Episode 76: No Harm

Monday, October 10, 1966

My name is Victoria Winters. The Collins family has owned Collinwood for more than a hundred and thirty years, and the family still wants to keep it in spite of the terror they’ve known there.

There is a knock at the front door of Collinwood. Burke Devlin has arrived and demands to see Liz.

Roger wants to know why he’s come. Burke says he’s come for something he’s waited ten years for. He’s come for Collinwood.

Roger thinks this is laughable. Does Burke think they’ll hand it to him?

Burke says they might not have a choice.

Carolyn tells Burke, “You said you meant us no harm.”

“That, my dear Carolyn, is what the politicians call ‘campaign oratory.’ It’s what you want to hear, but you’re not necessarily expected to believe it.”

“And I suppose everything else was campaign oratory too.”

“Well, I almost got elected, didn’t I? Now, if you’ll run along, I have some things to say to Roger which are not for your tender ears.”

“Never mind about my tender ears. I want to know if everything you said to me was a lie.”

“Believe me, I didn’t want to lie to you. I tried not to. But you made the temptation irresistible.”

“This is ridiculous,” Roger breaks in, and tells Carolyn to go get her mother. As she leaves, he mutters that Matthew can’t be trusted to do anything right.

Burke says no, you can’t. He suggests that Roger sent Matthew to strangle him. Roger denies it and they argue about whether Bill’s death was accidental.

Carolyn tells her mother that Burke is there, very angry, and claims he came for Collinwood. Liz says she’ll take care of Burke Devlin.

Roger tells Burke that just because he disagrees with the jury, he thinks he can come and steal Collinwood.

“Not steal. I’ve never stolen anything, not even five years out of a man’s life.”

“Are you insinuating that I stole five years out from your life?”

“Well, I didn’t give them away. I didn’t sell them or lend them; therefore, they must haveeen stolen. By you. You should have served that time, not me.”

“You have not one iota of proof for what you say.”

“I will have. You see, Roger, I don’t put much faith in the old adage that murder will out, because I don’t think it will out by itself. I think it has to be pried out with some sort of a lever.”

“And you think you have found that lever.”

“Yes. I think Bill Malloy found it. And what he can find, I can.”

Roger says it’s all dead, buried, and forgotten. Burke says it may be dead and buried, but he hasn’t forgotten. And he hasn’t forgotten the reason he came to Collinsport.

Liz enters and asks, “Burke, just why did you come back to Collinsport?”

“To raise myself to the stature of a Collins.”

Liz asks if she thinks all of his money could make him into a Collins.

“No, you misunderstand me. I didn’t say I wanted to be a Collins. Just look at you. A man afraid of his own shadow, and a woman who hasn’t been off the grounds in eighteen years.”

“That’s enough!” Liz says. She tells Burke her personal life is none of his business.

He agrees and apologizes for his outburst. But he doesn’t apologize for wanting Collinwood.

Liz asks why he wants it.

“Oh, maybe I want to found a dynasty.”

“That takes more than a house, Burke.”

Maybe he wants it so he can hang his portrait over the fireplace.

Roger says his portrait will look splendid wherever he chooses to hang it. Why does it have to be there?

Liz says Collinwood is not for sale.

“Not even if I’ll pay more than it’s worth?”

That gets Roger’s attention. (This will sow discord.)

Carolyn waits anxiously in the hall. 

Vicki arrives home, and Carolyn fills her in. 

Vicki isn’t surprised. She says she’s going upstairs. Carolyn follows.

Roger and Liz argue about selling Collinwood. He thinks they could get a more practical place that they could really enjoy.

Liz tells Burke that she would never sell, so she doesn’t know why Burke even asked.

Burke says he admires her, and wanted to give her a chance to withdraw gracefully. Otherwise, he can take it from her. Along with the cannery and everything else the Collins family owns.

Roger thinks they should talk this over.

Carolyn tells Vicki she can’t imagine living anywhere else but Collinwood. 

It would be hard for her to sell it when she doesn’t go anywhere. Unless she stayed in it with Burke. (Liz and Burke would actually be rather interesting.)

Vicki wonders why Burke wants it when he could have any place in the world. 

Maybe, she thinks, he just wants to belong somewhere, to have roots. 

Carolyn wants to go back downstairs.

Roger and Liz argue about selling the house. She says she’ll take care of it. 

There are things you can’t put a value on, and Collinwood is one of them. Roger asks Burke to step out so he can talk with Liz alone.

Vicki and Carolyn come down. 

Carolyn thinks Burke is doing this out of spite—possibly towards Laura for marrying Roger instead of him.

Vicki wonders if he really wants Collinwood, or he’s just trying to hurt somebody who hurt him.

What about Bill Malloy? he asks. He tried to help Burke, and now he’s dead.

Vicki says she doesn’t understand Burke, and she doesn’t think he does either.

Maybe so. 

If he did, he wouldn’t offer to buy Collinwood; he’d find another way to get it. Or he’d let them stay in Collinwood and destroy themselves. He advises them to check out the stories the townspeople tell.

Roger doesn’t understand why Liz wants to hang onto Collinwood. Surely not because of Paul? Roger knows that marriage was unhappy. 

Liz refuses to discuss either that or the remote possibility of selling Collinwood.

Liz asks Burke, Carolyn, and Vicki to come into the drawing room. 

Liz tells Burke that she’s done nothing to hamper Burke so far, but she’s not selling Collinwood, and when she’s through, he’ll know he’s been in a fight.

“Mrs. Stoddard, I’m sure I will.”

Carolyn rushes after Burke as he leaves, and Liz stops Roger from stopping her, saying, “She has to make up her own mind.”

Carolyn asks Burke if there’s anything she can say or do to change his mind. He says he’s sorry she has to be involved in this, but she’s a Collins.

“My name is Stoddard, Carolyn Stoddard.”

“Carolyn Collins Stoddard.” Carolyn flees to her mother’s arms.

Burke asks Vicki where she stands in all this.

“Right where I’ve always stood, on my own two feet.”

Burke says he hopes those pretty feet don’t get smeared with mud.

 

                         Cast, In Order of Appearance

Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Moltke

Roger Collins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Edmonds

Carolyn Stoddard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Nancy Barrett

Burke Devlin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mitchell Ryan

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard . . . . . . . . .  Joan Bennett

Fashion by Ohrbach’s

Directed by Lela Swift

Written by Francis Swann