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In this episode of our mystery drama, "The Caesar Curse," we delve into a tale adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, brought to life by Murray Burnett and starring Richard Kiley. The story follows George Capewell, a man nearing the end of his life, as he recounts a mysterious and haunting experience from his past. While vacationing in Spain, George encounters a family plagued by a dark and ominous legacy. As he becomes entangled in their secrets, he finds himself drawn to Marla, a woman whose beauty is overshadowed by the curse that haunts her family. Despite the warnings and the eerie atmosphere surrounding the Residencia, George's love for Marla compels him to uncover the truth behind the family's affliction.
As the narrative unfolds, George battles with the supernatural elements and the psychological turmoil that the curse brings. The story explores themes of love, destiny, and the struggle against an inescapable fate. With a backdrop of mysterious sounds, haunting portraits, and a family history steeped in tragedy, "The Caesar Curse" challenges the boundaries between science and the supernatural. Join us as we navigate through George's chilling tale of love and horror, and discover whether love can truly conquer the darkness that looms over the Cesar family.
(00:08) Introduction to The Caesar Curse
(01:05) George Capewell's Last Will and Testament
(02:52) Arrival at the Mysterious Residencia
(06:48) The Enigmatic Portrait and Felipe's Innocence
(13:32) The Black Wind and Unsettling Night
(14:48) George's Forbidden Love for Marla
(25:01) The Curse of the Cesar Family
(32:37) Marla's Heartbreaking Decision
(39:06) Conclusion: The Unbroken Curse
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[00:00:08]
Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Caesar curse, was especially adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson classic for the mystery theater by Murray Burnett and stars Richard Kiley. It is sponsored in part by Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice and Anheuser Busch Incorporated, brewers of Budweiser. I'll be back shortly with act one. We all know that there is no such thing as a curse transmitted from one generation to the next, which calls down evil upon all the descendants of the cursed family. Science, of course, tells us that such diseases as diabetes, hemophilia, and madness can be handed down in a family, but science frowns upon anything of the extraordinary or bizarre.
In this instance, I must respectfully take issue with the scientists and as a case in point, bring you the story of George Capewell, whom we first meet at the age of 67 as he adds a cortisol to his last will and testament.
[00:01:24] Unknown:
Today, my family physician told me that death is no more than a week or two away. Therefore, I feel compelled to explain why I, George Capewell, will be the last of the Capewells. This was my choice. And this codicil to my will will explain why I made it. For the sake of clarity, I must go back some forty years to one summer when I fell seriously ill and almost died while vacationing in Spain.
[00:01:59] Unknown:
Well, young man, you are looking almost alive again. And I don't mind saying it is a small miracle. Sponsored by you, doctor Valdez. Let's give God a little credit too. And now to complete the cure, I insist that you have a few weeks of absolute rest and good. Well, if you're talking about one of those sanatoriums, forget it. The place I have in mind is as completely unlike a sanatorium as you can imagine. It is a residentia, the estate of a very old and proud family who have fallen upon hard times and are willing to take an American as a paying guest with one proviso which is That you remain a stranger.
You are not permitted the smallest intimacy.
[00:02:53] Unknown:
And so it came about that I found myself in an ancient, dilapidated horse drawn carriage, driven by a young man whose whose appearance excited both attraction and repulsion. Lithe and well built with large, brilliant yellow eyes, good acridon features. He was also so extremely hairy that one instinctively could bat from you. Do we have much farther to travel, Felipe? Over two bridges and partly cover the mountains in Get on, move. There's no need to whip the horse. I'm in no hurry. Sometimes he grows lazy.
[00:03:30] Unknown:
Besides, there is the bad place. We come to it shortly. That place?
[00:03:36] Unknown:
On this road? Oh, yes, senor.
[00:03:38] Unknown:
The first bridge. You can begin to hear it.
[00:03:43] Unknown:
The bridge is under a pier? No. No, senor.
[00:03:46] Unknown:
The bridge is safe.
[00:03:48] Unknown:
Well, then why is this a bad place?
[00:03:50] Unknown:
Because it makes me afraid. What is there to be afraid of? The noise, senor.
[00:03:56] Unknown:
The noise. There. It is better now.
[00:04:04] Unknown:
Such a noise won't hurt you, Felipe. It's it's just the sound of the water.
[00:04:10] Unknown:
So my sister tells me, senor, but still I am afraid.
[00:04:18] Unknown:
With that answer, I realized that there was a child's mind in that body. And from that time on, I regarded Felipe with indulgence and even a sort of liking as I listened to his innocent prattling until we drew up before a great arched Moorish hallway, secured by iron studded gates. We arrived, senor. We are home. You can descend from the carriage now, please. Through this gate, senor. Please.
[00:04:52] Unknown:
This is the courtyard, senor. It is very beautiful by day. And now, senor, if you please, up the stairs carefully.
[00:05:02] Unknown:
No, thank you, Felipe. I, I don't suppose we could have more light.
[00:05:07] Unknown:
Alas, senor. We have no electric, only the candles.
[00:05:15] Unknown:
We are here, senor. Your room. But how pleasant. How really pleasant. And, a table laid for supper. That's very thoughtful. Yes, signor. It is a fine room, a very fine room. In daylight, what can I see from these windows? The courtyard, senor.
[00:05:36] Unknown:
Some of the countryside, it is very fine. And the fireplace, too, the fire is good.
[00:05:42] Unknown:
It melts out the pleasure from your bones. Well, I suppose that's one way of putting it. Those those animal skins on the wall, they they come from I do not know. They have been here always.
[00:05:55] Unknown:
But look look at the bed. See the fine sheets? How soft and smooth, smooth. Be careful with that candle. You'll you'll set the place on fire. Here, let me have it. So smooth. So smooth. This looks like a fine wine you have here on the table.
[00:06:12] Unknown:
It's, from a nearby vineyard.
[00:06:16] Unknown:
Would you join me in a glass? Oh, no. No, not that. I That is for you. I hate it. Very well.
[00:06:23] Unknown:
But then, Felipe, I would like to make this first glass of wine in this Residencia a toast to your hospitality and to your mother, the Signora.
[00:06:33] Unknown:
Gracie, Signora.
[00:06:34] Unknown:
Which reminds me, when shall I have the pleasure of conveying my respects and thanks to your mother? Never. No. Never.
[00:06:42] Unknown:
Good night, seeing
[00:06:47] Unknown:
Orr.
[00:06:49] Unknown:
Even now, as I write this document, with the cold hand of death coming ever closer to me, I can still feel the warmth of that fire. You'll see the portrait of the woman on the wall illuminated by the flickering flames. For ten days, I gained in strength, saw no one but Felipe, and for ten nights, fell asleep with the face of that portrait looking down on me. The face of a magnificently beautiful woman, yet marred by a cruel, sullen, and sensual expression. I was struck by the strong resemblance to Felipe. And one morning as he served me my breakfast,
[00:07:33] Unknown:
that portrait on the wall. An ancestor, senor Morcoffe?
[00:07:38] Unknown:
No. No. Thank you. Who is that crossing the courtyard? The padre. He comes to hear your sister's confession? Yes. He's been doing that for some time for for many years? Many years. Well, then he would know who the woman in the portrait is. I could ask him You are not to ask questions. You are not. I have been told. But who told you? Your mother, the senora? You will be punished. You will see. You will be punished. And it will not be because of me or anything I have done. It will not be my fault. And now my pen hesitates. Even today, forty years later, I I feel ashamed.
I justified my action by telling myself that I was entitled to pierce the veil of mystery that surrounded this strange household. What I refused to admit was the spell the woman in the portrait had cast upon me. Day after day, the double knowledge of her wickedness and my weakness grew clearer. So shamefully I confess, I set out to find Felipe, to continue questioning that childlike mind. I knew I would find him in the woods, but I didn't know I'd be horrified by my discovery.
[00:09:04] Unknown:
Filippo, let that squirrel go. Let it go, I said. Yes, singer.
[00:09:09] Unknown:
I am sorry. Sorry? What kind of person are you? A little while ago, you pretended to be upset because I didn't like your coffee, and now I find you torturing a poor, dumb animal. You're the one who deserves to be tortured. I'm going to tell your mother I don't wanna see you again. You're not to serve me. You understand? Please, senor. Please. I go upon my knees to you. Forgive and bear with me, senor. I try so hard.
[00:09:33] Unknown:
Forgive me, please. Only if you promise never to do anything like this again. I promise, senor. I promise. Thank you, senor. I promise. I swear, senor. Felipe. Felipe, come back. Come back there. I wanna talk to you.
[00:09:51] Unknown:
But no amount of calling brought him back. I returned to the house. And as I walked slowly across the courtyard, I first saw my hostess. She was seated on an animal skin, leaning against a pillar, sunning herself. She was an elegant, sumptuous figure. And although she must have heard my footsteps, she seemed unconscious of my presence. Good days. And you're,
[00:10:22] Unknown:
Cezanne.
[00:10:23] Unknown:
May I join you?
[00:10:25] Unknown:
If you wish.
[00:10:29] Unknown:
You you know who I am?
[00:10:32] Unknown:
A guest.
[00:10:35] Unknown:
I should have presented myself to you before but your son told me you were unavailable.
[00:10:41] Unknown:
He may sit here if you stay out of my sun. You like the sun? It warms me and I like warmth.
[00:10:52] Unknown:
I I really wanted to talk to you about
[00:10:56] Unknown:
the woman in the portrait in my room.
[00:10:58] Unknown:
Portrait? Yes. The the painting. Surely, you know it. Felipe told me she was one of the family. She she fascinates me.
[00:11:09] Unknown:
Who was she? I think she was my mother. You think?
[00:11:16] Unknown:
Don't you know who I beg your pardon.
[00:11:21] Unknown:
You look so much like the woman in the portrait. Your your mother, I think you said. I I really would like to know something about her. The sun is going behind the clouds.
[00:11:31] Unknown:
I am afraid the black wind is coming, and we shall all suffer from it. I must be your juice.
[00:11:42] Unknown:
And she was gone. Silently, gracefully. She was right about the wind. It came from the Malarial Lowlands and over the Sierras. It stormed about the house with a hollow buzzing that was wearisome to the ear, depressing to the mind, and jangled the nerves. By the time Philippe brought my supper, I was in a state of nervous exhaustion. Philippe also was in a state of nerves. His yellow eyes burning in his face like two candles. His hand shaking so that the silver clattered against the plates. I have a say stop that noise. Sorry, senor. It's the black wind.
It pulls and pulls at you, telling you you must do something, but you don't know what it is you must do.
[00:12:33] Unknown:
Your mother?
[00:12:35] Unknown:
She seemed to be unhappy with the wind too. You think she's ill? Oh, senor. With this wind, who can be well? Now I must write of that black wind and blacker night. I went to bed early, couldn't sleep. Suddenly, filled the house. I thought of Felipe and the squirrel. I ran to the door only to find that it was locked from the outside. It resisted all my efforts to open it. I sank to the floor, my hands pressed over my ears, trying to blot out those inhuman ravings. It was useless. The last thing I've heard from losing consciousness was those ravings from hell.
[00:13:33] Unknown:
There are those among us who feel that some mysteries are best left unsolved. Some secrets never should be told. Because George Capewell was not one who believed this, we can continue in a moment with act two. But I warn you, the discovery may well send a shuddering chill through your bones. Everyone within the range of my voice has experienced some evidence of love's blindness. The doting male sees his beloved as perfection. Whereas the young girl may see his faults, but is certain that all that's needed to correct them is the gift of her love. George Capewell was destined to fall in love profoundly, electrifyingly, overwhelmingly for the first and last time in his life. Only to find that this all consuming passion was to lead him to the very brink of hell.
[00:14:48] Unknown:
I must continue with this writing so you will know why I leave this earth with no child to carry on the name of Capewell. Even though the writing brings back all the anguish and terror of those days more than forty years ago. When I awoke on the floor the morning after the terrible night of the black wind, the sun was shining, but the cheerful Felipe appeared with my breakfast.
[00:15:16] Unknown:
Good morning, senor. It's not a beautiful day. Yes. Beautiful and quiet.
[00:15:25] Unknown:
Will there be enough coffee for the moment? Yes, signor. What were those dreadful cries I heard last night? The when, senor? You know that's not true. And I mean to have the truth. Was it some animal you were torturing? No, senor. I swear it was not. I promised you, senor. And Felipe keeps his promises. Give me your hand, Felipe.
[00:15:44] Unknown:
Yes, senor.
[00:15:46] Unknown:
This is the hand that torture that poor squirrel. What, senor? I swore to you. No use to struggle, Felipe. I'm stronger than you are. And unless I'm mistaken, this is the hand that locked my door last night. Senor, please let go of my head. I'm a stranger, Felipe, but I'm also a guest. And I will not be locked in my room like a criminal. Now you understand? Yes, signor. Yes.
[00:16:07] Unknown:
Thank you. I understand.
[00:16:10] Unknown:
Well, how is it I never see your sister? Does she have some reason for avoiding me? My sister is a good girl. It is she that keeps me up, senor. Without her, I would be lost, senor. And no doubt she's reproved you for your sin of cruelty.
[00:16:25] Unknown:
12 times. And when I told her what you had done in the woods, she was pleased.
[00:16:31] Unknown:
Yes. She was happy. Then who or what was unhappy enough to make those sounds in the night? I have told you, signor. The wind, the black wind. You know I'm stronger than you are, Felipe. Please, signor. Let me go. And I will get the truth if I have to shake it or beat it out of you. Please, signor. Yes. Who is it? May I enter? Yes. Come in.
[00:17:00] Unknown:
I was passing in the courtyard.
[00:17:03] Unknown:
I thought I had a cry. It it was I, Padre.
[00:17:06] Unknown:
I I burned my hand with the coffee. Oh, so Felipe, then I would be gone. No, no, no, father. Don't
[00:17:13] Unknown:
don't go. I'd like to speak to you.
[00:17:16] Unknown:
Cheers, my son. If the senior doesn't need me.
[00:17:20] Unknown:
You can go, Felipe. I should introduce myself, Father. I'm George Cape Wells, the guest here at the Residencia. Yes, father. And well, you see before you a very puzzled and disturbed man.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
Is there some way I can help?
[00:17:41] Unknown:
I hope so, father. Do you know the woman in this portrait on the wall?
[00:17:46] Unknown:
Yes. That is the likeness of Marla Cesar. Well, I was hoping that you could tell me something about her. She was the great grandmother of the present daughter of the house who was named after her. But why are you concerned with the painting? Well, because of the
[00:18:06] Unknown:
the beauty of the woman, because of the resemblance of the present, senora Cesar, to this woman. And well, because, father, the woman in the portrait has has cast a dark shadow on my mind.
[00:18:19] Unknown:
I know that you came here to regain your health after a severe illness.
[00:18:26] Unknown:
Perhaps there are still some traces of fever that linger I don't know if fever in the world could make me hear the cries I heard last night, father. They sounded like like the bestial screams of a soul in hell. And you think they came from the portrait? The whole atmosphere of this Residencia is strange. I I have never seen the daughter of the house, and I That is how it should be.
[00:18:53] Unknown:
Oh, if you will forgive me, I should be with her now. I don't like to keep her waiting. You're telling me to close my eyes and ears to everything that goes on and not interfere? I am only reminding you that you are a guest, and you should remain a guest. Nothing more.
[00:19:18] Unknown:
Sleep came to me early and dreams filled the night. I tossed and turned as the dreams became more and more vivid. And then, I remember waking to see that somehow the beautiful face had left its frame and was bending over me. Only the face was younger than in the portrait and softer with great eyes that looked deep into mine. I tossed off the bed clothes and struck a match to light a candle. Where are you? Come back. Please. I I know you were here. Come back. I won't harm you. But there was only silence and the cruel eyes of the portrait looking down at me. I sat up the rest of the night, and it was the next day when I came face to face with marvelous Cesar, as she stood in her doorway after saying farewell to father Raymond.
Once again, I looked into those marvelous eyes, And then she turned quickly and closed the door. I rapped sharply. Senorita. Senorita, please open the door.
[00:20:34] Unknown:
Senor,
[00:20:35] Unknown:
it is useless. What is useless?
[00:20:37] Unknown:
That we should talk. We must. We cannot. Cannot. What will stop us? I will. I know that what you're thinking is impossible.
[00:20:46] Unknown:
Then you know what I'm thinking. Of course. And you'll turn your back on me and my love? I have no choice. Nonsense. Everyone has a choice. Except me. Why do you say that? I know.
[00:20:59] Unknown:
Believe me. I know. Alright. Tell me why. Please, signore. It is not permitted to love me. Who will not permit it? I will not.
[00:21:08] Unknown:
Well, then again, I ask you why. If you really loved me, you would not ask me. If you really loved me, you'd tell me. I did not say I loved you. But your eyes speak for themselves. You knew we loved from the moment our eyes first met. Are you not ashamed?
[00:21:23] Unknown:
Of my love for you? No. Never. Of breaking the rules under which you came to be a guest in this house. Of using your worldly wisdom to make me betray myself and my family.
[00:21:33] Unknown:
Are these not shameful, signor? I only know that I love you and you love me. And between two people who love, there must be trust. And between us, signor,
[00:21:42] Unknown:
I tell you there can be nothing but a closed door.
[00:21:50] Unknown:
As I look at the pages I've already written, I feel now as I felt then, the urge to stop, to seek no more answers. In my heart, I knew that the beautiful creature I loved had a strange mother and a pitiful brother. My heart told me that she was a child of an afflicted house, but all that mattered was that I should make her mine. For two days, I walked in the woods with her image ever before my eyes, but she didn't appear. Then, on the third day, Martha, my beloved, you came to me. Yes.
[00:22:31] Unknown:
I came to you and I shouldn't, and I hate myself for it.
[00:22:35] Unknown:
I hate myself for my weakness. Love isn't a weakness. For me, it is. And it gives me strength. Strength to ask you to marry me and to come away with me as my wife. You don't know what you're saying. I'm saying marry me and come away from this place. Come to my country and my house and let me show you how much I love you and how much I can give to you. I can't. Marla, we were drawn together by the miracle of love. It would be a sin to ignore this miracle. This is madness.
[00:23:03] Unknown:
Goodbye. Marla, come back. I won't let you go. You must. Never. Please don't touch me. Don't be afraid.
[00:23:12] Unknown:
Once my arms are around you and our lips have met, you'll see that I'm right. You know that we belong together.
[00:23:17] Unknown:
Oh. Oh, no. No. No.
[00:23:25] Unknown:
Voila, how sweetly the name sounds on my lips. You do love me. Admit it, darling.
[00:23:31] Unknown:
You will go away today. You will leave the Residencia, and you must never return.
[00:23:44] Unknown:
Fatalists believe that the threads of our lives are woven for us long before we embark on life's journey and that it's useless to struggle against our destinies. But for centuries, the stuff of drama has been fashioned from a man's refusal to accept the inevitable, to fight on no matter what the odds. George Capewell chose to fight, and we'll be back with the terrifying results of that decision in a few moments. To find love only to lose it is an age old story. But usually, the rejected lover knows in his heart why he's been rejected. George Capel sensed that Marla Cesar had refused to marry him out of a nameless but genuine fear, a fear which he himself felt hung heavily over the Cesar household.
George Capel was convinced that if he only could discover the cause of this fear, he could dispel it, and he and Marla would live happily ever after.
[00:25:02] Unknown:
As my life in this last will and testament draw near to a close, it becomes ever more difficult for me to find words adequate to describe the anguish and terror I felt more than forty years ago in the remote and fear ridden Cesar Residencia. I remember crossing the courtyard on my way to my room, trying to damn the raging torrent of my thoughts and and seeing the sensuous figure of Senora Cezar dozing contentedly in her favorite spot in the sun. Signora? Signora, I'm I'm sorry to disturb you, but I I must talk with you.
[00:25:46] Unknown:
Must? Why?
[00:25:48] Unknown:
Your daughter has asked me to leave your house. Why'd you come to me? I want to know if
[00:25:54] Unknown:
if you want me to go also. You have done nothing to annoy me. What did you do to annoy her?
[00:26:01] Unknown:
I fell in love with her and asked her to marry me.
[00:26:04] Unknown:
Malice, a very pretty girl. Very pretty.
[00:26:10] Unknown:
I know she loves me, and and yet she asked me to leave. She she has some reason for wanting me to go away, and, well, it it occurred to me that maybe the reason concerns you.
[00:26:22] Unknown:
I took care of Marla when she needed me. Now she is a grown woman. She can do as she pleases.
[00:26:30] Unknown:
What was it that made those hellish sounds the other night? Sounds? What sounds? Well, surely, you you must remember it. It was the night of the black wind and the, the cries and the screams of pain came from the throat of some animal or some human that was undergoing torment. They
[00:26:48] Unknown:
they shook the house. I heard nothing but then I I sleep very soundly.
[00:26:59] Unknown:
She was lying, of course. I reached my room in a black rage and found a note in Marla's handwriting. I took it to the window to read. The words are seared into my brain. It read, if you have any feeling for me, any love for Marla, go from here today. I beg of you, go. Almost insane with rage, I slammed my fist through the window. The pain and the blood flowing from my arm brought me partially to my senses. I tried to stem the flow of blood, but the cup's too deep. Through the shattered window, I saw the signora. I ran down the stairs to the courtyard and approached her, holding out my arm.
Signora, as you can see, I've I've cut myself rather badly. Could could you help me stop the bleeding? Senora,
[00:27:53] Unknown:
what are you doing?
[00:28:18] Unknown:
I lost consciousness. And remember waking up in bed in my room with Marla kneeling by my bedside.
[00:28:26] Unknown:
Oh, my love. My love. Dear precious heart, I should have sent you away long ago but I didn't have the strength.
[00:28:36] Unknown:
Don't don't cry, Marla.
[00:28:39] Unknown:
Darling and, don't blame yourself. I have done as you are, sister, and brought the carriage in front. Will he be able to travel? He must, Felipe. You know that. No.
[00:28:50] Unknown:
You think that now I'd go away and leave you with with
[00:28:54] Unknown:
My mother. Can you sit up?
[00:28:58] Unknown:
Of course, I can. Oh.
[00:29:01] Unknown:
She cannot walk. I will have to carry him. No, no. I
[00:29:06] Unknown:
I can't leave you here. It's dangerous.
[00:29:08] Unknown:
I have lived here all my life.
[00:29:12] Unknown:
Now that
[00:29:14] Unknown:
that there are no longer any secrets between us, You must come with me. Felipe, he must have a doctor. Take him where there will be no questions asked and he can be attended to.
[00:29:32] Unknown:
Where am I? What what place is this? Marla? Where where is Marla? Old, he's my son. Father Ramon, what are you doing here? Praying for you, my son. Yes, ma'am. What is this place? How long have I been here? July in the house of the Tekindama family. In the old days, they belong to the Cesar state. They still feel loyalty to the Cesar family. You have been here three days. Yes, but who brought me here? Filipy Borja aided by one of the Tegan Darmasons. And my wounds? Marla cared for them? Only at first. Your cuts were too serious, so we sent for your doctor. Cuts?
You put your hands through a glass window, did you not? Sir, you
[00:30:33] Unknown:
you know that I'm not asking this question out of idle curiosity.
[00:30:37] Unknown:
What are the Cesar family? What what are they? A A an unfortunate example of a declining race. Once rich and mighty, they are now poor and neglected. But not by you. You you visit Marla often. I've seen you. Ah, yes. The senorita has waited for him. But her mother, you do not visit her? No. Is she insane? I can only answer that according to my belief. She is not or or was not. Oh, when she was young, she was wild, but she was surely sane.
[00:31:23] Unknown:
You know I love Marla.
[00:31:26] Unknown:
I know. Then you will help me see her. No. Why not? Such a meeting will only bring pain to you both. It could also bring happiness. How could that come about?
[00:31:42] Unknown:
I propose to marry her and and take her away from here, from the evil influences that pollute the residents here. This this strain or whatever it is may may live only in the place where it was born. If Marlowe were to be removed from this place with a man who loved her devotedly, wouldn't there be a chance?
[00:32:05] Unknown:
I do not know. But in a matter of this kind, I would trust the judgment of the seigneurator. Will you trigger a message? Before I answer that, I must tell you what the people of this past believe about Marla's father. Marla's father was a good friend of the head of the house you are in now, the Tejan Dhaba house. One day, he and his friend delivered some packages to the resident. The friend met Marla's mother, then a young woman, and immediately fell in love. All the villagers knew it and warned him, but he could talk and think of nothing but the woman.
[00:32:54] Unknown:
The way I feel about Marla. Yes, my son. But
[00:32:58] Unknown:
with a difference. In wintertime, there are terrible storms upon the mountain, and the passes become dangerous. On this one night, Francisco de Gendama and his friend found themselves on the pass before the Residencia. It was a wild night with snow and wind. And now I use the words of Francisco who swears that Mara's mother came out upon the gallery with a lamp in her hand and called to them. Francisco says there was death that night on the mountains, but he felt there was worse inside the house. And did they go in? Francisco's friend did, but Francisco wouldn't.
He says that he even went down on his knees in the snow and begged his friend not to enter, but to to know what he or what happened, he ever knows. The man was never seen again. Will you tell Martha I must see her? I will, my son. I promise. But still, she may not come. You both know me.
[00:34:25] Unknown:
Tell her that unless she comes to me, I will go to her. I will return to the Residencia.
[00:34:38] Unknown:
It was wrong of you to send me that message with father Rimon.
[00:34:42] Unknown:
I wanted to see you to tell you that nothing matters. If you will not go away with me, I will stay here with you. I ask nothing.
[00:34:51] Unknown:
I love you. Dearest, I know you love me but listen. I wish with all my heart that I did not have to tell you these things. I prayed. Oh, how I prayed that you would leave without seeing me or asking for me but my prayers were not answered. I must teach you to see me for what I am, for what I may become.
[00:35:14] Unknown:
Not you, Marla. I know your beauty not from your face, but from your soul. Give me your hand.
[00:35:21] Unknown:
There. I place it against my heart. You feel the very beat of life. It only moves for you. It is yours. But then why are you But it is mine. Think how affected you were by the portrait that hung in your bedroom. You remember that painting. Yes. Every line, every feature. The woman who sat for it died years ago and she did evil in her lifetime. Now recall the painting and look closely at me. And what do you see? I see the beautiful girl I love. But you also see that my eyes and my hair, the lines of my body, they're exactly the same as the portrait. The mouth is different. You'll
[00:36:05] Unknown:
your lovely mouth reveals only sweetness. The mouth in the portrait should cruelly forget your family and be my wife. You ask me to forget my family.
[00:36:14] Unknown:
Can't you see that no gesture I make, no tone in my voice nor any glance from my eyes is wholly mine?
[00:36:21] Unknown:
Yours and yours alone. It's you I love. You think I can escape my heritage?
[00:36:26] Unknown:
Of course. And I tell you, my love, that the hands of the dead are in my bosom.
[00:36:33] Unknown:
They move me, they guide me. Well, I love you and not shadows from the past. Shadows?
[00:36:39] Unknown:
Shadows bearing the weight of centuries. Eight hundred years ago my fathers ruled all of this province. They were wise, cunning and cruel. Their flags led in war. The king called them cousin.
[00:36:54] Unknown:
In what you tell me there's nothing in which to be ashamed, nothing to to fear.
[00:36:59] Unknown:
There came the change. My ancestors began to go down. Their minds fell asleep, their passions awoke in gusts. Beauty was still handed down but no longer guided by humanity. The seed passed on. It was wrapped in flesh. The flesh covered the bones, but they were the bones and the flesh of brutes
[00:37:22] Unknown:
and their mind was as the mind of flies. Oh, you've lived too long with this, too long in that house. Too long with the portraits of the books I saw in your study. You also saw Felipe and my mother.
[00:37:34] Unknown:
So you have seen for yourself how the wheel has gone backward with my doomed race. Don't you overlook one thing? Me.
[00:37:44] Unknown:
My heritage, my blood, my ancestors. I feel they'll be strong enough to And if they don't,
[00:37:51] Unknown:
you ask me to hand down this cursed vessel of humanity, charge it with fresh life as with fresh poison. Never.
[00:37:59] Unknown:
I ask you to love me.
[00:38:01] Unknown:
I already do. And that's why we shall never meet again. Even now, the people in this village are beginning to speak of your love for me, and they will not have it. Every day that you linger here increases your peril. I'm not afraid. I have given my vow. My vow that my race shall walk the earth no more. I shall be the last. I must go. Wait, Marla. Please. You heard and you know I must go swiftly. Remember me as the woman who sent you away and yet would have longed to keep you forever. The girl who had no dear hope than to forget you and no greater fear
[00:38:49] Unknown:
than to be forgotten. Marla. Marla. Come back.
[00:39:06] Unknown:
Now I can lay down my pen. My tale is told that it answers the question I evaded for so long. Why I never married. Whether what I've written here is believed or disbelieved is of no importance. What is important is that I proved one fear of my beloved Marla to be groundless. Her fear that she would be forgotten.
[00:39:44] Unknown:
Like George Capewell, I ask for neither belief nor disbelief. The pages of history are filled with the names of people who were burned at the stake because a lot of other people believed they were witches. Therefore, I must add a fact which George Capewell omitted. A few months after he returned to his home in America, the newspapers reported the destruction by fire of an ancient Residencia in Spain belonging to the Cesar family. I'll be back shortly. It is widely believed that love conquers all. What puzzles me is why this belief is so universal when our literature abounds in stories proving the exact opposite.
My fancy is that we want to believe in the conquering power of love and goodness to balance our beliefs in the bad dreams of demons and destruction that at times haunt us all. Our cast included Richard Kiley, Roberta Maxwell, Anne Potoniac, Bob Caliban, and Ian Martin. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. And now a preview of our next tale. What is her condition? Well, it's not fatal. Thank God. Not even very serious. Badly bruised, cut over her right eye but she's going to be all right.
[00:41:19] Unknown:
The monster failed to make good his threat to kill her. We may indeed thank God for that. Yes. Well, at least we know more than we did before, monsieur Dupin. We know that the murderer is a big man, a huge man of unbelievable strength and that he has black hair. We know a great deal more than that, dear. We do? Well, I do and so do you.
[00:41:44] Unknown:
Only as I've said before,
[00:41:47] Unknown:
you don't know you know. Oh, monsieur monsieur, I do not have your brilliant brain.
[00:41:53] Unknown:
It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you can solve this awful mystery that you can save Yvette. The murderer failed this time, but he'll try again. Radio mystery theater was sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and sign off, the sinus medicines. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant
[00:42:21] Unknown:
dreams.
Our mystery drama, The Caesar curse, was especially adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson classic for the mystery theater by Murray Burnett and stars Richard Kiley. It is sponsored in part by Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice and Anheuser Busch Incorporated, brewers of Budweiser. I'll be back shortly with act one. We all know that there is no such thing as a curse transmitted from one generation to the next, which calls down evil upon all the descendants of the cursed family. Science, of course, tells us that such diseases as diabetes, hemophilia, and madness can be handed down in a family, but science frowns upon anything of the extraordinary or bizarre.
In this instance, I must respectfully take issue with the scientists and as a case in point, bring you the story of George Capewell, whom we first meet at the age of 67 as he adds a cortisol to his last will and testament.
[00:01:24] Unknown:
Today, my family physician told me that death is no more than a week or two away. Therefore, I feel compelled to explain why I, George Capewell, will be the last of the Capewells. This was my choice. And this codicil to my will will explain why I made it. For the sake of clarity, I must go back some forty years to one summer when I fell seriously ill and almost died while vacationing in Spain.
[00:01:59] Unknown:
Well, young man, you are looking almost alive again. And I don't mind saying it is a small miracle. Sponsored by you, doctor Valdez. Let's give God a little credit too. And now to complete the cure, I insist that you have a few weeks of absolute rest and good. Well, if you're talking about one of those sanatoriums, forget it. The place I have in mind is as completely unlike a sanatorium as you can imagine. It is a residentia, the estate of a very old and proud family who have fallen upon hard times and are willing to take an American as a paying guest with one proviso which is That you remain a stranger.
You are not permitted the smallest intimacy.
[00:02:53] Unknown:
And so it came about that I found myself in an ancient, dilapidated horse drawn carriage, driven by a young man whose whose appearance excited both attraction and repulsion. Lithe and well built with large, brilliant yellow eyes, good acridon features. He was also so extremely hairy that one instinctively could bat from you. Do we have much farther to travel, Felipe? Over two bridges and partly cover the mountains in Get on, move. There's no need to whip the horse. I'm in no hurry. Sometimes he grows lazy.
[00:03:30] Unknown:
Besides, there is the bad place. We come to it shortly. That place?
[00:03:36] Unknown:
On this road? Oh, yes, senor.
[00:03:38] Unknown:
The first bridge. You can begin to hear it.
[00:03:43] Unknown:
The bridge is under a pier? No. No, senor.
[00:03:46] Unknown:
The bridge is safe.
[00:03:48] Unknown:
Well, then why is this a bad place?
[00:03:50] Unknown:
Because it makes me afraid. What is there to be afraid of? The noise, senor.
[00:03:56] Unknown:
The noise. There. It is better now.
[00:04:04] Unknown:
Such a noise won't hurt you, Felipe. It's it's just the sound of the water.
[00:04:10] Unknown:
So my sister tells me, senor, but still I am afraid.
[00:04:18] Unknown:
With that answer, I realized that there was a child's mind in that body. And from that time on, I regarded Felipe with indulgence and even a sort of liking as I listened to his innocent prattling until we drew up before a great arched Moorish hallway, secured by iron studded gates. We arrived, senor. We are home. You can descend from the carriage now, please. Through this gate, senor. Please.
[00:04:52] Unknown:
This is the courtyard, senor. It is very beautiful by day. And now, senor, if you please, up the stairs carefully.
[00:05:02] Unknown:
No, thank you, Felipe. I, I don't suppose we could have more light.
[00:05:07] Unknown:
Alas, senor. We have no electric, only the candles.
[00:05:15] Unknown:
We are here, senor. Your room. But how pleasant. How really pleasant. And, a table laid for supper. That's very thoughtful. Yes, signor. It is a fine room, a very fine room. In daylight, what can I see from these windows? The courtyard, senor.
[00:05:36] Unknown:
Some of the countryside, it is very fine. And the fireplace, too, the fire is good.
[00:05:42] Unknown:
It melts out the pleasure from your bones. Well, I suppose that's one way of putting it. Those those animal skins on the wall, they they come from I do not know. They have been here always.
[00:05:55] Unknown:
But look look at the bed. See the fine sheets? How soft and smooth, smooth. Be careful with that candle. You'll you'll set the place on fire. Here, let me have it. So smooth. So smooth. This looks like a fine wine you have here on the table.
[00:06:12] Unknown:
It's, from a nearby vineyard.
[00:06:16] Unknown:
Would you join me in a glass? Oh, no. No, not that. I That is for you. I hate it. Very well.
[00:06:23] Unknown:
But then, Felipe, I would like to make this first glass of wine in this Residencia a toast to your hospitality and to your mother, the Signora.
[00:06:33] Unknown:
Gracie, Signora.
[00:06:34] Unknown:
Which reminds me, when shall I have the pleasure of conveying my respects and thanks to your mother? Never. No. Never.
[00:06:42] Unknown:
Good night, seeing
[00:06:47] Unknown:
Orr.
[00:06:49] Unknown:
Even now, as I write this document, with the cold hand of death coming ever closer to me, I can still feel the warmth of that fire. You'll see the portrait of the woman on the wall illuminated by the flickering flames. For ten days, I gained in strength, saw no one but Felipe, and for ten nights, fell asleep with the face of that portrait looking down on me. The face of a magnificently beautiful woman, yet marred by a cruel, sullen, and sensual expression. I was struck by the strong resemblance to Felipe. And one morning as he served me my breakfast,
[00:07:33] Unknown:
that portrait on the wall. An ancestor, senor Morcoffe?
[00:07:38] Unknown:
No. No. Thank you. Who is that crossing the courtyard? The padre. He comes to hear your sister's confession? Yes. He's been doing that for some time for for many years? Many years. Well, then he would know who the woman in the portrait is. I could ask him You are not to ask questions. You are not. I have been told. But who told you? Your mother, the senora? You will be punished. You will see. You will be punished. And it will not be because of me or anything I have done. It will not be my fault. And now my pen hesitates. Even today, forty years later, I I feel ashamed.
I justified my action by telling myself that I was entitled to pierce the veil of mystery that surrounded this strange household. What I refused to admit was the spell the woman in the portrait had cast upon me. Day after day, the double knowledge of her wickedness and my weakness grew clearer. So shamefully I confess, I set out to find Felipe, to continue questioning that childlike mind. I knew I would find him in the woods, but I didn't know I'd be horrified by my discovery.
[00:09:04] Unknown:
Filippo, let that squirrel go. Let it go, I said. Yes, singer.
[00:09:09] Unknown:
I am sorry. Sorry? What kind of person are you? A little while ago, you pretended to be upset because I didn't like your coffee, and now I find you torturing a poor, dumb animal. You're the one who deserves to be tortured. I'm going to tell your mother I don't wanna see you again. You're not to serve me. You understand? Please, senor. Please. I go upon my knees to you. Forgive and bear with me, senor. I try so hard.
[00:09:33] Unknown:
Forgive me, please. Only if you promise never to do anything like this again. I promise, senor. I promise. Thank you, senor. I promise. I swear, senor. Felipe. Felipe, come back. Come back there. I wanna talk to you.
[00:09:51] Unknown:
But no amount of calling brought him back. I returned to the house. And as I walked slowly across the courtyard, I first saw my hostess. She was seated on an animal skin, leaning against a pillar, sunning herself. She was an elegant, sumptuous figure. And although she must have heard my footsteps, she seemed unconscious of my presence. Good days. And you're,
[00:10:22] Unknown:
Cezanne.
[00:10:23] Unknown:
May I join you?
[00:10:25] Unknown:
If you wish.
[00:10:29] Unknown:
You you know who I am?
[00:10:32] Unknown:
A guest.
[00:10:35] Unknown:
I should have presented myself to you before but your son told me you were unavailable.
[00:10:41] Unknown:
He may sit here if you stay out of my sun. You like the sun? It warms me and I like warmth.
[00:10:52] Unknown:
I I really wanted to talk to you about
[00:10:56] Unknown:
the woman in the portrait in my room.
[00:10:58] Unknown:
Portrait? Yes. The the painting. Surely, you know it. Felipe told me she was one of the family. She she fascinates me.
[00:11:09] Unknown:
Who was she? I think she was my mother. You think?
[00:11:16] Unknown:
Don't you know who I beg your pardon.
[00:11:21] Unknown:
You look so much like the woman in the portrait. Your your mother, I think you said. I I really would like to know something about her. The sun is going behind the clouds.
[00:11:31] Unknown:
I am afraid the black wind is coming, and we shall all suffer from it. I must be your juice.
[00:11:42] Unknown:
And she was gone. Silently, gracefully. She was right about the wind. It came from the Malarial Lowlands and over the Sierras. It stormed about the house with a hollow buzzing that was wearisome to the ear, depressing to the mind, and jangled the nerves. By the time Philippe brought my supper, I was in a state of nervous exhaustion. Philippe also was in a state of nerves. His yellow eyes burning in his face like two candles. His hand shaking so that the silver clattered against the plates. I have a say stop that noise. Sorry, senor. It's the black wind.
It pulls and pulls at you, telling you you must do something, but you don't know what it is you must do.
[00:12:33] Unknown:
Your mother?
[00:12:35] Unknown:
She seemed to be unhappy with the wind too. You think she's ill? Oh, senor. With this wind, who can be well? Now I must write of that black wind and blacker night. I went to bed early, couldn't sleep. Suddenly, filled the house. I thought of Felipe and the squirrel. I ran to the door only to find that it was locked from the outside. It resisted all my efforts to open it. I sank to the floor, my hands pressed over my ears, trying to blot out those inhuman ravings. It was useless. The last thing I've heard from losing consciousness was those ravings from hell.
[00:13:33] Unknown:
There are those among us who feel that some mysteries are best left unsolved. Some secrets never should be told. Because George Capewell was not one who believed this, we can continue in a moment with act two. But I warn you, the discovery may well send a shuddering chill through your bones. Everyone within the range of my voice has experienced some evidence of love's blindness. The doting male sees his beloved as perfection. Whereas the young girl may see his faults, but is certain that all that's needed to correct them is the gift of her love. George Capewell was destined to fall in love profoundly, electrifyingly, overwhelmingly for the first and last time in his life. Only to find that this all consuming passion was to lead him to the very brink of hell.
[00:14:48] Unknown:
I must continue with this writing so you will know why I leave this earth with no child to carry on the name of Capewell. Even though the writing brings back all the anguish and terror of those days more than forty years ago. When I awoke on the floor the morning after the terrible night of the black wind, the sun was shining, but the cheerful Felipe appeared with my breakfast.
[00:15:16] Unknown:
Good morning, senor. It's not a beautiful day. Yes. Beautiful and quiet.
[00:15:25] Unknown:
Will there be enough coffee for the moment? Yes, signor. What were those dreadful cries I heard last night? The when, senor? You know that's not true. And I mean to have the truth. Was it some animal you were torturing? No, senor. I swear it was not. I promised you, senor. And Felipe keeps his promises. Give me your hand, Felipe.
[00:15:44] Unknown:
Yes, senor.
[00:15:46] Unknown:
This is the hand that torture that poor squirrel. What, senor? I swore to you. No use to struggle, Felipe. I'm stronger than you are. And unless I'm mistaken, this is the hand that locked my door last night. Senor, please let go of my head. I'm a stranger, Felipe, but I'm also a guest. And I will not be locked in my room like a criminal. Now you understand? Yes, signor. Yes.
[00:16:07] Unknown:
Thank you. I understand.
[00:16:10] Unknown:
Well, how is it I never see your sister? Does she have some reason for avoiding me? My sister is a good girl. It is she that keeps me up, senor. Without her, I would be lost, senor. And no doubt she's reproved you for your sin of cruelty.
[00:16:25] Unknown:
12 times. And when I told her what you had done in the woods, she was pleased.
[00:16:31] Unknown:
Yes. She was happy. Then who or what was unhappy enough to make those sounds in the night? I have told you, signor. The wind, the black wind. You know I'm stronger than you are, Felipe. Please, signor. Let me go. And I will get the truth if I have to shake it or beat it out of you. Please, signor. Yes. Who is it? May I enter? Yes. Come in.
[00:17:00] Unknown:
I was passing in the courtyard.
[00:17:03] Unknown:
I thought I had a cry. It it was I, Padre.
[00:17:06] Unknown:
I I burned my hand with the coffee. Oh, so Felipe, then I would be gone. No, no, no, father. Don't
[00:17:13] Unknown:
don't go. I'd like to speak to you.
[00:17:16] Unknown:
Cheers, my son. If the senior doesn't need me.
[00:17:20] Unknown:
You can go, Felipe. I should introduce myself, Father. I'm George Cape Wells, the guest here at the Residencia. Yes, father. And well, you see before you a very puzzled and disturbed man.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
Is there some way I can help?
[00:17:41] Unknown:
I hope so, father. Do you know the woman in this portrait on the wall?
[00:17:46] Unknown:
Yes. That is the likeness of Marla Cesar. Well, I was hoping that you could tell me something about her. She was the great grandmother of the present daughter of the house who was named after her. But why are you concerned with the painting? Well, because of the
[00:18:06] Unknown:
the beauty of the woman, because of the resemblance of the present, senora Cesar, to this woman. And well, because, father, the woman in the portrait has has cast a dark shadow on my mind.
[00:18:19] Unknown:
I know that you came here to regain your health after a severe illness.
[00:18:26] Unknown:
Perhaps there are still some traces of fever that linger I don't know if fever in the world could make me hear the cries I heard last night, father. They sounded like like the bestial screams of a soul in hell. And you think they came from the portrait? The whole atmosphere of this Residencia is strange. I I have never seen the daughter of the house, and I That is how it should be.
[00:18:53] Unknown:
Oh, if you will forgive me, I should be with her now. I don't like to keep her waiting. You're telling me to close my eyes and ears to everything that goes on and not interfere? I am only reminding you that you are a guest, and you should remain a guest. Nothing more.
[00:19:18] Unknown:
Sleep came to me early and dreams filled the night. I tossed and turned as the dreams became more and more vivid. And then, I remember waking to see that somehow the beautiful face had left its frame and was bending over me. Only the face was younger than in the portrait and softer with great eyes that looked deep into mine. I tossed off the bed clothes and struck a match to light a candle. Where are you? Come back. Please. I I know you were here. Come back. I won't harm you. But there was only silence and the cruel eyes of the portrait looking down at me. I sat up the rest of the night, and it was the next day when I came face to face with marvelous Cesar, as she stood in her doorway after saying farewell to father Raymond.
Once again, I looked into those marvelous eyes, And then she turned quickly and closed the door. I rapped sharply. Senorita. Senorita, please open the door.
[00:20:34] Unknown:
Senor,
[00:20:35] Unknown:
it is useless. What is useless?
[00:20:37] Unknown:
That we should talk. We must. We cannot. Cannot. What will stop us? I will. I know that what you're thinking is impossible.
[00:20:46] Unknown:
Then you know what I'm thinking. Of course. And you'll turn your back on me and my love? I have no choice. Nonsense. Everyone has a choice. Except me. Why do you say that? I know.
[00:20:59] Unknown:
Believe me. I know. Alright. Tell me why. Please, signore. It is not permitted to love me. Who will not permit it? I will not.
[00:21:08] Unknown:
Well, then again, I ask you why. If you really loved me, you would not ask me. If you really loved me, you'd tell me. I did not say I loved you. But your eyes speak for themselves. You knew we loved from the moment our eyes first met. Are you not ashamed?
[00:21:23] Unknown:
Of my love for you? No. Never. Of breaking the rules under which you came to be a guest in this house. Of using your worldly wisdom to make me betray myself and my family.
[00:21:33] Unknown:
Are these not shameful, signor? I only know that I love you and you love me. And between two people who love, there must be trust. And between us, signor,
[00:21:42] Unknown:
I tell you there can be nothing but a closed door.
[00:21:50] Unknown:
As I look at the pages I've already written, I feel now as I felt then, the urge to stop, to seek no more answers. In my heart, I knew that the beautiful creature I loved had a strange mother and a pitiful brother. My heart told me that she was a child of an afflicted house, but all that mattered was that I should make her mine. For two days, I walked in the woods with her image ever before my eyes, but she didn't appear. Then, on the third day, Martha, my beloved, you came to me. Yes.
[00:22:31] Unknown:
I came to you and I shouldn't, and I hate myself for it.
[00:22:35] Unknown:
I hate myself for my weakness. Love isn't a weakness. For me, it is. And it gives me strength. Strength to ask you to marry me and to come away with me as my wife. You don't know what you're saying. I'm saying marry me and come away from this place. Come to my country and my house and let me show you how much I love you and how much I can give to you. I can't. Marla, we were drawn together by the miracle of love. It would be a sin to ignore this miracle. This is madness.
[00:23:03] Unknown:
Goodbye. Marla, come back. I won't let you go. You must. Never. Please don't touch me. Don't be afraid.
[00:23:12] Unknown:
Once my arms are around you and our lips have met, you'll see that I'm right. You know that we belong together.
[00:23:17] Unknown:
Oh. Oh, no. No. No.
[00:23:25] Unknown:
Voila, how sweetly the name sounds on my lips. You do love me. Admit it, darling.
[00:23:31] Unknown:
You will go away today. You will leave the Residencia, and you must never return.
[00:23:44] Unknown:
Fatalists believe that the threads of our lives are woven for us long before we embark on life's journey and that it's useless to struggle against our destinies. But for centuries, the stuff of drama has been fashioned from a man's refusal to accept the inevitable, to fight on no matter what the odds. George Capewell chose to fight, and we'll be back with the terrifying results of that decision in a few moments. To find love only to lose it is an age old story. But usually, the rejected lover knows in his heart why he's been rejected. George Capel sensed that Marla Cesar had refused to marry him out of a nameless but genuine fear, a fear which he himself felt hung heavily over the Cesar household.
George Capel was convinced that if he only could discover the cause of this fear, he could dispel it, and he and Marla would live happily ever after.
[00:25:02] Unknown:
As my life in this last will and testament draw near to a close, it becomes ever more difficult for me to find words adequate to describe the anguish and terror I felt more than forty years ago in the remote and fear ridden Cesar Residencia. I remember crossing the courtyard on my way to my room, trying to damn the raging torrent of my thoughts and and seeing the sensuous figure of Senora Cezar dozing contentedly in her favorite spot in the sun. Signora? Signora, I'm I'm sorry to disturb you, but I I must talk with you.
[00:25:46] Unknown:
Must? Why?
[00:25:48] Unknown:
Your daughter has asked me to leave your house. Why'd you come to me? I want to know if
[00:25:54] Unknown:
if you want me to go also. You have done nothing to annoy me. What did you do to annoy her?
[00:26:01] Unknown:
I fell in love with her and asked her to marry me.
[00:26:04] Unknown:
Malice, a very pretty girl. Very pretty.
[00:26:10] Unknown:
I know she loves me, and and yet she asked me to leave. She she has some reason for wanting me to go away, and, well, it it occurred to me that maybe the reason concerns you.
[00:26:22] Unknown:
I took care of Marla when she needed me. Now she is a grown woman. She can do as she pleases.
[00:26:30] Unknown:
What was it that made those hellish sounds the other night? Sounds? What sounds? Well, surely, you you must remember it. It was the night of the black wind and the, the cries and the screams of pain came from the throat of some animal or some human that was undergoing torment. They
[00:26:48] Unknown:
they shook the house. I heard nothing but then I I sleep very soundly.
[00:26:59] Unknown:
She was lying, of course. I reached my room in a black rage and found a note in Marla's handwriting. I took it to the window to read. The words are seared into my brain. It read, if you have any feeling for me, any love for Marla, go from here today. I beg of you, go. Almost insane with rage, I slammed my fist through the window. The pain and the blood flowing from my arm brought me partially to my senses. I tried to stem the flow of blood, but the cup's too deep. Through the shattered window, I saw the signora. I ran down the stairs to the courtyard and approached her, holding out my arm.
Signora, as you can see, I've I've cut myself rather badly. Could could you help me stop the bleeding? Senora,
[00:27:53] Unknown:
what are you doing?
[00:28:18] Unknown:
I lost consciousness. And remember waking up in bed in my room with Marla kneeling by my bedside.
[00:28:26] Unknown:
Oh, my love. My love. Dear precious heart, I should have sent you away long ago but I didn't have the strength.
[00:28:36] Unknown:
Don't don't cry, Marla.
[00:28:39] Unknown:
Darling and, don't blame yourself. I have done as you are, sister, and brought the carriage in front. Will he be able to travel? He must, Felipe. You know that. No.
[00:28:50] Unknown:
You think that now I'd go away and leave you with with
[00:28:54] Unknown:
My mother. Can you sit up?
[00:28:58] Unknown:
Of course, I can. Oh.
[00:29:01] Unknown:
She cannot walk. I will have to carry him. No, no. I
[00:29:06] Unknown:
I can't leave you here. It's dangerous.
[00:29:08] Unknown:
I have lived here all my life.
[00:29:12] Unknown:
Now that
[00:29:14] Unknown:
that there are no longer any secrets between us, You must come with me. Felipe, he must have a doctor. Take him where there will be no questions asked and he can be attended to.
[00:29:32] Unknown:
Where am I? What what place is this? Marla? Where where is Marla? Old, he's my son. Father Ramon, what are you doing here? Praying for you, my son. Yes, ma'am. What is this place? How long have I been here? July in the house of the Tekindama family. In the old days, they belong to the Cesar state. They still feel loyalty to the Cesar family. You have been here three days. Yes, but who brought me here? Filipy Borja aided by one of the Tegan Darmasons. And my wounds? Marla cared for them? Only at first. Your cuts were too serious, so we sent for your doctor. Cuts?
You put your hands through a glass window, did you not? Sir, you
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you know that I'm not asking this question out of idle curiosity.
[00:30:37] Unknown:
What are the Cesar family? What what are they? A A an unfortunate example of a declining race. Once rich and mighty, they are now poor and neglected. But not by you. You you visit Marla often. I've seen you. Ah, yes. The senorita has waited for him. But her mother, you do not visit her? No. Is she insane? I can only answer that according to my belief. She is not or or was not. Oh, when she was young, she was wild, but she was surely sane.
[00:31:23] Unknown:
You know I love Marla.
[00:31:26] Unknown:
I know. Then you will help me see her. No. Why not? Such a meeting will only bring pain to you both. It could also bring happiness. How could that come about?
[00:31:42] Unknown:
I propose to marry her and and take her away from here, from the evil influences that pollute the residents here. This this strain or whatever it is may may live only in the place where it was born. If Marlowe were to be removed from this place with a man who loved her devotedly, wouldn't there be a chance?
[00:32:05] Unknown:
I do not know. But in a matter of this kind, I would trust the judgment of the seigneurator. Will you trigger a message? Before I answer that, I must tell you what the people of this past believe about Marla's father. Marla's father was a good friend of the head of the house you are in now, the Tejan Dhaba house. One day, he and his friend delivered some packages to the resident. The friend met Marla's mother, then a young woman, and immediately fell in love. All the villagers knew it and warned him, but he could talk and think of nothing but the woman.
[00:32:54] Unknown:
The way I feel about Marla. Yes, my son. But
[00:32:58] Unknown:
with a difference. In wintertime, there are terrible storms upon the mountain, and the passes become dangerous. On this one night, Francisco de Gendama and his friend found themselves on the pass before the Residencia. It was a wild night with snow and wind. And now I use the words of Francisco who swears that Mara's mother came out upon the gallery with a lamp in her hand and called to them. Francisco says there was death that night on the mountains, but he felt there was worse inside the house. And did they go in? Francisco's friend did, but Francisco wouldn't.
He says that he even went down on his knees in the snow and begged his friend not to enter, but to to know what he or what happened, he ever knows. The man was never seen again. Will you tell Martha I must see her? I will, my son. I promise. But still, she may not come. You both know me.
[00:34:25] Unknown:
Tell her that unless she comes to me, I will go to her. I will return to the Residencia.
[00:34:38] Unknown:
It was wrong of you to send me that message with father Rimon.
[00:34:42] Unknown:
I wanted to see you to tell you that nothing matters. If you will not go away with me, I will stay here with you. I ask nothing.
[00:34:51] Unknown:
I love you. Dearest, I know you love me but listen. I wish with all my heart that I did not have to tell you these things. I prayed. Oh, how I prayed that you would leave without seeing me or asking for me but my prayers were not answered. I must teach you to see me for what I am, for what I may become.
[00:35:14] Unknown:
Not you, Marla. I know your beauty not from your face, but from your soul. Give me your hand.
[00:35:21] Unknown:
There. I place it against my heart. You feel the very beat of life. It only moves for you. It is yours. But then why are you But it is mine. Think how affected you were by the portrait that hung in your bedroom. You remember that painting. Yes. Every line, every feature. The woman who sat for it died years ago and she did evil in her lifetime. Now recall the painting and look closely at me. And what do you see? I see the beautiful girl I love. But you also see that my eyes and my hair, the lines of my body, they're exactly the same as the portrait. The mouth is different. You'll
[00:36:05] Unknown:
your lovely mouth reveals only sweetness. The mouth in the portrait should cruelly forget your family and be my wife. You ask me to forget my family.
[00:36:14] Unknown:
Can't you see that no gesture I make, no tone in my voice nor any glance from my eyes is wholly mine?
[00:36:21] Unknown:
Yours and yours alone. It's you I love. You think I can escape my heritage?
[00:36:26] Unknown:
Of course. And I tell you, my love, that the hands of the dead are in my bosom.
[00:36:33] Unknown:
They move me, they guide me. Well, I love you and not shadows from the past. Shadows?
[00:36:39] Unknown:
Shadows bearing the weight of centuries. Eight hundred years ago my fathers ruled all of this province. They were wise, cunning and cruel. Their flags led in war. The king called them cousin.
[00:36:54] Unknown:
In what you tell me there's nothing in which to be ashamed, nothing to to fear.
[00:36:59] Unknown:
There came the change. My ancestors began to go down. Their minds fell asleep, their passions awoke in gusts. Beauty was still handed down but no longer guided by humanity. The seed passed on. It was wrapped in flesh. The flesh covered the bones, but they were the bones and the flesh of brutes
[00:37:22] Unknown:
and their mind was as the mind of flies. Oh, you've lived too long with this, too long in that house. Too long with the portraits of the books I saw in your study. You also saw Felipe and my mother.
[00:37:34] Unknown:
So you have seen for yourself how the wheel has gone backward with my doomed race. Don't you overlook one thing? Me.
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My heritage, my blood, my ancestors. I feel they'll be strong enough to And if they don't,
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you ask me to hand down this cursed vessel of humanity, charge it with fresh life as with fresh poison. Never.
[00:37:59] Unknown:
I ask you to love me.
[00:38:01] Unknown:
I already do. And that's why we shall never meet again. Even now, the people in this village are beginning to speak of your love for me, and they will not have it. Every day that you linger here increases your peril. I'm not afraid. I have given my vow. My vow that my race shall walk the earth no more. I shall be the last. I must go. Wait, Marla. Please. You heard and you know I must go swiftly. Remember me as the woman who sent you away and yet would have longed to keep you forever. The girl who had no dear hope than to forget you and no greater fear
[00:38:49] Unknown:
than to be forgotten. Marla. Marla. Come back.
[00:39:06] Unknown:
Now I can lay down my pen. My tale is told that it answers the question I evaded for so long. Why I never married. Whether what I've written here is believed or disbelieved is of no importance. What is important is that I proved one fear of my beloved Marla to be groundless. Her fear that she would be forgotten.
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Like George Capewell, I ask for neither belief nor disbelief. The pages of history are filled with the names of people who were burned at the stake because a lot of other people believed they were witches. Therefore, I must add a fact which George Capewell omitted. A few months after he returned to his home in America, the newspapers reported the destruction by fire of an ancient Residencia in Spain belonging to the Cesar family. I'll be back shortly. It is widely believed that love conquers all. What puzzles me is why this belief is so universal when our literature abounds in stories proving the exact opposite.
My fancy is that we want to believe in the conquering power of love and goodness to balance our beliefs in the bad dreams of demons and destruction that at times haunt us all. Our cast included Richard Kiley, Roberta Maxwell, Anne Potoniac, Bob Caliban, and Ian Martin. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. And now a preview of our next tale. What is her condition? Well, it's not fatal. Thank God. Not even very serious. Badly bruised, cut over her right eye but she's going to be all right.
[00:41:19] Unknown:
The monster failed to make good his threat to kill her. We may indeed thank God for that. Yes. Well, at least we know more than we did before, monsieur Dupin. We know that the murderer is a big man, a huge man of unbelievable strength and that he has black hair. We know a great deal more than that, dear. We do? Well, I do and so do you.
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Only as I've said before,
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you don't know you know. Oh, monsieur monsieur, I do not have your brilliant brain.
[00:41:53] Unknown:
It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you can solve this awful mystery that you can save Yvette. The murderer failed this time, but he'll try again. Radio mystery theater was sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and sign off, the sinus medicines. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant
[00:42:21] Unknown:
dreams.
Introduction to The Caesar Curse
George Capewell's Last Will and Testament
Arrival at the Mysterious Residencia
The Enigmatic Portrait and Felipe's Innocence
The Black Wind and Unsettling Night
George's Forbidden Love for Marla
The Curse of the Cesar Family
Marla's Heartbreaking Decision
Conclusion: The Unbroken Curse
