In this episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater, hosted by EG Marshall, we delve into the mysterious and dramatic tale of Colonel Chabert, adapted from the classic work by Honoré de Balzac. Set in 19th-century France, the story follows Colonel Chabert, a war hero presumed dead, who returns to reclaim his identity and fortune. As he navigates the complexities of the legal system and confronts his wife, who has remarried and moved on, the narrative explores themes of identity, justice, and the human condition.
Master Deville, a lawyer, becomes Chabert's ally, attempting to negotiate a settlement with the Colonel's wife. The episode unfolds with twists and turns, revealing the emotional and legal challenges faced by Chabert. As the story progresses, listeners are left to ponder the nature of truth and the power of human resilience. The episode concludes with a resolution that highlights the unpredictability of life and the possibility of redemption.
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Unknown:
Step into the world of power,
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loyalty, and luck. I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. With family, cannolis, and spins mean everything. Now you wanna get mixed up in the family business. Introducing
[00:00:14] Unknown:
The Godfather at champacasino.com. Test your luck in the shadowy world at The Godfather slot. Someday, I will call upon you to do a service for me. Play The Godfather now at champacasino.com.
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Welcome to the family. No purchase necessary. VGW Group VoIP. We're prohibited by law. 21 plus terms and conditions apply. CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents.
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Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Many choose to see life as a comedy. Others see life more as a tragedy. But in truth, life, with all its strange twists and turnings, is probably best seen as a mystery. How else to respond to our complex human dramas, those hard to accept sequences of events and emotions that seem quite frankly unbelievable until someone appears bearing proof that, yes, this too actually happened. Each human life holds its own share of mystery.
[00:01:34] Unknown:
Who is this waiting at my door?
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Master Derviel. Oh, sir. I I I didn't think you'd come. Come in.
[00:01:42] Unknown:
Come in. My goodness. Thank you.
[00:01:47] Unknown:
Sit down.
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A man of your years has no need to stand in my presence. Now then, to whom do I have the honor of speaking?
[00:01:58] Unknown:
To colonel Charbert. Which colonel? Colonel Roland Charbert, who died at ILOW.
[00:02:14] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Colonel Charbert, was adapted from the honorary de Balzac classic especially for the mystery theater in my character, and stars Alexander Skorgy. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and X Flax. I'll be back shortly with act one. One day in the spring of eighteen thirty three, French writer Honore de Balzac burst into his sister's home with the words, salute me. I am well on the way to becoming a genius. Balzac was not terribly far from the truth. The last two decades of his life saw the creation of The Human Comedy, a world famous work comprising dozens of short stories and novels about life as he knew it in nineteenth century France.
The Colonel Charber was originally written by Balzac in 1832, just one year before his pronouncement of genius.
[00:03:17] Unknown:
Now listen, old man. Master De Ville won't receive anyone unannounced about you. If you'll just give me an idea I'll tell my tale only to the lawyer himself. This is my fifth visit to this office. I will keep returning until master DeVille is ready to see me. As master DeVille's assistant, it is my job to screen his visitors and to make sure his clients are the kind who pay bills. I have always paid my bills, sir.
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And if the master will learn from my tale, the fortune due me will be more than ample for fortune? You hardly looked.
[00:03:53] Unknown:
I don't know why I'm wasting my time on you. The master's not even here. He's home taking a nap. He does his real work at midnight. Here in the office at midnight? From one to four in the morning. It's the only time of the day when he can find peace and quiet. Very well. I will come back tonight. Good day, sir. You what? You'll do nothing of the kind. Master can't
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is this waiting at my door?
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Master, the real, I I didn't think you'd really come at this hour. Your assistant said midnight. Midnight. Come in. Come in. Come in. Come in. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:04:40] Unknown:
Now then, sit down. A man of your years has no need to stand in my presence. Now to whom do I have the honor of speaking?
[00:04:50] Unknown:
To Colonel Chabert. Which colonel? Colonel Roland Chabert, who died at ILOW. Sir, I would like to tell you my tale. You're here, and I'll listen.
[00:05:06] Unknown:
I simply ask you to be brief.
[00:05:09] Unknown:
Very well, sir. Perhaps you know that I commanded a regiment at Eylau. I was the central figure in the famous cavalry charge that won us the battle. Unfortunately for me, however, that charge also lost me my life. Well, we managed to drive a wedge through the Russian front line. But then I found that the Russians had closed in behind us. In order to return to our emperor, I had to disperse them all over again. I led us straight into the thick of the enemy cavalry. Two Russian officers, two near giants, both attacked me at once. One of them dumped me saber blow that threw me off my horse to be trampled by my own charging men.
1,500 of them. I fall in in full two of everyone. When they hold my body from its pile of dead soldiers and horses, it was only to declare me dead just as quickly. A simple formality. No one bothered to feel the pulse of a man whose head was covered in blood and whose body had just borne the weight of 1,500 horses.
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Yes. Do you know, sir, that I am the lawyer for the Countess Feraud, Widow of the Colonel Chabert? My wife. Yes, sir. I do.
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That is why I decided I would have to find you. But hear my story. My wounds must have thrown me into a state of shock not unlike catalepsy, leaving me unconscious throughout my removal from the battlefield and my my subsequent burial. When I finally came to myself, I was in a position, an atmosphere which I'm hard put to describe. The little air I had to breathe was putrid. I wanted to move. I found no space. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I suddenly understood where I was and realized that there, I would die. By raising my hands, by feeling around in the dark, I found a space between my head and the surrounding cadavers.
The you see that that the haste with which we were all thrown into one grave had somehow wedged two of the corpses in almost upright, leaning one on the other and and forming a well, they they sort of shelter just above me. And then feeling further, I came upon a a bodiless limb, an arm somehow sliced off in the battle. And this bone of Hercules is what actually saved me. You see, I I I used that arm as a lever. And with each displaced cadaver, I I I gained a bit more air with which to fuel my struggle. And then finally, I finally, I I saw daylight and almost fainted dead away from the shock.
Now the pain gave me the strength to cry out over and over again. Help. Help me. Someone help me. I'm here. Help me. Finally, one brave woman whose curiosity got the better of her came close enough to discover that my head, looking much like some lonely cabbage or mushroom, actually rested on top of a living man's body. She went for her husband, and the two of them unearthed me, took me to their home. For six months, I hung somewhere between life and death. They turned me over to the hospital in Heilsberg where one morning I I awoke from my stupor and remembered my name.
I can remember telling them now. I am the colonel Chabert. Yes. I am the colonel now you don't understand. I am. I know I am. They laughed. They'd retrieved me from a field naked without uniform, papers, or memory. And six months later, I suddenly claimed I was a colonel. They thought it was just more delirium. Finally, however, my doctor began to believe me, and he took the trouble to have that good couple who saved me sign papers attesting to my strange rescue. He also notarized his own official opinion. But now, master David, I must confess that I have none of those papers.
The war returned to Heilsberg. I was put away as a crazy man, two years in the mental institution in Stuttgart. As time went on, I actually became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. I became resigned. I no longer insisted on being called by my name. And then lo and behold, one day, they set me free. Free with a small sum of money and the hope of seeing Paris again.
[00:10:43] Unknown:
Well, your tale makes me wonder if I'm not dreaming. Master Deville, master Deville, you
[00:10:48] Unknown:
you are the first man, the very first to listen to me with any patience at all. No lawyer in France or in Germany has been willing to advance the 10 gold pieces necessary to obtain my papers from Heilstberg without which I can begin no prosecution. But wait wait one minute. What prosecution? But, miss Shure, is not the Countess fair all my wife? She holds all of our properties and at least CHF30,000 of back salary due me and refuses to advance me a penny. Well, you know certainly that the Countess has remarried, given birth to two heirs. I know. Yes. I know. And it's of no help to my argument. Yes.
One after another, the lawyers lead me to the door either with a a glacial politeness or with outright brutality.
[00:11:36] Unknown:
Take me for an imposter or a fool. I will begin the necessary investigations and send away for your papers. And until their arrival, I will advance you some money to live on. If you are indeed the Colonel Chabert, you will understand the modesty of a loan from a man who has yet to make his fortune. Now please continue. Well, I no. Where was I, Ann? In Stuttgart. Oh, yeah. You had just been released from the Meddle Hospital. Yes.
[00:12:07] Unknown:
I I sent letters. I left addresses. I returned to post offices time and again, but no answers. No letters. No money. My wife showed no sign of life. I finally made it back to Paris. Are you sure she knows you existed? Oh, she knows. She has letters that I delivered myself, but she no longer loves me. She owes her fortune, her life's happiness, all to me won't even extend me. A courtesy. Sometimes I just don't know what will become of me. Well, now the affair is serious indeed.
[00:12:48] Unknown:
Even allowing for the authenticity of those papers, you say, are in Germany. They are. They I have no guarantee of success. A compromise, a compromise might be the wisest of actions. A compromise? Yes.
[00:13:03] Unknown:
Am I living or dead? My dear sir,
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if you want me as counsel, you'll have to trust my advice. I can assure you, your cause will be my cause. While applying energies in your behalf, I'll advance you money to live on. Now here is a note for my accountant. They'll give you CHF50 every ten days. That's wiser that you're not seen on these premises. Master Debra If you are the colonel, Chabert, you owe thanks to no man. I advance these sums to you in the form of a loan
[00:13:38] Unknown:
payable when your fortune is regained. Oh, all all this is almost too much. Alright.
[00:13:45] Unknown:
Will you give me that doctor's name and address Yes. Or wherever it is, I must write in order to recover your paper? Yes. It here. It's all it's all written right here. Here we are. Yeah. Yeah. It's all on that piece of paper. Doctor. Hertz. One forty two cushions dresser. Yes. Alright. Seems in order. And this is your address here in Perrin? Yes. Yes. Yes. Fine. Very well. I'll be in touch with you as soon as I have any news. Right now, I'm afraid I must ask you. Of course. Of course. Okay. Yes. Thank you. I'm I'm leaving now. Go and take these. They will tide you over until you see my accountant. Oh,
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my faith, master deviled. My after the emperor,
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you're the man to whom I loathe the most in my life. You're a a a kind Talk about the emperor now. Those days are gone. Now go in godspeed.
[00:14:46] Unknown:
A strange tale, almost incredible by anyone's standards, and yet master Daville has chosen to believe it or at least to pity the old man enough to advance him something to live on. Do you believe the old soldier is really Colonel Chaubert? You'll have to wait for act two for a closer look at the truth. We'll be back in just a few moments. Society is ordered, as Balzac once wrote, by three different professionals, priests, doctors, and lawyers. One guards the soul, one the body, one the pocketbook. And the unhappiest of these, maintained Balzac, is the lawyer. Win or lose, our poor lawyers are constant witness to the falsehoods and dishonesties, the baseness of human nature.
It is a rare lawyer who can maintain his faith in innate human goodness, who can claim that there is hope for mankind. Master Deville, with his generosity to our would be colonel, seems to be one of the few.
[00:16:02] Unknown:
But is he? I say, master Daville, what's this bill from your accountant for CHF600? I don't recall. Yes. Yes. I'd almost forgotten that case. Thanks for reminding me, Blanche. May have cost me 25 pieces of gold, but even if it has, I'll never weep for my money. One night, some weeks back, I found an old man waiting. What? He actually came then? The old derelict with the scar on his forehead? Well, I'm glad he came. That old man's story brought the whole war to life for me. His tale would be with me for a long time. An old soldier, was he?
And you've been lending him money? Yes. Well, I may have been royally duped, but CHF600 isn't too much to pay for the memory. Oh, there's more mail, sir. A large packet from Germany. Germany? Oh, that must be what I've been waiting for. It's been six weeks since I set off with it.
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Oh, there.
[00:17:04] Unknown:
Oh, yes. Oh, I wasn't fooled after all. He is the colonel's charbair.
[00:17:11] Unknown:
The colonel Charber?
[00:17:13] Unknown:
But he's a war hero. He died as so most people believe, but the old man is a lie. Well, I'll share you some. Now I have a proof.
[00:17:23] Unknown:
Charber. Charber, wasn't it his wife who managed to liquidate all of their possessions after his death for some ridiculous sum and then buy them all back for a song in her own name? Why, she's your client now.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
Not that we see very much of her around here. Yes. That's the one. She doesn't spend much time around here because all her dirty work is done through her accountant, Delbec. But if the colonel still lives, then she's illegally married. Yes. And stands to lose a pretty penny, if discovered. Well, I must go see the colonel. He's been waiting ten years for this news.
[00:18:08] Unknown:
Hello? Hello? Anyone home? Hello? Here I Oh. McMaster Therby. It is you. I heard your voice, but I couldn't put well, I was beginning to think I'd never hear from you. My dear colonel.
[00:18:25] Unknown:
Oh, my my. To think to think that the man who won the battle of Arlo lives in such a Colonel,
[00:18:33] Unknown:
then you believe that
[00:18:36] Unknown:
Master Ville, have my papers come then? Yes. Your papers have come, and they confirmed all that you told me. I have no doubt that you are the colonel Chauvin. The struggle finally ends.
[00:18:49] Unknown:
Why didn't you, right? I I I would have come at once. This is no place for a man. Your stand is. Is too good to delay.
[00:18:58] Unknown:
Colonel, isn't there, is there any place we might sit down and talk? Of course. Of course.
[00:19:03] Unknown:
I I I apologize for the mud. The courtyard isn't very well drained. You know, do step this way. There's solid ground over here. Nice. Yeah. In here.
[00:19:14] Unknown:
These are my quarters. Oh, I don't mean to embarrass you, colonel. But surely with the funds I advance you, you could have found better lodges than this, a straw bed, a dirt floor. No. No. Please, master. I can't explain.
[00:19:30] Unknown:
It's true. These surroundings are not exactly luxurious, but those who lodge me have done so for a year out of kindness long before I could pay them a franc. I won't walk out on them now just because my fortunes improve. Besides,
[00:19:47] Unknown:
I'm in the midst of teaching their children how to read. But with your money, Colonel, they could have at least lodged you better. Oh, this is the best room they have.
[00:19:58] Unknown:
You know, my my friends have years of work ahead before they'll pay off this dairy farm. That is until I recover my fortune, which won't be long now, will it, master?
[00:20:09] Unknown:
I must remind you, Colonel, that your affair is extremely complex.
[00:20:14] Unknown:
What what to me it seems perfectly simple. I was thought dead, but here I stand. Give me back my wife and fortune. Give me my general's title. Oh, dear Colonel.
[00:20:24] Unknown:
As I tried to tell you once before, things are not all that simple in the judicial world. A compromise is the best course for both of them. No. Now I'm going to see the contest today to see exactly what you'll settle for, but I can't go without your consent. Well, well,
[00:20:41] Unknown:
let's both go, the two of us.
[00:20:43] Unknown:
In the shape that you're in, Wilk, Colonel, you'd risk losing the entire case. Now take courage, please. The final solution will work out in your best interest, believe me. You must trust me to choose that which is most to your benefit.
[00:20:58] Unknown:
I do as you see fit. So I shall.
[00:21:00] Unknown:
Now we'll resolve this whole thing amicably, arrange annulment of both the death act and your marriage. We'll restore all your rights, Colonel. You'll be called general, not Colonel. And start receiving a sizable pension. Well, master, did you, see him? Oh, yes. Yes. I saw him alright. Living in conditions you wouldn't believe. Well, I guess an old soldier is used to rough bedding.
[00:21:31] Unknown:
Anyway, no time to talk. I'm off to see the countess for all. To see the countess? Yes. Oh, you, might wanna glance at these files before you go. I pulled some information together while you were off seeing the film. Oh, you're a good man, Blanche. Let's see what you've gathered. Mostly information on Delbec, her accountant. He's the real scoundrel, that one. Then there's also this thing on her husband, the account who was repeatedly frustrated in his attempts to win a seat in the senate.
[00:21:57] Unknown:
Apparently, money and title haven't sufficed and rumor has it that his wife's lack of education and background are what's holding him back. That's it. That's it, Blache. There we have it. I needed some kind of leverage or threat of sorts that would bring her around to our way of thinking. I, don't quite see your meaning, sir. It's quite simple, Blasche. We persuade the countess that the cop would be delighted to be freed of his marriage to marry some well placed senator's daughter. It won't take a long to deduce that the cop will have just that opportunity if she doesn't arrive at some kind of a settlement with our poor old colonel.
Master derriere,
[00:22:36] Unknown:
the workings of a fine legal mind are a thing of beauty indeed.
[00:22:44] Unknown:
Do come in, Master Delville. We may announce your arrival. How nice of you to drop by. Can I offer you a cup of tea?
[00:22:52] Unknown:
Thank you, countess, but, no thank you. I'm here on rather serious business.
[00:22:58] Unknown:
Oh, dear. What a shame. The countess is not in this morning. There's no shame at all, madame.
[00:23:04] Unknown:
I have no wish for his company. I know through Delbec that you prefer to handle your affairs on your own without bothering your husband. Well, then I shall summon Delbec. You may not even want his company. Now listen. Just one moment, please. One sentence should be enough to clarify matters.
[00:23:21] Unknown:
Colonel Charbert lives.
[00:23:26] Unknown:
Is it with such inelegant jokes that you expect to clarify matters? Madam, you seem to ignore the dangers in store for you. You believe my first husband can rise from the dead? I have Napoleon's witness that he died and was buried in Germany. I'll contest anyone who tries to prove otherwise.
[00:23:47] Unknown:
Madame, I can tell you that proof exists.
[00:23:49] Unknown:
Since you are obviously the lawyer for this imposter, Chabir, allow me the pleasure Madame, I am still, at this moment, your lawyer as well.
[00:23:57] Unknown:
But do you actually believe I can lose a client as valuable as yourself? But
[00:24:03] Unknown:
since you don't care to listen speak, master Daviell. I'll listen. Thank you.
[00:24:11] Unknown:
Your fortune comes from a colonel, and yet you rebuff him. Your fortune is enormous, and yet you let him go begging. Don't you think that the judge's opinion of the
[00:24:22] Unknown:
will side with me because of my children. Anyway, what obligation have I, financial or otherwise, to a man I've been told is dead?
[00:24:33] Unknown:
One never knows how the law will decide, madame. You may come out of this as a big mist. And worse, you may discover an adversary whom you don't yet suspect.
[00:24:45] Unknown:
A new adversary?
[00:24:47] Unknown:
And who could that be? The count for all, madame.
[00:24:51] Unknown:
My husband. Mhmm.
[00:24:53] Unknown:
The count has too great a respect and affection for me to ever Madame,
[00:24:58] Unknown:
Were he to learn that his marriage stood a chance of being annulled and that his wife might well be judged criminal, if not by the law, at least in public opinion He would descend me. No, no, Madame. And why not? Perhaps perhaps because he'd rather marry the daughter of some well placed senate whose seat would eventually go to the son-in-law. What regrets could he harbor moreover since by such an act he'd be returning the wife of a grand old war hero to his right.
[00:25:29] Unknown:
Enough. I'll never have another lawyer but you. What must I do?
[00:25:35] Unknown:
Settle, madame.
[00:25:39] Unknown:
One question, dear of you. Yes. Does the colonel still love me?
[00:25:46] Unknown:
I don't believe it could be otherwise, madame.
[00:25:51] Unknown:
I await your orders
[00:25:53] Unknown:
to know whether you wish to sign the papers in your own home or to negotiate in my offices.
[00:26:01] Unknown:
I'll come to your offices.
[00:26:06] Unknown:
Oh, a jam. How good of you to come. Where's the colonel? I did not know whether or not his presence might be painful to you, so I took the liberty of placing him in an adjoining chamber. I will act as your go between as you discuss the papers I've drawn up point by point. Let us proceed. I will read. The first article recognizes as will be witnessed by three witnesses sworn to secrecy, the annulment of the death act of the colonel. The second article recognizes his agreement not to make use of any of his claims against you
[00:26:42] Unknown:
and his intention to seek an annulment of your marriage. And the third That won't do at all, dear Ville. I will not have any part of any court proceedings. You know perfectly well that the public would get When And the third article, madame,
[00:26:57] Unknown:
guarantees a yearly rent of CHF24,000 to be delivered to him. But that's far too expensive. Do you, really think you can get better terms?
[00:27:09] Unknown:
Perhaps.
[00:27:10] Unknown:
And those terms would be? I want no public judgment. Do you want the colonel to stay dead?
[00:27:17] Unknown:
Master, there'll be only the cost CHF24,000 yearly to keep him dead. Then I'll see him in court. But You'll see him right now.
[00:27:26] Unknown:
Too expensive, am I? I've given you nearly a million and still you quibble over pennies. Alright then. Now I want your fortune and you. Our marriage is not yet annulled and never shall be.
[00:27:41] Unknown:
But but this man isn't the colonel. Not the colonel,
[00:27:45] Unknown:
That you need some proof. Where was it I found you? On the sidewalks of the Palais Royal. Doing what? You were working as I recall for a Madame Wait. If you're leave, Master De Ville, I must depart.
[00:27:56] Unknown:
I did not come here to listen to such horrors.
[00:28:03] Unknown:
No. But that woman, I gathered her above at the gutter and gave her that.
[00:28:10] Unknown:
She'd have known better than to trust in appearances. She's hot. Are you quite pleased with your actions, colonel? You may have set our negotiations back permanently. I warned you to leave this to me. I've killed her. You're no fool. You'd be snapped up and guillotined in an instant. I better leave the ending of your blunders to me. Now please, please go home and sit patiently until I send for you.
[00:28:43] Unknown:
Once enmeshed in a mystery in the complexities of any highly keyed human drama, it's very difficult to separate emotion from reason. The events sweep you along faster than you can possibly think. Our poor Colonel Chaubert is so emotionally involved in his own crisis that he's doing himself more harm than good. Has he the wisdom, the self discipline to sit back and let master Deville handle everything for him? And should he?
[00:29:14] Unknown:
We'll return shortly with our final act.
[00:29:27] Unknown:
Our principal characters have now met with each other for the first time and have ricocheted apart almost immediately. It is now up to master Deville, our untiring lawyer, to reconcile his two emotionally volatile clients. Deville hasn't reckoned, however, on one other possibility that the countess may prefer to negotiate on her own and do without Deville altogether.
[00:29:54] Unknown:
Can you shut there? Come on. Please, mister. Where? Where?
[00:29:59] Unknown:
Who is this? Come where? Here. Get into the carriage, won't you?
[00:30:03] Unknown:
But no. But but this is your carriage, not mine. I I don't want Hold on.
[00:30:08] Unknown:
Roll on. Please do get in. Driver, go late, please. Well, here we are again, Rolong. After all this time, A bit better than the lawyer's office wouldn't you say? Madam, I'm afraid I
[00:30:28] Unknown:
look I just don't understand. You've denied it was I back there with Deriviere. Oh, La, how could you ever doubt that I know you?
[00:30:35] Unknown:
After all we shared
[00:30:37] Unknown:
Rosine, your words hold the only balm that could soothe all my misery. My dear hold on.
[00:30:45] Unknown:
How could it ever be otherwise? Don't you see what it cost me to act out such a falsehood for strangers? Why bring a lawyer into this? Why expose ourselves to an insensitive public? You think me hard hearted, indifferent, when all it is is an attempt to save face. No. But you you but you were indifferent to me, to my letters. Oh, because I believe you were alive. Yes. I received letters from you. But months, years after the battle when you were supposed to have died, I was sure they were a trick of some imposter. I had to think that if only because of my new marriage.
My children,
[00:31:31] Unknown:
can you blame me? No, Rosie. I can't. I can't. I blame myself for being so stupid for for for not foreseeing the possibility that you'd have married again. I was so sure you'd deal with joy to find me alive. But but, Rosie,
[00:31:47] Unknown:
where where are we headed? To my country house near Grolet. Oh. We'll have some peace there. We'll have time to think over exactly what path we should take. I don't think I hope to escape my duties over no or alone. I simply hope to keep out the public to maintain the dignity of our name. I want to decide with you, beside you. What is right for us both? After all my first duty is to you. My first husband. Rosie. Rosie. I place my faith in your hands. I trust in in what I know to be your good nature. You decide what we must do but keep one last detail in mind when fate chose to make me a widow I was not yet a mother.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Then the dead
[00:32:43] Unknown:
are wrong to return? Oh, no, my dear Roland. No. I'm just reminding you of my children. Telling you that things are different than they were when you left. Rosine,
[00:32:55] Unknown:
I'm not so indelicate as to force a woman to pretend love where it no longer exists. Then you will help me.
[00:33:02] Unknown:
No longer how will I ever but never mind. We'll face all of that later.
[00:33:22] Unknown:
Francine. Francine, what's the matter? What's wrong? You know, a long ago, when I left you, you were laughing. And now now I find you in tears. What on earth could have happened? Nothing. Nothing. But you can't be crying over nothing. Look. Is it something I've done? Our last two days have been absolutely idyllic so happy. What could make you cry when everything is going so well? I wish
[00:33:46] Unknown:
I I wish I were dead. Dead.
[00:33:49] Unknown:
Rosine, what are nurses and nephew? Just just leave me alone.
[00:33:55] Unknown:
My situation
[00:33:56] Unknown:
is more than a human being compared. Please please tell me what's wrong. It's not What?
[00:34:05] Unknown:
What? How can I ever call him that name? He's your
[00:34:09] Unknown:
Of course, you must call him your husband. The father of your children, is he not? Now please don't worry about hurting my feelings. Just tell me what troubles you. It's
[00:34:20] Unknown:
it's just that my husband don't don't you see? This is my husband account ever elsewhere I've been. If he ever discovers that I've been staying here with some stranger. I'm no stranger. Anyway, we've done no wrong. We And how is he to know that? What on earth can I tell him?
[00:34:42] Unknown:
Oh, for a long, there's no hope for me. I must resign myself. My dearest, you know I've resolved to sacrifice myself to your happiness. It is impossible. I know it's too much to ask you. No. What what is too much to ask you? Haven't we agreed that I I I No. Can I ask you
[00:34:59] Unknown:
to acknowledge your identity? Your
[00:35:04] Unknown:
to deny your whole life? What? To simply sign it away? Sign it away? Not now. Isn't my word good enough for you? How can I hope for such a sacrifice?
[00:35:15] Unknown:
You'll be giving your whole life for me daily for the rest of your days. No. But No. No. No. It's impossible. But Rosine,
[00:35:24] Unknown:
can't you simply accept my promise of silence and let me live my days away here in your little country house? I don't need much of the tobacco, the newspaper. Live here. No. But you can oh oh, never mind. Just do as you wish.
[00:35:45] Unknown:
Make your arrangements with my accountant, Delbec, when he comes tomorrow. I can't bear to think about this anymore. Well, Delbec. Is it his time?
[00:36:00] Unknown:
No, madam. I don't even understand quite what happened. He took one look at the papers and well, the old horse reared up and ran away. I might have known he wouldn't go through with it.
[00:36:12] Unknown:
We'll just have to ship him off to some hospital.
[00:36:15] Unknown:
There are plenty of doctors who'll declare him insane with no trouble at all. Insane, is it? I'll tell you who's crazy. I'll show you what an old horse can do. Get out, Delbec. Get out. I have something to say to my doctor. Madame. You may go, Delbec. I'll be close by if you need me. I'll go in a minute. I have no desire to stay in your company any longer than necessary. I simply wanted to tell you that I'd blessed the stroke of fate that drove us apart. I not only no longer love you, I have no taste even for vengeance. I don't curse you.
I quite simply despise you. I want nothing from you. You have my word that I'll never again seek to claim the name of Shabir. It's part of a past I, I have no longer any desire to recall.
[00:37:12] Unknown:
How long is the lawyer to see you? Room 7.
[00:37:16] Unknown:
A lawyer?
[00:37:17] Unknown:
I've asked for no lawyer.
[00:37:21] Unknown:
Mister Oliver, Colonel Chabert, then it is you. I knew it. Even from the back of the courtroom, I recognized you. I just had to come down here and see if it really was you. Why did you disappear as you did? Where have you been all these Oh,
[00:37:36] Unknown:
it's Master Der Ville, isn't it? So nice of you to come and visit. I think they put me away for good this time. Too many vagrancy charges. As I here tell, they may send me to some old people's poor house. Well, how how did you wind up in this place?
[00:37:53] Unknown:
A tale is not worth the telling. Oh, now come now, Colonel. I remember one night when your tale kept me stunned in my chair. I remember advancing some money to you. Money I was sure that you'd eventually pay back. I never could understand why you didn't. What? What
[00:38:10] Unknown:
that that money was supposed to have been paid. And we're sure that the countess would have at least paid for that? No. No. The countess took her business elsewhere and left all your bills outstanding. Tell me this. Does the countess still live? Yes. Yes. She still lives.
[00:38:25] Unknown:
Richer than ever, I might add. And of course, still married to the count. Then your debt shall be paid.
[00:38:32] Unknown:
Do you have a piece of paper? A pen? Yes.
[00:38:39] Unknown:
Good.
[00:38:44] Unknown:
Here, deliver this to the countess and you will be paid. I swore never to claim the name of Shabir again, but an unpaid debt to a man of your stature is far worse than breaking my word to to that woman. Then you did make a settlement. A kind of settlement that put me back on the street and glad to be rid of it. She didn't pay you any money? I didn't want it. Not on her terms. She wanted me to sign affidavits declaring myself an impostor, even worse, a forger. When I refused, she threatened to put me away in a mental hospital. You know, she'd played on my sympathies in a most clever fashion, but she couldn't get me to the point where I'd sign documents that not only would protect her, but would probably put me in jail.
It was a terrific choice. Jail or a mental hospital. I finally walked out. I prefer the street and the poorhouse over any society where the likes of her have their way. I see.
[00:39:51] Unknown:
And I always thought that you'd made your deal with her without me, that you just didn't care about the debt you owed me.
[00:39:59] Unknown:
I'll have to go now but, take that note to the countess. You'll get paid. It says that you'll take the note onto her husband, the count, if she doesn't.
[00:40:12] Unknown:
That should do it. Indeed. It should.
[00:40:20] Unknown:
Oh, master de Ville. I figured it had to be you, but, why Read this.
[00:40:28] Unknown:
What?
[00:40:30] Unknown:
This is a this is a guaranteed income of of CHF25,000 a year. It's for for Monsieur Roland.
[00:40:44] Unknown:
Signed by the Countess Perrault. Yes. I, did little lawyering when I went to see the Countess with your notes. She was so moved by my arguments that she not only paid my bill, she also agreed to this little stipend for you. I hope you don't mind. Mind? I'll never thank you enough. How shall I ever know how to spend it? I'm sure you'll find a way. I just couldn't live with the idea of such a noble fellow going off to the poorhouse.
[00:41:11] Unknown:
Oh, I know what I can do with the money.
[00:41:13] Unknown:
My friends with the dairy farm. They lost it because they couldn't pay the mortgage. I'll buy it back for them. Will you have would you handle the legal papers? Of course. Now, I spent fourteen years trying to rise from the dead and finally stopped trying. And now you brought me back to life overnight. Deville, there is justice after all.
[00:41:49] Unknown:
There were many ways this story could have ended. Master De Ville complained at one point that the colonel's case was difficult because there was no precedent. For once, it was a legal tangle as unpredictable as our lives. Unpredictable, but satisfying. For the human instincts won out over the law books in the end. I shall return shortly. Balzac himself, as a matter of fact, chose to end the colonel's story slightly differently. Deville and the colonel did indeed meet up in prison by accident, and the colonel did give Deville a note for the countess. Deville, however, according to Deville, did no more than redeem his own debt and did nothing further to help the poor colonel.
We hope you appreciate our little twist of the story. After all, happy endings do happen sometime, even in real life. Our cast included Alexander Scourby, Laurie March, Larry Haines, and Dan Ako. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.
[00:43:05] Unknown:
And now, a preview of our next tale. Am I to believe what you have just told me? That you have joined the enemy.
[00:43:16] Unknown:
I've been struggling with my conscience for weeks. My sympathies, mother, are with the North. Then we'll just have to get along without you.
[00:43:24] Unknown:
Parker, you're a traitor to your country and a traitor to your loved ones. You must do what you conceived to be your duty. But your father and I torture. It's been our way of living always.
[00:43:38] Unknown:
But I never for a moment dreamed. I'm not ashamed of my decision. Don't try to make me. Please. I understand.
[00:43:47] Unknown:
Now, I would be most grateful if you would leave this house at once. Wish me well, Mother. I can't do that, Parker.
[00:43:57] Unknown:
Not to the enemy of my country. Not to Australia. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by True Value Hardware Stores. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant, dreams.
[00:44:59] Unknown:
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[00:00:25] Unknown:
Welcome to the family. No purchase necessary. VGW Group VoIP. We're prohibited by law. 21 plus terms and conditions apply. CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents.
[00:00:51] Unknown:
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Many choose to see life as a comedy. Others see life more as a tragedy. But in truth, life, with all its strange twists and turnings, is probably best seen as a mystery. How else to respond to our complex human dramas, those hard to accept sequences of events and emotions that seem quite frankly unbelievable until someone appears bearing proof that, yes, this too actually happened. Each human life holds its own share of mystery.
[00:01:34] Unknown:
Who is this waiting at my door?
[00:01:37] Unknown:
Master Derviel. Oh, sir. I I I didn't think you'd come. Come in.
[00:01:42] Unknown:
Come in. My goodness. Thank you.
[00:01:47] Unknown:
Sit down.
[00:01:49] Unknown:
A man of your years has no need to stand in my presence. Now then, to whom do I have the honor of speaking?
[00:01:58] Unknown:
To colonel Charbert. Which colonel? Colonel Roland Charbert, who died at ILOW.
[00:02:14] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Colonel Charbert, was adapted from the honorary de Balzac classic especially for the mystery theater in my character, and stars Alexander Skorgy. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and X Flax. I'll be back shortly with act one. One day in the spring of eighteen thirty three, French writer Honore de Balzac burst into his sister's home with the words, salute me. I am well on the way to becoming a genius. Balzac was not terribly far from the truth. The last two decades of his life saw the creation of The Human Comedy, a world famous work comprising dozens of short stories and novels about life as he knew it in nineteenth century France.
The Colonel Charber was originally written by Balzac in 1832, just one year before his pronouncement of genius.
[00:03:17] Unknown:
Now listen, old man. Master De Ville won't receive anyone unannounced about you. If you'll just give me an idea I'll tell my tale only to the lawyer himself. This is my fifth visit to this office. I will keep returning until master DeVille is ready to see me. As master DeVille's assistant, it is my job to screen his visitors and to make sure his clients are the kind who pay bills. I have always paid my bills, sir.
[00:03:45] Unknown:
And if the master will learn from my tale, the fortune due me will be more than ample for fortune? You hardly looked.
[00:03:53] Unknown:
I don't know why I'm wasting my time on you. The master's not even here. He's home taking a nap. He does his real work at midnight. Here in the office at midnight? From one to four in the morning. It's the only time of the day when he can find peace and quiet. Very well. I will come back tonight. Good day, sir. You what? You'll do nothing of the kind. Master can't
[00:04:24] Unknown:
is this waiting at my door?
[00:04:27] Unknown:
Master, the real, I I didn't think you'd really come at this hour. Your assistant said midnight. Midnight. Come in. Come in. Come in. Come in. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:04:40] Unknown:
Now then, sit down. A man of your years has no need to stand in my presence. Now to whom do I have the honor of speaking?
[00:04:50] Unknown:
To Colonel Chabert. Which colonel? Colonel Roland Chabert, who died at ILOW. Sir, I would like to tell you my tale. You're here, and I'll listen.
[00:05:06] Unknown:
I simply ask you to be brief.
[00:05:09] Unknown:
Very well, sir. Perhaps you know that I commanded a regiment at Eylau. I was the central figure in the famous cavalry charge that won us the battle. Unfortunately for me, however, that charge also lost me my life. Well, we managed to drive a wedge through the Russian front line. But then I found that the Russians had closed in behind us. In order to return to our emperor, I had to disperse them all over again. I led us straight into the thick of the enemy cavalry. Two Russian officers, two near giants, both attacked me at once. One of them dumped me saber blow that threw me off my horse to be trampled by my own charging men.
1,500 of them. I fall in in full two of everyone. When they hold my body from its pile of dead soldiers and horses, it was only to declare me dead just as quickly. A simple formality. No one bothered to feel the pulse of a man whose head was covered in blood and whose body had just borne the weight of 1,500 horses.
[00:06:25] Unknown:
Yes. Do you know, sir, that I am the lawyer for the Countess Feraud, Widow of the Colonel Chabert? My wife. Yes, sir. I do.
[00:06:38] Unknown:
That is why I decided I would have to find you. But hear my story. My wounds must have thrown me into a state of shock not unlike catalepsy, leaving me unconscious throughout my removal from the battlefield and my my subsequent burial. When I finally came to myself, I was in a position, an atmosphere which I'm hard put to describe. The little air I had to breathe was putrid. I wanted to move. I found no space. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I suddenly understood where I was and realized that there, I would die. By raising my hands, by feeling around in the dark, I found a space between my head and the surrounding cadavers.
The you see that that the haste with which we were all thrown into one grave had somehow wedged two of the corpses in almost upright, leaning one on the other and and forming a well, they they sort of shelter just above me. And then feeling further, I came upon a a bodiless limb, an arm somehow sliced off in the battle. And this bone of Hercules is what actually saved me. You see, I I I used that arm as a lever. And with each displaced cadaver, I I I gained a bit more air with which to fuel my struggle. And then finally, I finally, I I saw daylight and almost fainted dead away from the shock.
Now the pain gave me the strength to cry out over and over again. Help. Help me. Someone help me. I'm here. Help me. Finally, one brave woman whose curiosity got the better of her came close enough to discover that my head, looking much like some lonely cabbage or mushroom, actually rested on top of a living man's body. She went for her husband, and the two of them unearthed me, took me to their home. For six months, I hung somewhere between life and death. They turned me over to the hospital in Heilsberg where one morning I I awoke from my stupor and remembered my name.
I can remember telling them now. I am the colonel Chabert. Yes. I am the colonel now you don't understand. I am. I know I am. They laughed. They'd retrieved me from a field naked without uniform, papers, or memory. And six months later, I suddenly claimed I was a colonel. They thought it was just more delirium. Finally, however, my doctor began to believe me, and he took the trouble to have that good couple who saved me sign papers attesting to my strange rescue. He also notarized his own official opinion. But now, master David, I must confess that I have none of those papers.
The war returned to Heilsberg. I was put away as a crazy man, two years in the mental institution in Stuttgart. As time went on, I actually became convinced of the impossibility of my own adventure. I became resigned. I no longer insisted on being called by my name. And then lo and behold, one day, they set me free. Free with a small sum of money and the hope of seeing Paris again.
[00:10:43] Unknown:
Well, your tale makes me wonder if I'm not dreaming. Master Deville, master Deville, you
[00:10:48] Unknown:
you are the first man, the very first to listen to me with any patience at all. No lawyer in France or in Germany has been willing to advance the 10 gold pieces necessary to obtain my papers from Heilstberg without which I can begin no prosecution. But wait wait one minute. What prosecution? But, miss Shure, is not the Countess fair all my wife? She holds all of our properties and at least CHF30,000 of back salary due me and refuses to advance me a penny. Well, you know certainly that the Countess has remarried, given birth to two heirs. I know. Yes. I know. And it's of no help to my argument. Yes.
One after another, the lawyers lead me to the door either with a a glacial politeness or with outright brutality.
[00:11:36] Unknown:
Take me for an imposter or a fool. I will begin the necessary investigations and send away for your papers. And until their arrival, I will advance you some money to live on. If you are indeed the Colonel Chabert, you will understand the modesty of a loan from a man who has yet to make his fortune. Now please continue. Well, I no. Where was I, Ann? In Stuttgart. Oh, yeah. You had just been released from the Meddle Hospital. Yes.
[00:12:07] Unknown:
I I sent letters. I left addresses. I returned to post offices time and again, but no answers. No letters. No money. My wife showed no sign of life. I finally made it back to Paris. Are you sure she knows you existed? Oh, she knows. She has letters that I delivered myself, but she no longer loves me. She owes her fortune, her life's happiness, all to me won't even extend me. A courtesy. Sometimes I just don't know what will become of me. Well, now the affair is serious indeed.
[00:12:48] Unknown:
Even allowing for the authenticity of those papers, you say, are in Germany. They are. They I have no guarantee of success. A compromise, a compromise might be the wisest of actions. A compromise? Yes.
[00:13:03] Unknown:
Am I living or dead? My dear sir,
[00:13:06] Unknown:
if you want me as counsel, you'll have to trust my advice. I can assure you, your cause will be my cause. While applying energies in your behalf, I'll advance you money to live on. Now here is a note for my accountant. They'll give you CHF50 every ten days. That's wiser that you're not seen on these premises. Master Debra If you are the colonel, Chabert, you owe thanks to no man. I advance these sums to you in the form of a loan
[00:13:38] Unknown:
payable when your fortune is regained. Oh, all all this is almost too much. Alright.
[00:13:45] Unknown:
Will you give me that doctor's name and address Yes. Or wherever it is, I must write in order to recover your paper? Yes. It here. It's all it's all written right here. Here we are. Yeah. Yeah. It's all on that piece of paper. Doctor. Hertz. One forty two cushions dresser. Yes. Alright. Seems in order. And this is your address here in Perrin? Yes. Yes. Yes. Fine. Very well. I'll be in touch with you as soon as I have any news. Right now, I'm afraid I must ask you. Of course. Of course. Okay. Yes. Thank you. I'm I'm leaving now. Go and take these. They will tide you over until you see my accountant. Oh,
[00:14:23] Unknown:
my faith, master deviled. My after the emperor,
[00:14:29] Unknown:
you're the man to whom I loathe the most in my life. You're a a a kind Talk about the emperor now. Those days are gone. Now go in godspeed.
[00:14:46] Unknown:
A strange tale, almost incredible by anyone's standards, and yet master Daville has chosen to believe it or at least to pity the old man enough to advance him something to live on. Do you believe the old soldier is really Colonel Chaubert? You'll have to wait for act two for a closer look at the truth. We'll be back in just a few moments. Society is ordered, as Balzac once wrote, by three different professionals, priests, doctors, and lawyers. One guards the soul, one the body, one the pocketbook. And the unhappiest of these, maintained Balzac, is the lawyer. Win or lose, our poor lawyers are constant witness to the falsehoods and dishonesties, the baseness of human nature.
It is a rare lawyer who can maintain his faith in innate human goodness, who can claim that there is hope for mankind. Master Deville, with his generosity to our would be colonel, seems to be one of the few.
[00:16:02] Unknown:
But is he? I say, master Daville, what's this bill from your accountant for CHF600? I don't recall. Yes. Yes. I'd almost forgotten that case. Thanks for reminding me, Blanche. May have cost me 25 pieces of gold, but even if it has, I'll never weep for my money. One night, some weeks back, I found an old man waiting. What? He actually came then? The old derelict with the scar on his forehead? Well, I'm glad he came. That old man's story brought the whole war to life for me. His tale would be with me for a long time. An old soldier, was he?
And you've been lending him money? Yes. Well, I may have been royally duped, but CHF600 isn't too much to pay for the memory. Oh, there's more mail, sir. A large packet from Germany. Germany? Oh, that must be what I've been waiting for. It's been six weeks since I set off with it.
[00:17:02] Unknown:
Oh, there.
[00:17:04] Unknown:
Oh, yes. Oh, I wasn't fooled after all. He is the colonel's charbair.
[00:17:11] Unknown:
The colonel Charber?
[00:17:13] Unknown:
But he's a war hero. He died as so most people believe, but the old man is a lie. Well, I'll share you some. Now I have a proof.
[00:17:23] Unknown:
Charber. Charber, wasn't it his wife who managed to liquidate all of their possessions after his death for some ridiculous sum and then buy them all back for a song in her own name? Why, she's your client now.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
Not that we see very much of her around here. Yes. That's the one. She doesn't spend much time around here because all her dirty work is done through her accountant, Delbec. But if the colonel still lives, then she's illegally married. Yes. And stands to lose a pretty penny, if discovered. Well, I must go see the colonel. He's been waiting ten years for this news.
[00:18:08] Unknown:
Hello? Hello? Anyone home? Hello? Here I Oh. McMaster Therby. It is you. I heard your voice, but I couldn't put well, I was beginning to think I'd never hear from you. My dear colonel.
[00:18:25] Unknown:
Oh, my my. To think to think that the man who won the battle of Arlo lives in such a Colonel,
[00:18:33] Unknown:
then you believe that
[00:18:36] Unknown:
Master Ville, have my papers come then? Yes. Your papers have come, and they confirmed all that you told me. I have no doubt that you are the colonel Chauvin. The struggle finally ends.
[00:18:49] Unknown:
Why didn't you, right? I I I would have come at once. This is no place for a man. Your stand is. Is too good to delay.
[00:18:58] Unknown:
Colonel, isn't there, is there any place we might sit down and talk? Of course. Of course.
[00:19:03] Unknown:
I I I apologize for the mud. The courtyard isn't very well drained. You know, do step this way. There's solid ground over here. Nice. Yeah. In here.
[00:19:14] Unknown:
These are my quarters. Oh, I don't mean to embarrass you, colonel. But surely with the funds I advance you, you could have found better lodges than this, a straw bed, a dirt floor. No. No. Please, master. I can't explain.
[00:19:30] Unknown:
It's true. These surroundings are not exactly luxurious, but those who lodge me have done so for a year out of kindness long before I could pay them a franc. I won't walk out on them now just because my fortunes improve. Besides,
[00:19:47] Unknown:
I'm in the midst of teaching their children how to read. But with your money, Colonel, they could have at least lodged you better. Oh, this is the best room they have.
[00:19:58] Unknown:
You know, my my friends have years of work ahead before they'll pay off this dairy farm. That is until I recover my fortune, which won't be long now, will it, master?
[00:20:09] Unknown:
I must remind you, Colonel, that your affair is extremely complex.
[00:20:14] Unknown:
What what to me it seems perfectly simple. I was thought dead, but here I stand. Give me back my wife and fortune. Give me my general's title. Oh, dear Colonel.
[00:20:24] Unknown:
As I tried to tell you once before, things are not all that simple in the judicial world. A compromise is the best course for both of them. No. Now I'm going to see the contest today to see exactly what you'll settle for, but I can't go without your consent. Well, well,
[00:20:41] Unknown:
let's both go, the two of us.
[00:20:43] Unknown:
In the shape that you're in, Wilk, Colonel, you'd risk losing the entire case. Now take courage, please. The final solution will work out in your best interest, believe me. You must trust me to choose that which is most to your benefit.
[00:20:58] Unknown:
I do as you see fit. So I shall.
[00:21:00] Unknown:
Now we'll resolve this whole thing amicably, arrange annulment of both the death act and your marriage. We'll restore all your rights, Colonel. You'll be called general, not Colonel. And start receiving a sizable pension. Well, master, did you, see him? Oh, yes. Yes. I saw him alright. Living in conditions you wouldn't believe. Well, I guess an old soldier is used to rough bedding.
[00:21:31] Unknown:
Anyway, no time to talk. I'm off to see the countess for all. To see the countess? Yes. Oh, you, might wanna glance at these files before you go. I pulled some information together while you were off seeing the film. Oh, you're a good man, Blanche. Let's see what you've gathered. Mostly information on Delbec, her accountant. He's the real scoundrel, that one. Then there's also this thing on her husband, the account who was repeatedly frustrated in his attempts to win a seat in the senate.
[00:21:57] Unknown:
Apparently, money and title haven't sufficed and rumor has it that his wife's lack of education and background are what's holding him back. That's it. That's it, Blache. There we have it. I needed some kind of leverage or threat of sorts that would bring her around to our way of thinking. I, don't quite see your meaning, sir. It's quite simple, Blasche. We persuade the countess that the cop would be delighted to be freed of his marriage to marry some well placed senator's daughter. It won't take a long to deduce that the cop will have just that opportunity if she doesn't arrive at some kind of a settlement with our poor old colonel.
Master derriere,
[00:22:36] Unknown:
the workings of a fine legal mind are a thing of beauty indeed.
[00:22:44] Unknown:
Do come in, Master Delville. We may announce your arrival. How nice of you to drop by. Can I offer you a cup of tea?
[00:22:52] Unknown:
Thank you, countess, but, no thank you. I'm here on rather serious business.
[00:22:58] Unknown:
Oh, dear. What a shame. The countess is not in this morning. There's no shame at all, madame.
[00:23:04] Unknown:
I have no wish for his company. I know through Delbec that you prefer to handle your affairs on your own without bothering your husband. Well, then I shall summon Delbec. You may not even want his company. Now listen. Just one moment, please. One sentence should be enough to clarify matters.
[00:23:21] Unknown:
Colonel Charbert lives.
[00:23:26] Unknown:
Is it with such inelegant jokes that you expect to clarify matters? Madam, you seem to ignore the dangers in store for you. You believe my first husband can rise from the dead? I have Napoleon's witness that he died and was buried in Germany. I'll contest anyone who tries to prove otherwise.
[00:23:47] Unknown:
Madame, I can tell you that proof exists.
[00:23:49] Unknown:
Since you are obviously the lawyer for this imposter, Chabir, allow me the pleasure Madame, I am still, at this moment, your lawyer as well.
[00:23:57] Unknown:
But do you actually believe I can lose a client as valuable as yourself? But
[00:24:03] Unknown:
since you don't care to listen speak, master Daviell. I'll listen. Thank you.
[00:24:11] Unknown:
Your fortune comes from a colonel, and yet you rebuff him. Your fortune is enormous, and yet you let him go begging. Don't you think that the judge's opinion of the
[00:24:22] Unknown:
will side with me because of my children. Anyway, what obligation have I, financial or otherwise, to a man I've been told is dead?
[00:24:33] Unknown:
One never knows how the law will decide, madame. You may come out of this as a big mist. And worse, you may discover an adversary whom you don't yet suspect.
[00:24:45] Unknown:
A new adversary?
[00:24:47] Unknown:
And who could that be? The count for all, madame.
[00:24:51] Unknown:
My husband. Mhmm.
[00:24:53] Unknown:
The count has too great a respect and affection for me to ever Madame,
[00:24:58] Unknown:
Were he to learn that his marriage stood a chance of being annulled and that his wife might well be judged criminal, if not by the law, at least in public opinion He would descend me. No, no, Madame. And why not? Perhaps perhaps because he'd rather marry the daughter of some well placed senate whose seat would eventually go to the son-in-law. What regrets could he harbor moreover since by such an act he'd be returning the wife of a grand old war hero to his right.
[00:25:29] Unknown:
Enough. I'll never have another lawyer but you. What must I do?
[00:25:35] Unknown:
Settle, madame.
[00:25:39] Unknown:
One question, dear of you. Yes. Does the colonel still love me?
[00:25:46] Unknown:
I don't believe it could be otherwise, madame.
[00:25:51] Unknown:
I await your orders
[00:25:53] Unknown:
to know whether you wish to sign the papers in your own home or to negotiate in my offices.
[00:26:01] Unknown:
I'll come to your offices.
[00:26:06] Unknown:
Oh, a jam. How good of you to come. Where's the colonel? I did not know whether or not his presence might be painful to you, so I took the liberty of placing him in an adjoining chamber. I will act as your go between as you discuss the papers I've drawn up point by point. Let us proceed. I will read. The first article recognizes as will be witnessed by three witnesses sworn to secrecy, the annulment of the death act of the colonel. The second article recognizes his agreement not to make use of any of his claims against you
[00:26:42] Unknown:
and his intention to seek an annulment of your marriage. And the third That won't do at all, dear Ville. I will not have any part of any court proceedings. You know perfectly well that the public would get When And the third article, madame,
[00:26:57] Unknown:
guarantees a yearly rent of CHF24,000 to be delivered to him. But that's far too expensive. Do you, really think you can get better terms?
[00:27:09] Unknown:
Perhaps.
[00:27:10] Unknown:
And those terms would be? I want no public judgment. Do you want the colonel to stay dead?
[00:27:17] Unknown:
Master, there'll be only the cost CHF24,000 yearly to keep him dead. Then I'll see him in court. But You'll see him right now.
[00:27:26] Unknown:
Too expensive, am I? I've given you nearly a million and still you quibble over pennies. Alright then. Now I want your fortune and you. Our marriage is not yet annulled and never shall be.
[00:27:41] Unknown:
But but this man isn't the colonel. Not the colonel,
[00:27:45] Unknown:
That you need some proof. Where was it I found you? On the sidewalks of the Palais Royal. Doing what? You were working as I recall for a Madame Wait. If you're leave, Master De Ville, I must depart.
[00:27:56] Unknown:
I did not come here to listen to such horrors.
[00:28:03] Unknown:
No. But that woman, I gathered her above at the gutter and gave her that.
[00:28:10] Unknown:
She'd have known better than to trust in appearances. She's hot. Are you quite pleased with your actions, colonel? You may have set our negotiations back permanently. I warned you to leave this to me. I've killed her. You're no fool. You'd be snapped up and guillotined in an instant. I better leave the ending of your blunders to me. Now please, please go home and sit patiently until I send for you.
[00:28:43] Unknown:
Once enmeshed in a mystery in the complexities of any highly keyed human drama, it's very difficult to separate emotion from reason. The events sweep you along faster than you can possibly think. Our poor Colonel Chaubert is so emotionally involved in his own crisis that he's doing himself more harm than good. Has he the wisdom, the self discipline to sit back and let master Deville handle everything for him? And should he?
[00:29:14] Unknown:
We'll return shortly with our final act.
[00:29:27] Unknown:
Our principal characters have now met with each other for the first time and have ricocheted apart almost immediately. It is now up to master Deville, our untiring lawyer, to reconcile his two emotionally volatile clients. Deville hasn't reckoned, however, on one other possibility that the countess may prefer to negotiate on her own and do without Deville altogether.
[00:29:54] Unknown:
Can you shut there? Come on. Please, mister. Where? Where?
[00:29:59] Unknown:
Who is this? Come where? Here. Get into the carriage, won't you?
[00:30:03] Unknown:
But no. But but this is your carriage, not mine. I I don't want Hold on.
[00:30:08] Unknown:
Roll on. Please do get in. Driver, go late, please. Well, here we are again, Rolong. After all this time, A bit better than the lawyer's office wouldn't you say? Madam, I'm afraid I
[00:30:28] Unknown:
look I just don't understand. You've denied it was I back there with Deriviere. Oh, La, how could you ever doubt that I know you?
[00:30:35] Unknown:
After all we shared
[00:30:37] Unknown:
Rosine, your words hold the only balm that could soothe all my misery. My dear hold on.
[00:30:45] Unknown:
How could it ever be otherwise? Don't you see what it cost me to act out such a falsehood for strangers? Why bring a lawyer into this? Why expose ourselves to an insensitive public? You think me hard hearted, indifferent, when all it is is an attempt to save face. No. But you you but you were indifferent to me, to my letters. Oh, because I believe you were alive. Yes. I received letters from you. But months, years after the battle when you were supposed to have died, I was sure they were a trick of some imposter. I had to think that if only because of my new marriage.
My children,
[00:31:31] Unknown:
can you blame me? No, Rosie. I can't. I can't. I blame myself for being so stupid for for for not foreseeing the possibility that you'd have married again. I was so sure you'd deal with joy to find me alive. But but, Rosie,
[00:31:47] Unknown:
where where are we headed? To my country house near Grolet. Oh. We'll have some peace there. We'll have time to think over exactly what path we should take. I don't think I hope to escape my duties over no or alone. I simply hope to keep out the public to maintain the dignity of our name. I want to decide with you, beside you. What is right for us both? After all my first duty is to you. My first husband. Rosie. Rosie. I place my faith in your hands. I trust in in what I know to be your good nature. You decide what we must do but keep one last detail in mind when fate chose to make me a widow I was not yet a mother.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Then the dead
[00:32:43] Unknown:
are wrong to return? Oh, no, my dear Roland. No. I'm just reminding you of my children. Telling you that things are different than they were when you left. Rosine,
[00:32:55] Unknown:
I'm not so indelicate as to force a woman to pretend love where it no longer exists. Then you will help me.
[00:33:02] Unknown:
No longer how will I ever but never mind. We'll face all of that later.
[00:33:22] Unknown:
Francine. Francine, what's the matter? What's wrong? You know, a long ago, when I left you, you were laughing. And now now I find you in tears. What on earth could have happened? Nothing. Nothing. But you can't be crying over nothing. Look. Is it something I've done? Our last two days have been absolutely idyllic so happy. What could make you cry when everything is going so well? I wish
[00:33:46] Unknown:
I I wish I were dead. Dead.
[00:33:49] Unknown:
Rosine, what are nurses and nephew? Just just leave me alone.
[00:33:55] Unknown:
My situation
[00:33:56] Unknown:
is more than a human being compared. Please please tell me what's wrong. It's not What?
[00:34:05] Unknown:
What? How can I ever call him that name? He's your
[00:34:09] Unknown:
Of course, you must call him your husband. The father of your children, is he not? Now please don't worry about hurting my feelings. Just tell me what troubles you. It's
[00:34:20] Unknown:
it's just that my husband don't don't you see? This is my husband account ever elsewhere I've been. If he ever discovers that I've been staying here with some stranger. I'm no stranger. Anyway, we've done no wrong. We And how is he to know that? What on earth can I tell him?
[00:34:42] Unknown:
Oh, for a long, there's no hope for me. I must resign myself. My dearest, you know I've resolved to sacrifice myself to your happiness. It is impossible. I know it's too much to ask you. No. What what is too much to ask you? Haven't we agreed that I I I No. Can I ask you
[00:34:59] Unknown:
to acknowledge your identity? Your
[00:35:04] Unknown:
to deny your whole life? What? To simply sign it away? Sign it away? Not now. Isn't my word good enough for you? How can I hope for such a sacrifice?
[00:35:15] Unknown:
You'll be giving your whole life for me daily for the rest of your days. No. But No. No. No. It's impossible. But Rosine,
[00:35:24] Unknown:
can't you simply accept my promise of silence and let me live my days away here in your little country house? I don't need much of the tobacco, the newspaper. Live here. No. But you can oh oh, never mind. Just do as you wish.
[00:35:45] Unknown:
Make your arrangements with my accountant, Delbec, when he comes tomorrow. I can't bear to think about this anymore. Well, Delbec. Is it his time?
[00:36:00] Unknown:
No, madam. I don't even understand quite what happened. He took one look at the papers and well, the old horse reared up and ran away. I might have known he wouldn't go through with it.
[00:36:12] Unknown:
We'll just have to ship him off to some hospital.
[00:36:15] Unknown:
There are plenty of doctors who'll declare him insane with no trouble at all. Insane, is it? I'll tell you who's crazy. I'll show you what an old horse can do. Get out, Delbec. Get out. I have something to say to my doctor. Madame. You may go, Delbec. I'll be close by if you need me. I'll go in a minute. I have no desire to stay in your company any longer than necessary. I simply wanted to tell you that I'd blessed the stroke of fate that drove us apart. I not only no longer love you, I have no taste even for vengeance. I don't curse you.
I quite simply despise you. I want nothing from you. You have my word that I'll never again seek to claim the name of Shabir. It's part of a past I, I have no longer any desire to recall.
[00:37:12] Unknown:
How long is the lawyer to see you? Room 7.
[00:37:16] Unknown:
A lawyer?
[00:37:17] Unknown:
I've asked for no lawyer.
[00:37:21] Unknown:
Mister Oliver, Colonel Chabert, then it is you. I knew it. Even from the back of the courtroom, I recognized you. I just had to come down here and see if it really was you. Why did you disappear as you did? Where have you been all these Oh,
[00:37:36] Unknown:
it's Master Der Ville, isn't it? So nice of you to come and visit. I think they put me away for good this time. Too many vagrancy charges. As I here tell, they may send me to some old people's poor house. Well, how how did you wind up in this place?
[00:37:53] Unknown:
A tale is not worth the telling. Oh, now come now, Colonel. I remember one night when your tale kept me stunned in my chair. I remember advancing some money to you. Money I was sure that you'd eventually pay back. I never could understand why you didn't. What? What
[00:38:10] Unknown:
that that money was supposed to have been paid. And we're sure that the countess would have at least paid for that? No. No. The countess took her business elsewhere and left all your bills outstanding. Tell me this. Does the countess still live? Yes. Yes. She still lives.
[00:38:25] Unknown:
Richer than ever, I might add. And of course, still married to the count. Then your debt shall be paid.
[00:38:32] Unknown:
Do you have a piece of paper? A pen? Yes.
[00:38:39] Unknown:
Good.
[00:38:44] Unknown:
Here, deliver this to the countess and you will be paid. I swore never to claim the name of Shabir again, but an unpaid debt to a man of your stature is far worse than breaking my word to to that woman. Then you did make a settlement. A kind of settlement that put me back on the street and glad to be rid of it. She didn't pay you any money? I didn't want it. Not on her terms. She wanted me to sign affidavits declaring myself an impostor, even worse, a forger. When I refused, she threatened to put me away in a mental hospital. You know, she'd played on my sympathies in a most clever fashion, but she couldn't get me to the point where I'd sign documents that not only would protect her, but would probably put me in jail.
It was a terrific choice. Jail or a mental hospital. I finally walked out. I prefer the street and the poorhouse over any society where the likes of her have their way. I see.
[00:39:51] Unknown:
And I always thought that you'd made your deal with her without me, that you just didn't care about the debt you owed me.
[00:39:59] Unknown:
I'll have to go now but, take that note to the countess. You'll get paid. It says that you'll take the note onto her husband, the count, if she doesn't.
[00:40:12] Unknown:
That should do it. Indeed. It should.
[00:40:20] Unknown:
Oh, master de Ville. I figured it had to be you, but, why Read this.
[00:40:28] Unknown:
What?
[00:40:30] Unknown:
This is a this is a guaranteed income of of CHF25,000 a year. It's for for Monsieur Roland.
[00:40:44] Unknown:
Signed by the Countess Perrault. Yes. I, did little lawyering when I went to see the Countess with your notes. She was so moved by my arguments that she not only paid my bill, she also agreed to this little stipend for you. I hope you don't mind. Mind? I'll never thank you enough. How shall I ever know how to spend it? I'm sure you'll find a way. I just couldn't live with the idea of such a noble fellow going off to the poorhouse.
[00:41:11] Unknown:
Oh, I know what I can do with the money.
[00:41:13] Unknown:
My friends with the dairy farm. They lost it because they couldn't pay the mortgage. I'll buy it back for them. Will you have would you handle the legal papers? Of course. Now, I spent fourteen years trying to rise from the dead and finally stopped trying. And now you brought me back to life overnight. Deville, there is justice after all.
[00:41:49] Unknown:
There were many ways this story could have ended. Master De Ville complained at one point that the colonel's case was difficult because there was no precedent. For once, it was a legal tangle as unpredictable as our lives. Unpredictable, but satisfying. For the human instincts won out over the law books in the end. I shall return shortly. Balzac himself, as a matter of fact, chose to end the colonel's story slightly differently. Deville and the colonel did indeed meet up in prison by accident, and the colonel did give Deville a note for the countess. Deville, however, according to Deville, did no more than redeem his own debt and did nothing further to help the poor colonel.
We hope you appreciate our little twist of the story. After all, happy endings do happen sometime, even in real life. Our cast included Alexander Scourby, Laurie March, Larry Haines, and Dan Ako. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.
[00:43:05] Unknown:
And now, a preview of our next tale. Am I to believe what you have just told me? That you have joined the enemy.
[00:43:16] Unknown:
I've been struggling with my conscience for weeks. My sympathies, mother, are with the North. Then we'll just have to get along without you.
[00:43:24] Unknown:
Parker, you're a traitor to your country and a traitor to your loved ones. You must do what you conceived to be your duty. But your father and I torture. It's been our way of living always.
[00:43:38] Unknown:
But I never for a moment dreamed. I'm not ashamed of my decision. Don't try to make me. Please. I understand.
[00:43:47] Unknown:
Now, I would be most grateful if you would leave this house at once. Wish me well, Mother. I can't do that, Parker.
[00:43:57] Unknown:
Not to the enemy of my country. Not to Australia. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by True Value Hardware Stores. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant, dreams.
[00:44:59] Unknown:
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[00:45:25] Unknown:
and live the Chumba Life. No purchase necessary. VW report where prohibited by law. See terms and conditions. 18
Introduction to the Mystery Theater
The Mysterious Visitor
Balzac's Genius and The Colonel's Tale
Colonel Chabert's Unbelievable Survival
The Quest for Recognition
Legal Complexities and Compromise
Proof of Identity
The Countess's Dilemma
Negotiations and Emotional Turmoil
A Twist of Fate
A Satisfying Resolution
