up, drank, took morphine.   Okay. Does that mean? No. Thank the lord.  

[00:09:19] Unknown:

And then   Rudolf met Baroness   Marie Vexera. And David met miss Kitty Scott. And they fell in love on-site the way we did.  

[00:09:29] Unknown:

Who just think they'd only known each other three months when they When they died. Yes. Well, we've known each other three months to the day, and I don't much care for that parallel. But I don't either.  

[00:09:40] Unknown:

But I see them like us,   Happy,   full of hope,  

[00:09:46] Unknown:

certain they've been married. Hold it. Hold it. Not like us. I'm not married to anyone. He was married to Stephanie. Now how could he and Marie think they could possibly marry? He said the pope refused Rudolph for divorce. An annulment. Oh, David. Wait.  

[00:10:01] Unknown:

Bulgaria.   I've just remembered something.   Around that very time,   the Bulgars were looking for a ruler.   They wanted a tsar from one of the great ruling houses of Europe,   not just for prestige, for protection.   And they sent Envoy to Rudolph in secret.   They knew he was restless and he wanted to get away from his father,   so they came to sound him out.   Would he be interested in the crown?   Oh, I know they came, and and that's why he and Marie were so happy. Kid, you don't know any such thing. Not yet, but we're going to the soccer hotel   to the room where they stay.  

Maybe then I'll know.   First, we stopped at David's hotel.   He was expecting word from his parents. He got it.  

[00:10:50] Unknown:

A telegram from his father. Listen to this. Mother and I arriving today from Paris by car, reserved suite of rooms your hotel   will expect the girl to meet us there at three, you at 03:30, no excuse acceptable, dad. The girl?  

[00:11:07] Unknown:

Why didn't he sell the fortune hunter? That's what he thinks. No excuse acceptable. None ever is.  

[00:11:13] Unknown:

Why did I ever write him that we wanted to be married? Were they your parents?   You were honest. I wasn't honest. I'm under his thumb like Rudolph was under the emperor's.   We should have married and told him afterwards. And be disowned? I don't care. Oh, darling. You do care. I should have known he   you don't think I'll stand up to him, do you?  

[00:11:33] Unknown:

I think Marie and Rudolph   will show you how to stand up to him.   Next stop,   the Saka Hotel.   The hotel room had been kept exactly the same as when the lovers were there together.   David and I stood where they stood   and waited.   There was such a stilmer,   but nothing else.   David finally said we might as well go. And as I turned,   it   happened.  

[00:12:07] Unknown:

My angel Marie,   do you see what Bulgaria could mean for us? There, I would be a true prince. All my beliefs put into practice. But would they have me as well? Oh, yes, my love. Yes. Bulgaria is Eastern Orthodox. The church recognizes divorce and would grant me one.   My Marie would reign beside me as Tsarina. Oh. But we must not hope too much.   The official offer to be Tsar has not been made here. There is not such a thing as too much hope. All the same, the royal council may not find   me acceptable.  

[00:12:40] Unknown:

Not acceptable.  

[00:12:42] Unknown:

You. Even if I am and my father learns of the plot, you know what it would mean? I won't think of it. Not only banishment, but trial for treason. I would lose Bulgaria   and worse,   lose you.  

[00:12:57] Unknown:

Are you willing to risk it? There's nothing in life I would not risk for you. Oh, go now.  

[00:13:03] Unknown:

Yes. Enter.  

[00:13:06] Unknown:

Your highness Yes. What is it? Imperial highness, I bring a message from her majesty.   She will receive Baroness Bethsara today at 03:00   alone.   The prince is not expected.  

[00:13:23] Unknown:

Very neat. Marie has an audience with the empress at 03:00. Kitty has an audience with the Carltons at 03:00. You still think it's all ridiculous? Hey. Will Marie win over the empress? I don't know how could I,  

[00:13:34] Unknown:

but maybe if we go to Hofburg Palace Oh, no. Come on. Oh, please, darling. Please.  

[00:13:41] Unknown:

Next stop, Hofburg Palace.  

[00:13:47] Unknown:

David,   this is where Marie came.   Here,   this room. I feel it all around me.   Oh, how young you are.   17, only.   Oh, how young. I'm older than my years, your majesty. I pray that it's so.  

[00:14:11] Unknown:

Only a woman could accept what I must say.   I implore you to believe me.   My child,   count yourself fortunate   that you can never be empress of the Austro Hungarian Empire.  

[00:14:25] Unknown:

It is a burden for men, empty   honor. But I have no wish to be empress here, your majesty. No.   But I thought you Your son and I   longed for this throne?   Once perhaps, but no more.  

[00:14:41] Unknown:

I pray you then   believe this also.   Count yourself fortunate too that a marriage between you and the archduke is impossible,   not because of the emperor's refusal   or the holy father's.   It is   it is because the prince who showed such promise   now is   I cannot find words.   Surely, you cannot want the weak,   desolate man he has become.  

[00:15:09] Unknown:

Surely, you will give him up. No. I do not want   a weak and dissolute man.  

[00:15:17] Unknown:

For every individual, there's a moment in life when the soul dies.   But this is not necessarily the moment when he reaches his physical end.   My poor son, Wiltos,   so   is dead. Your pardon, majesty.  

[00:15:34] Unknown:

If he were, as you say, no, I would not want him,   but I know his true nature.   He is strong and noble of heart,   and I will not give him up.  

[00:15:55] Unknown:

Well,   let us approach this commentary with caution.   I think we are bound to speculate on the gap between reality and illusion.   Just what have we here? Pure fantasy?   A trick of memory?   History rewritten, bent, and reshaped?   Emotional odds and ends of a romantic young woman?   Or   is this,   can it be,   reincarnation?   Perhaps,   I make no promise,   will be answered in act two.   I don't mean to suggest that Kitty Scott is deliberately tampering with the truth,   but I do have questions.   For the moment, let us accept as fact   the Bulgarian proposal. Archduke Rudolf surely knew that his acceptance would precipitate a constitutional crisis leading to civil war.   Was it not madness for him even to considers   wait.  

There was madness in the prince's house   on his mother's side.   So   a brilliant man, but   emotionally unstable. My apologies, miss Kitty. No more questions.   Now.  

[00:17:27] Unknown:

I didn't tell David what the empress and Marie had said to each other.   We went next   to the emperor's private quarters.   First was Spartan monk like cell with only an iron cart where a reigning monarch slept.   And in the adjoining room without meaning to, I said out loud, this is where Maria Vetsera came in secret and saw the emperor alone.  

[00:17:50] Unknown:

Hello.   Baroness Weta.  

[00:17:54] Unknown:

Your majesty.  

[00:17:55] Unknown:

You may ask.   How is it you pay homage to your emperor yet refuse to obey his order I sent regarding my son? You are my ruler,  

[00:18:05] Unknown:

Sire, by the divine right of kings.   Your son is my ruler by the divine right of love. If you're in sin solace,  

[00:18:13] Unknown:

for that you vow that the prince loves you above all else including the throne. I do. He does. Do you know how many knots he has had? He has lost no opportunity to bring shame on dishonor upon this house. He cannot wound me, sire. They were before he met me. There will be no other. You said I also. I pray you believe ours is a great love.  

[00:18:35] Unknown:

Rudolf is my destiny,   and I, his.   Help him to come.  

[00:18:41] Unknown:

Am I a boss what reason to deal with a kid or a girl?   Your great love is finished Never. If not by you, by me.   I will take such measures as are necessary.   One week hence,   if my order is not obeyed,   banishment.  

[00:19:03] Unknown:

I knew what David would say as soon as we left the palace.   He said it   and said it again while we drank hot chocolate at the sidewalk cafe.  

[00:19:12] Unknown:

You really are spaced out on this, Kitty. I mean, don't you see what you did this time? Hallucinated an 1889   version of what you think my parents will say to you. I know it's possible, Dave, but maybe I did.  

[00:19:24] Unknown:

But couldn't what I heard be a warning   to help me know how to answer your parents?  

[00:19:29] Unknown:

Now that you've been coached, will you answer like Marie? In slightly more modern language and   edited somewhat.   Hey. When when you hear those characters,   what language do they speak? English.   Uh-huh. Got you. Now if they were the real McCoy, they'd speak German. Not necessarily. The court spoke English. It was very fashionable. Well, darned if you don't always have an answer. And darned if you don't always have an objection. Alright. Answer this one. Marie was 17, Rudolph 28. You're 22, and I'm 30. Darling up hair splitting.  

[00:19:59] Unknown:

Why don't you want to believe I was, Marie?   I'll answer.   You fight so hard against it because you don't wanna be like Rudolph. Oh, do you blame me? I don't fight anymore.   They're trying to help us. They owe us,   Owe us? We owe them.   The mistakes they made, their karma   can be put right  

[00:20:21] Unknown:

by what we do. Yeah. But where's all the big helping hand you claim they'll give us? No. No. I'm sorry. I don't buy any part of it. Even with that shocker imagination of yours, you'll never crack the miling mystery because you can't get around the fact that they just plain died.   And what can that possibly say to us?  

[00:20:42] Unknown:

No. I   I couldn't get around the fact of their death,   but we were meant to understand why they had to die. I was absolutely certain Rudolph and Marie were trying to tell us something,   send us some message.   David and I discussed it a little more and getting nowhere,   and then it was time for me to see his parents.   What a relief when I walked into the Carlton sitting room and only his mother was there.   My dear,   we're to have a few minutes alone, and I'm so glad.   Frank doesn't often indulge me when I ask for things or when I ask for this time. To my surprise, he he went off to look at the tanube.   He said it's blue as the song   says. Well, I think so, but David thinks I have a shocking imagination.  

How pretty you are. May   may I call you Kitty, please?   Now tell me,   how is my Davie? Oh, he was wonderful and happy until his father's telegram.   Well, I can't pretend I'm surprised.   I know mister Cotton wants a more glittering match for his only son than a penniless school teacher. What does Davie say of that? Well, you know what he says. He wrote it in his letter. That he'll marry you regardless of anything his father threatened? Yes.   Davy had to know his father would come here.   There was time to marry you before we came, but he didn't.   For my dear, I'm so sorry I had to hurt you. But I know full well he could have married me, missus Carlton.  

Shall   shall I tell you why he didn't?   It's happening again. What is happening? A sense of   deja vu that all this has been played out before.   You said I'm very young.   I have to answer that I'm   older than my years. I pray you are   because I must hurt you again.   Lowly a woman could bear it.   Kitty, David will be very wealthy one day. I know. I know. And one day, he'll be altogether like his father. No.   Already,   it has begun.   Davy will have no time for his wife, any wife.   She will only be a possession,   a piece of property valued far less than his oil wells, his stocks, and his bonds.   Would you want such a husband? No. I wouldn't want such a husband. Then be glad his father won't permit the marriage.  

If he's crossed,   he'll disown David. And my poor Davie could not survive that.   Oh, Frank,   you're back so soon. Well, the blue Danube is not blue. Oh, I'm so disappointed.   Oh, Frank, this is miss Kitty Scott. Oh, good lord, Liz. I know who it is.  

[00:23:25] Unknown:

How do you do, miss Scott? Good afternoon.  

[00:23:29] Unknown:

Missus Carlton,   could I ask if your name is Elizabeth? Or Rose. It's Lizbeth.   Oh, and, mister Carlton, does Frank stand for   France   Francis?  

[00:23:42] Unknown:

Yes. Used to wish I had a more distinguished name,   but now enough time wasted calling the role. Liz, will you go check out the Blue Daniel yourself? Miss Scott and I can deal with the business at hand.   I'll help with you. Yes, Frank.  

[00:23:56] Unknown:

Kitty,   I do so hope we meet again. I hope so too.  

[00:24:03] Unknown:

Now then, miss Scott,   you know why you're here. It's useless to pretend you don't.  

[00:24:09] Unknown:

I don't intention of pretending.   But before the business at hand, I have a message from David.   He won't be here at 03:30.  

[00:24:17] Unknown:

He wants a report from me first. That's a very fine chore of independence, but I'm not impressed. He's tried it before.   Doesn't work, doesn't last any more than his fly by night love affair will last. You really don't waste time.  

[00:24:30] Unknown:

Not time, not words, not money. Then I'll spare you the time and trouble of saying that I'm a fortune hunter. Which you deny, of course.   Mister Carlton, I fell in love with David before I knew he was the wealthy son of a millionaire. David is not wealthy. Not yet. He has only what I choose to give him. But I ask you to believe I don't care about the money.   Please believe. I do love him, and he loves me.  

[00:24:56] Unknown:

There have been other pretty girls,   quite a few.   Has he told you about that? They're not important. They were before he met me. Oh, you flatter yourself.   He won't love anyone who causes me to cancel his allowance and change my will. What would you say if I told you  

[00:25:14] Unknown:

David is my destiny   and I, his?  

[00:25:18] Unknown:

Theatrical nonsense. We make our own destiny. But you mean to make David's,  

[00:25:23] Unknown:

not allow him to make his own.   You order me to give him up. Yeah? Unfortunately,  

[00:25:29] Unknown:

I have no authority to command you. I hoped when you found you weren't acceptable, you'd break off this affair of your own free will. I'll deal directly with my son.   There I do have authority.   The discussion is ended, miss Scott.  

[00:25:45] Unknown:

The audience   is ended, sire.   Good afternoon.   Oh, David. I was so awful.   You said I might win him over. I I I didn't even try.   To me, he was Franz Joseph, and I knew it was hopeless.  

[00:26:03] Unknown:

I was as cold as insulting as he was. Oh, and it may seem as much, much worse. No. No. Just stop it, Angel. I shouldn't have put you through any part of this. That's my problem, my family, and I'll handle it.   Now while you were gone, I sat here and got my head together.   I don't give a damn what my old man says. There'll be one answer to everything. Keep your lousy fortune. I am marrying Kitty. She's my fortune. Darling.  

[00:26:29] Unknown:

Oh, darling.   You've never sounded like this before. Never sure like this.  

[00:26:35] Unknown:

I mean, the same words, but, oh, a different tune. Well, thank you, mystical friends. Fact or fiction, they did help. I see now that if Rudolph had had the guts to give up the throne, any throne, if they just walked away, gone to, well, America,   they could have lived happily ever after.   So kiss me.  

[00:26:58] Unknown:

You you want some more proof that they aren't fiction? Yeah. Now listen to these names. Mhmm. Elizabeth.   Elizabeth.   Francis.  

[00:27:06] Unknown:

France. Hey. Hey. If you're secretly named Mary and my name turns out   to be Randolph, I'm converted to reincarnation.  

[00:27:14] Unknown:

Well, my middle name's Vera. Will that do for that setup? No. No. Wait. Wait. Wait.   The archduke's   full name was   Rudolph Franz Carl Joseph.   Carl Carlson.   Well, how about that?   That's  

[00:27:32] Unknown:

lovely to laugh again. Well, there won't be a barrel of laughs when I see dad now and invite his majesty to a wedding tomorrow. Oh, David. Tomorrow. Uh-huh. Tomorrow.   And nothing on earth will stop us, including a royal decree.  

[00:27:48] Unknown:

I wanted to plan my wedding.   Why didn't Marling come between?   No need any longer to learn what happened there.   Obviously, there was something more we were meant to understand.   This time   this time, I didn't just   hear them.   I saw   Rudolph,   much handsomer than his pictures.   Marie, small,   delicate, lovely.   She had just arrived at the hunting lodge, and he was not pleased.   The Bulgarian envoys were expected, and for some reason, he hadn't wanted her there.   In a moment, she knew why.   On the prince's writing table lay a pistol   and two letters,   one addressed to the empress and the other to his wife.  



[00:28:40] Unknown:

Dear lord.   You were not meant to see them.  

[00:28:46] Unknown:

Suicide.  

[00:28:47] Unknown:

If the Bulgarian offer is not made,   yes.   I pray the gun will never be used, the letter is never read.   But in case needed, they lie ready.   If you had not come, there would have been a third letter   to Marie. You can't mean this. All we dreamed, all we planned All ended if the Bulgars have decided against me.   I have come too close to our dream to go back to the old life. Without you, without an empire, I have nothing. I am nothing.   Suicide  

[00:29:22] Unknown:

is all that is left to me. I shouldn't have let you be here alone.   Such black, black thoughts. Will you come with me, my angel? I will follow you anywhere. You know I will.   But there'll be no need for dying.   I believe with all my heart, there's a future for us. If   not Bulgaria, then when we go far   away, no royal decree can stop us. And together,   what do we care for, Crown?  

[00:29:50] Unknown:

When I see you now,   beloved,   touch you,   hear your voice,   the black thoughts are black lives.   Only you   are truth.  

[00:30:14] Unknown:

So   the wedding ring, the farewell letters, the pistol,   all explained.   They did exist there at Meyer Lane.   But with all the props for a suicide pact, how can Kitty Scott be right that the Archduke did not shoot Marie?   And then himself, let Kitty answer   if she can   in what has to be the last act.   This is very likely an unprofitable   line of thought. But does it strike you that the Archduke Rudolf talks   out of both sides of his mouth?   At one moment a fairy prince, the next a hamlet, that tortured melancholy   prince.   And I'm still of two minds as to what we're dealing with here: fact or fantasy.  

Well,   if the latter, even fantasy, has its own logic.   And within that gossamer framework, Tippi is remarkably   logical.   Let's let her continue.  

[00:31:28] Unknown:

When David came back,   I was so preoccupied with wedding plans and smiling.   I didn't notice how quiet he was. Of course, I asked if he told his father about the wedding. Yes. Would his majesty come to it?   No.   Did David care? No. Well, neither did I.   I began to tell him about the newest smiling revelation.   In the moment I finished another unfolded.   In the main room of the hunting lodge,   Rudolph stood with the Bulgarian deputation.   A spokesman   stepped forward   and note.  

[00:32:04] Unknown:

Our royal council,   humbly beseeches your imperial highness   to accept the crown   of the house of Saxe Coburg.  

[00:32:14] Unknown:

Excellency,   your wishes are those of my own heart.   I do have this. Thanks be to god. But let my heart speak further   of a companion dearly loved.   When last you waited upon me, I told you I would have her reign at my side as Tzarina.   Has this wish   been given consideration   by your counsel?  

[00:32:37] Unknown:

It,   has.   And what is their conclusion   with regret your highness   such an arrangement will not be possible   the date is not acceptable as Sabrina  

[00:32:53] Unknown:

I   see.   Then excellency,   my answer to the royal council's offer of the crown   is no.   Dismissed.  

[00:33:09] Unknown:

The archduke stood rigid at military attention   until the invoice backed from the room.   Then his body slumped,   and   he walked slowly to the room where Marie waited. She instantly read his tormented face and knew the Bulgarian cause was lost.   Come   deeply.   I will hold you close and warm your heart again. Refused.  

[00:33:34] Unknown:

Not  

[00:33:34] Unknown:

acceptable. How could they refuse you? Why?   Why? Why?   But what did they say?   Tell me. I want to know. I must tell. No. I'm too tired now.  

[00:33:48] Unknown:

So tired.   So tired. Please.  

[00:33:53] Unknown:

I beg you.  

[00:33:54] Unknown:

What wretched reasons did they give? Your royal highness,   such an arrangement   is not  

[00:34:02] Unknown:

acceptable. But they could not have done such a one as you could not accept.   I was not acceptable.   I have done this to you. Fiction.  

[00:34:13] Unknown:

Your name was not even spoken.   I was refused.   Archduke   Rudolph of the House of Habsburg was not acceptable.   And there it ends.   Omid cognac, please. Yes. A toast.  

[00:34:30] Unknown:

We will drink   to a new life and make a new plan, then not weep for the old. Not acceptable.  

[00:34:40] Unknown:

Not acceptable.   My dog, gosh.   All is well.  

[00:34:45] Unknown:

We have each other.   Shall we drink to freedom?   To we go,   there no trappings of royalty can. To America,   the land of the free,   will be subject to no one there.   America, my own. No.  

[00:35:06] Unknown:

The war is finished. I tell you I am subject to the emperor and will always be a puppet prince.   I will always be.   But madness made me fancy I could be other. What folly made me imagine   Bulgaria   could be brought off at you and I in   Bulgaria   or any place.   No.   No.   You and I   and   life  

[00:35:39] Unknown:

are finished.   You are not to talk in this terrible way. Is it? You gave me your promise. We would go across the world.   You vowed you were talking tomorrow and ending your life. My life.  

[00:35:53] Unknown:

What life?   I care so little for my life.   It is not worth the ending of it.   I   will be   a puppet prince.   What difference   now?  

[00:36:11] Unknown:

God, how's that?  

[00:36:13] Unknown:

God,   Marie,   Marie, you have been dearer to me than all else on earth.   Forgive me   if you can,   but I feel nothing now   even   for you.   Oh, look, kid. I've headed up to here with two dead people we can't seem to get away from.   If any of it's true, why don't I see and hear it? I Just because you won't even consider reincarnation as a a possibility. That's right. And I'm set up to the teeth with mysticism and karma and messages that never come.   Can we please just drop it now?  

[00:36:58] Unknown:

Stop.   What is it?  

[00:37:01] Unknown:

This terminal. Wait a minute. Can we have another drink here? David.  

[00:37:06] Unknown:

Alright. I'll tell you. Oh, you don't need to.   I know   you gave in to your father. I haven't.  

[00:37:15] Unknown:

Well   well, not really.   All all I did was to agree to a delay, delay of the wedding. That's all.   Kit dad said if we really love each other, we we'd prove it by waiting a year.   We'll see each other till   we'll make a date to meet right here   a a year from today. I   I I have to leave Vienna tomorrow.   But Pete, hey, don't look at me like that. It's better this way. Don't you see? I mean, if we married tomorrow, he'd throw us out and if we wait, he won't.   We we we'll we'll have the best of both worlds.   Oh, I I know. I know what you're thinking.   Myling, the big fat parallel this time. Go on. Go ahead. Say it. I'm a puppet prince too. Well, if you think that I don't think it.  

Rudolph gave up. He chickened out. I'm not doing that. Aren't you? No.   A year will pass. We'll write to each other. Really think your father will be any different a year from now? What is with me? Why do I lie to myself? I know he won't change.   But the question is,   will I?   Look, kid.   Kid, don't give up on me.   I'm nothing without you.  

[00:38:28] Unknown:

You know who you quoted, Justin? What?  

[00:38:33] Unknown:

I did, didn't I?   Yeah. So where's all the help that he and his lady were supposed to teach us? What's the big message? I guess we can't learn it without knowing all that happened at Marling. We still don't know. We do know.   Never mind what Rudolph said about how he wasn't worth killing. The poor guy was freaked out. He shot her and shot himself.   No. Then what?   I'm the one hooked on Myling now. I've got to know what they have to tell me. Conjun them up again. I can. I've been trying ever since you told me what you promised your father. And what if we do go to Myling again? Stand in that room again. It's our last chance to know what they did wrong so we can   so I can do it right.  



[00:39:13] Unknown:

Next stop,   Marilyn.   The mother superior said   you've come again. So many come   again.   And this time, she didn't go with us into the shrine.   Alone, we stood once more in that fatal room.   Almost immediately, the change began.   Beside me, I heard David gasp. I felt his hand grip mine.   This time,   we would be together   in the past.  

[00:39:50] Unknown:

Murray,  

[00:39:52] Unknown:

please, Marie,  

[00:39:55] Unknown:

don't look at me.   Faithless   to all you believe. No. To dream,  

[00:40:03] Unknown:

to love,   and most sad of all,   to yourself. Self.   The empress knew,   but I did not.   There is a moment in life for every adventure   when the soul   dies.   Not necessarily the moment   when he reaches his physical end. Marie.   Unite   in love   and death.   Prince   of my heart,   there is life beyond life.   We will be together.   It is   a promise  

[00:40:54] Unknown:

Kit.   She   killed him.  

[00:41:00] Unknown:

That's   a message.   What?   We don't end it   with a gun but we   end it.   I   end it.   There are all kinds of death.   Leading you is one of them.   I don't love you the way you are now or want you.   There   comes a moment in life for every individual. That   moment hasn't come  

[00:41:36] Unknown:

and it won't. That is not the message. Then what is? Have you forgotten we're supposed to be there second chance? If by some wild wonderful reincarnation   we really are those two, Then Marie was wrong if we break up. They won't be together in that life or this one. Are you following him? Yes. I'm following him. The message was for me, not you. I'm to have the courage Rudolph lacked.   I have it. Now, at last, I have it.   Poor devil. He never got to marry his love. But tomorrow   tomorrow, miss Kitty Scott,   with a large blue and lustrous eyes,   will you marry me?  



[00:42:15] Unknown:

Tomorrow,   I?  

[00:42:17] Unknown:

Marie,  

[00:42:20] Unknown:

take me   Rudolph.  

[00:42:33] Unknown:

Well,   where have we been?   In the misty regions of imagination?   Or were the twentieth century lovers once the nineteenth century lovers?   You decide.   I promised one mystery love story.   I delivered   two.   Back shortly.   I've been doing a little reading on Myling myself.   Marie Vetsera   may have dispatched the prince, but she didn't follow him immediately.   She wrote three notes.   One begging her mother to forgive her.   She couldn't live without Rudolph.   One to her brother,   saying she would watch over him from above.   To her sister,   do not cry.  

I go happily.   My greatest happiness   would be to live in a hut with him.   But since it is impossible   to live with him,   I shall die with him.   Our cast included Marion Seldt is Paul Heck, Joan Shea, and Ian Mauden.   The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.   And now  

[00:43:58] Unknown:

a preview of our next tale. Kind of scary when you come right down to it. What? The cat? No. The cat is a cat, but   the way Dinah feels about it. Well, how does she feel about it? Well, you know what a familiar is. The alter ego of a witch. That's right. You're you're suggesting that Diamond is the one Oh, don't be ridiculous.   But she read about it somewhere. You know how much she reads and how suggestible she is. And I swear she's got this notion that the cat is   well, I I sort of said it already.   Her other self. Oh, come on, Joan.  

[00:44:32] Unknown:

Why don't I forgive you the idea that She talks to herself, Dave.  

[00:44:36] Unknown:

Well, who doesn't if you're alone enough? Out loud?  

[00:44:40] Unknown:

Sometimes like to an imaginary playmate? Well, this isn't exactly the same. The playmate talks back  

[00:44:46] Unknown:

in another voice.  

[00:44:48] Unknown:

You're kidding.  

[00:44:49] Unknown:

I wish I were.   Radio Mystery Theatre was sponsored in part by Contact,   the twelve hour cold capsule.   This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theatre for another adventure in the macabre.   Until next time.   Pleasant,   dream.