 The Spence is the man in black. Here again to introduce Columbia's program, The Spence. Our stars this evening are three. The order of their appearance, they are Walter Hampton, one of the theater's proudest names for two generations, and Susan Hayworth and Lee Bowman, two of Hollywood's brightest younger stars. The story called The Dead Sleeps Lightly by John Dixon Carr is tonight's tale of suspense. If you've been with us on these Tuesday nights, you will know that suspense is compounded in mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. In this series, our tales calculated to entreat you to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious situation, and then withhold the solution until the last part, and so with The Dead Sleeps Lightly. And with the performances of Walter Hampton, Susan Hayworth and Lee Bowman, we again hope to keep you in... Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Meadowvale Cemetery, not far from New York. Meadowvale Cemetery on a dim gray morning in early April, when rain forms a mist across leafless trees in white gravestones. You see, over there, the group of silk-hatted gentlemen each with his protecting umbrella gathered around an open grave. You see the clay soil freshly dug. You can hear perhaps the creaking of the corpse as the coffin is lowered into its everlasting house, and the droning voice of the surgeon. In the life, Mr. Lord, he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet, tell he'll live. Live! Quiet, Mr. Templeton, please. What's wrong with old Templeton? Hey, sir, remember where you are. She's not alive, I tell you, she's not alive! It might seem a long distance that, from the cosmopolite club in Gramercy Park on the following evening, when that same well-fed man, as hard and unemotional as a diamond pin in his tie, hurries up the steps into the club then. What, what? Yes, Mr. Templeton? Tell me, Mr. Melmott in the club, do you know? Yes, sir. Don't you see him? See him? Where? In the lounge over there, sir, sitting by the fire. Yes, yes, of course, sir. I'm a little upset. You're a good fellow, Henry. I won't forget you. Thank you, sir. Excuse me, sir, but aren't you going to take off your hat and overcoat? Never mind my hat and coat. Just tell me one other thing. When I came into the club, was there anybody following me? Following you, Mr. Templeton? Yes, a woman. A woman with a long skirt and a heavy black veil. But aren't many women who wear that kind of dress nowadays, sir? Look out into the street. Do you see anybody? No, sir. There's just... What's that? Oh, that's only the old street musician, sir. He doesn't mean any harm. I won't have that tune played, you hear? I'm just getting my orders obeyed, and I'm going to have this one obeyed. Here's the money. Go out and tell him to go away. Yes, sir, if you insist, but... Do as you're told and don't ask questions. If anybody wants me, I shall be with Mr. Wilmot. Very good, sir. Any, Wilmot? Mind if I sit down for a minute? I'm not at all. Pull up a chair. Want some coffee? No, thanks. I'll get down to brass techs right away. Yeah, too. You always do. I've noticed that. Well, I'm a pretty self-sufficient kind of a fellow, Wilmot. I made a name for myself, even if I do say it myself. But, well, the fact is, I need advice. A successful publisher asking advice from one of his own authors. That's something new, isn't it? Oh, look here, Wilmot, I'm serious. All right, all right, I take it back. What's on your mind? Well, you've studied what we'll call the supernatural, haven't you? I've lectured and written books about it, yes. And did you ever meet a... a ghost? No, I can't say I ever did. Have you? It might only be my own imagination. That's what scares me. You get on in years, and your battery's hardened, and you don't take enough exercise, and you think something ought to be done about your waistline, but you never bother. You see, Wilmot, I went to a funeral yesterday. You did? The funeral was... The person who died has nothing to do with this. It was old Simpson of Harley and Sons. We thought it was only decent to make up a party and go to the funeral. And I took my secretary along, a girl named Molly Carroll. I'm leaving for Washington tomorrow. Besides, I'm moving house. There was a lot of work to do, but I couldn't stand with that infernal cemetery in the rain. And we must have gone in by the wrong gate because we were in a neglecting, desolate part of the cemetery, but the ranked grass grew over the grave. You'll oblige me, Miss Carroll. If you first find out the proper directions about places, we'll come in the wrong gate to the cemetery. Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Templeton. I thought... Your thought doesn't matter now. This is the wrong part of the cemetery. My shoes are absolutely ruined with wet clay. Well, it isn't doing my own shoes and stockings any good. I've been, Mr. Templeton. If there's been any damage to them, Miss Carroll, I'll replace them. You never found me ungenerous, and I'll have you. Well, not exactly ungenerous. No. I'll pay you the compliment, Miss Carroll, saying that you are the best secretary I've ever had. Thank you. Yet you want to leave me. Yes, I... I want to get married. That's what Mr. Barnes is telling me. And who is this caravan of yours? What does he do? Does he make any money? Well, Frank's a radio technician. He's not very wealthy, I'll admit. Wealthy? A radio technician? I bet he doesn't make as much as I pay you. Yet you want to get married. Well, is there anything very strange about that? Yes. Everything that appears in your career, if it... Good Lord. Look at that. Look at what, Mr. Templeton? Over there, around 20. You mean that? That's only an old gravestone covered with weeds and brambles. I haven't seen that grave in years. It looks rather neglected. It is neglected, isn't it? Will you go closer, please, and read the inscription? Mr. Templeton... Do as I tell you, please. Let's see if I can get some of these weeds aside. It says, Sacred through the memory of Mary Ellen Cleaver, Born September 5th, 1892, Departed this life, March 25th, 1919. Thou should still be adored as this moment thou art, Lest thy loveliness fade as it will. If you lower that umbrella, Mr. Templeton, you'll get soaking wet. Sentimental crash, but she always liked it. Mary Ellen Cleaver. Did you know her? Very well indeed. She was my wife. Your wife? But I never knew you were married. Neither did anybody else. Where's my flask of brandy? What have I done with it? It's in your pocket, Mr. Templeton, but do you think that's very wise? You've already had more than enough. Whatever I do is wise, Miss Carol. We were married very young. She was a nice little thing. I was fond of her, yes. But she couldn't have helped me. I'm not a snob, but she wasn't in my class. No style, you know, no manners, no education. Indeed. Could I have introduced her to the friends I was making? No. She wouldn't have been kind to her. She didn't even want to go to the places where I was invited. She'd sit at home and say, What was it like? Did you have a nice time? What was Mrs. So-and-So wearing? And she loved me. I put that to her credit. But... You left her? I thought it was the kindest thing to do, yes. She went away. Then I heard she'd had... Had what? Nothing. Doesn't matter. Well, there was a war on. I attended the peace conference in Europe. Never even knew she was dead until I heard some friends had buried her. I always promised to call her up. She said she'd come back to me if I did. You couldn't call her up now, Mr. Templeton, even if you wanted to. I suppose not. Well, I was fond of her. I wish there was something I could do. But you could have a grave cared for. Have some flowers put on it. Actually, that's an idea. She'd have liked that. Can you take care of that for me? I'll look after it tomorrow morning, Mr. Templeton. But how will they ever be able to locate the grave? Must be thousands in this cemetery. Well, each grave has a number, you know, cut into the stone so you can identify it. This is number 1212. 1212. Sounds like a telephone number, doesn't it? Yes, doesn't it? That'll say 1212. Poor girl. I was fond of her. Please, Mr. Templeton, come along, and please, no more, Brandy. You've got a funeral to attend. Then will what? The night came. And the horror. What horror? Take it easy, man. There's nothing to worry about. You were sitting here in the Cosmopolite's club. I was sitting in the club last night. I was on my way home. And why should that scare you? I don't know, but it did. I'd been jumpy all day. That infernal number kept running through my head. Meadowvale 1212. Have you ever seen my house? Yes, it's that big, shangotic place on Riverside Drive, isn't it? There's big and dark and drafty like a morpheleum. I told you it was moving house to an apartment downtown. But there was some papers there. They're from the library. They take with me to Washington tomorrow. I knew the servants would be gone, of course. But I hoped Mrs. Bloom, that's my housekeeper, would still be there. Then, when I went up the park, about 6.30, 1212. Sorry to trouble you, Mrs. Bloom. I seem to have mislaid my key. Now, they've got a swan I had on my key ring this morning. It's no trouble, Mr. Templeton. Only, I hope you're not planning to send the night here. I'll go to a hotel. Why do you ask? Because they've disconnected everything except the electricity and taken away most of the furniture. Have you touched anything in the library? No, sir. I told them you said to leave that. But it does seem a pity in a way. What seems a pity? To break up a lovely home like this after all these years. Home? This big, ugly picture gallery? It's been a home to me, sir. I've treated you generously, haven't I? Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I've got several hours' work to do, Mrs. Bloom. A whole safe full of papers to sort over. I'm going to the library, and... What's that you're hiding behind your back? I'm not hiding anything, sir. All the same, what is it? It's only a music box, sir. I found it no attic when the moving men were here. If I hadn't known they were... Well, no ladies in your life, I'd have said it belongs to one of them. I love to hear them, sir. May I? Mrs. Bloom. Yes, sir. Come with a smash, that music box, turn it off! Yes, sir, I'm sure I never... I'm going to the library. We can find any sandwiches and coffee, bring them. Yes, sir. Excuse me. Same old library. Same old clawfoot desk. There's the Venetian mirror she bought for you. Look at yourself in the mirror, Templeton. Admit you can't face it. Admit you can't work here tonight. Admit you've got to have lights and music, and... That's it. Go out for dinner. Telephone Wilmot. If they've left the phone... Oh, yes, good. Here it is. Hello, hello. I, uh... Uh, none of these. I want, uh... Meryl 1212. Wait, what's the devil's name on my chain? Chain's out, I want... Who are you? You're not Mary Ellen. This is a trick. Mary Ellen is dead. I don't need anybody. But by the time the clock strikes seven, I'll wear a veil, because I don't look very pretty. I won't have it. I won't listen to you. I won't... Goodbye, my dear. Mrs. Bloom, Mrs. Bloom. Templeton, what on earth is the matter? Who's been playing tricks on me? Tick, sir, I don't understand. Who spoke to me on this phone? But, sir, nobody could have spoken to you on that phone. Nobody could have? What are you talking about? That phone's disconnected, sir. Disconnected? There's a little metal box off the wall, and rolled all the wires up and put everything on the desk there. Said he'd be back tomorrow to take it away. Mrs. Bloom, that's impossible. Look for yourself, sir. You're standing in the middle of the room holding that phone, and the wires don't lead anywhere. Sir, that's true. So you couldn't very well have talked to anybody on the phone that wasn't connected? Now could you? I tell you, I got the operator. I heard it ring. I talked to... to someone else. Oh, and what did that person say? She said she'd be here to visit me. When...? And so will one. That's what happened last night. The phone was disconnected. It was Mary Ellen's voice. There's no doubt about that. Am I out of my mind or what? Before I say anything about that, my friends, well, let's hear the end of your story. What did happen when the clock struck seven? I don't know. You don't know? No, I lost my head. I ran out of that house as though the devil were after me. Maybe he was. Since then, I spent the night at the hotel. Today, I've walked past that house 50 times, 100 times, trying to muster up enough nerve to go in. I couldn't do it, but I've got to go in there. Why? It's those people I've got to take to Washington to send somebody else to get them. I can't do that, Wilmot. It's confidential information for the government. I've thought of everything. I've even bought a revolver, see? For the love of heaven, man, put that gun away. You want the other club members to think you have gone insane? Then I thought of you. You know all the tricks of fake spiritualists. You've written about it, lectured about it. Which reminds me, by the way, that I'm lecturing before the Acropolis Club in about 20 minutes. You've got to break that engagement, Wilmot. Why? Because you're going with me to my house tonight. No, that's impossible, old man. Now sit quietly and listen to me. I'll go with you willingly, tomorrow morning. Too late. I'm taking an early plate to Washington. Well, then wait until I can get away from the lecture. Say, uh, around midnight. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take a taxi and join you as soon as I can. That won't do. I've got to know. Know the answer now. Do you understand? Aren't you being a little unreasonable about this? Unreasonable or not, I usually get my own way and I mean to have it now. Well, then I afraid you'll have to go to the house alone. Besides, you know, Wilmot, you worry me. You sit there puffing at that pipe and looking at me out of those queer eyes of yours. Like a young Satan. I've often wondered what you were really thinking about. Since you flatter my intelligence so much, I was wondering whether you'd been quite frank with me. Frank with you how? About your late wife, Mary Ellen Kleber. What about her? Well, after she left you, something happened that you don't like to talk about. Was there by any chance a child, a son, for instance? Or did you say a son? Yes. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, then let's agree not to understand each other, shall we? Now are you coming with me or aren't you? I tell you, man, I'll get there as soon as I can. All I can think about is the wet red prey in that cemetery and the dismal graves and the rain and what her face might look like if she raised the veil. And what am I going to see in that house? What am I going to see in that house? Chimes, the hours dwindle and the traffic roar of the city sink to a low growl behind twinkling lights. It is midnight. When a taxi moves along a certain street towards a certain house out of a bygone age. Lightless, black against the stars, surrounded by iron railings and with a path bordered by fir trees leading to the front door. Look, too, at the face of Mr. Patrick Wilmot when that taxi draws near. All right, driver. This is the place. I'll be in wait, Peter. No, you needn't wait. Keep the change. Thank you, sir. Good night. So the front gate is open and he did go in. I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to bump into you. Mr. Wilmot. You know who I am. Yes, I've seen you several times in our office. I'm Molly Carroll, Mr. Templeton Secretary. What are you doing here? Well, it's Mr. Templeton. What about him? Well, that's what I want to know. I was out with Frank. That's my fiancée. And when I got home, the girl I room with said that Mr. Templeton had been phoning and phoning all evening. She said he sounded drunk or something. He wanted somebody to go with him to this house. Evidently, I wasn't the only person he applied to. Shall we go in? Yes, but the whole house is dark. I suppose he isn't there. He's there all right. You don't know men like Bert Templeton. Put up. I'll push the gate wider. Now, straight up the walk to the front door. I've got a flashlight. What are we going to find? Something rather unpleasant. I'd better warn you. How do you know? I have my ways of knowing, Miss Carroll. Oh, look. What is it? That French window to the left of the front door. Yeah. It's partly open. Well, there's nothing in that, necessarily. Templeton said he'd lost his key. He might have had to open a window. That's true, but... So you see it too, do you? See what? There's a footprint across the sill of that French window. A footprint made in wet clay. It's like the clay of the cemetery. So I should imagine. Will you go in first or shall I? Into that dark room, I will not. Well, then stay here, please, until I get some light on. No, wait. I'll go. Let me take your arm. All right, be careful now. I thought so. This room is the library. And there are more footprints of somebody or something walking in. They lead... Who's there? Who's there? It's only me, sir. Mrs. Bloom, the housekeeper. Then what's the idea of standing in a dark room in the middle of the night with what sounds like... It's only a music box, sir. I left it behind along with some other things and came back to get them. I've got my own key. I thought I heard a noise in here. But why aren't there any lights? The electricity's cut off, sir. It was cut off today. I see. Templeton is here or was here. He's nothing. Had some kind of light. If I turn this flashlight on a desk, maybe... Be quiet, Mrs. Carroll. What is it, sir? I'm as blind as a bat without my glasses. It's Mr. Templeton. He's lying on the floor beside the desk. Oh, he isn't... No, he isn't dead. His face is the color of putty. I think he's had some kind of stroke. We better not take any chances. Mrs. Bloom? Yes, sir. Get outside to the nearest telephone and call for an ambulance. Tell him it's an emergency case. You're Mr. Wilmot, aren't you? But what's happened to him? Ask a dead woman. I beg your pardon. Never mind. Hurry. Of course I'll hurry, Mr. Wilmot. What are we going to do? Well, let's have a look around. Campbell doesn't seem to have been working at his papers by the light of a couple of candles, which somebody's blown out. We'll relight them. There's the desk. There's all the paper. Got it around him. Mr. Wilmot, please! What happened to him? I'll tell you. As he sat there in the dim light of two candles, a ghostly figure appeared at that French window. It wore a long, old-fashioned skirt and a heavy black veil to hide the face. It walked toward Templeton, tracking graveyard clay. It stretched its arms to him like this. Keep away from me, please! Templeton couldn't stand it. He collapsed. And now, before the old housekeeper returns, would you care to hear how the whole trick was worth? Trick? What trick? Have you heard about the ghost voice that talked on a disconnected telephone? Oh, yes. Yes, he said something about it this morning, but I thought he wasn't himself. He wasn't, but he heard it. Remember Mrs. Bloom's story about the telephone man? Yes. They don't send a man round to yank the whole apparatus off the wall, put it on the desk, and say he'll be back for it next day. This man from the telephone company was an imposter. The man from the telephone company was an imposter? Exactly. Oh, look, he's moving his hand. He's trying to open his eyes. Isn't there anything we can do for him? No, there's nothing we can do to the doctor arise. In the meantime, listen to me. What did this imposter do? He took away the real phone and substituted a spirit telephone. You don't know what a spirit telephone is. No, of course not. It's an old device used by fake mediums. You see a telephone without wires standing on a desk like that one. You pick up the receiver and talk to the dead. Of course, you never really talk into the phone at all. But if you don't talk into the phone then... Fixed underneath the desk is a tiny microphone with hidden wires leading to another room in the same house. That microphone picks up every word you think you're saying to the phone. Is that clear? I think so. Well, the dummy telephone is really a low-power radio receiving set. Somebody in another room can talk back to you after hearing what you say on the wired microphone. Then Mr. Templeton... If Templeton hadn't rung Meadowvale 1212, then rest assured that same number would have rung him. Well, then the scheme couldn't fail either way. But, you see, there's one thing in this matter I haven't got quite clear even yet. And what's that? Tell me, Miss Carol, just why did you work this whole trick? Why did you try to scare your father to death? My father? Templeton is your father, isn't he? That might be rather difficult to prove, Mr. Wilmot. By George, I admire you. Thanks very much. I'm flattered. Expressionless as ever. Eyes as hard and cold and blue and handsome as... Well, make your own comparisons. But I knew you were guilty, of course, when I heard your fiancé was a radio technician. He franked out of this. Oh, you had scruples. Have I touched you? Nothing can touch me. Not since my mother died. Your fiancé installed a ghost mechanism and took it away today. He probably thought it was only a joke. He did. I swear he did. And the rest of it was plain enough. Who led Templeton to the wrong gate in the cemetery past that woman's grave? You did. Who was the only one who could have stolen the key to this house off that key ring he took to the office? You were. You needed that key to come and go as you liked and impersonate the two voices on the phone. Is there any need to go on with this? He killed her, you know. Templeton killed your mother? Oh, not with a knife or a bullet or poison. All he did was break her heart. And that's no offense in law. I've done what I wanted to do. I've torn his whole rotten life to pieces. And there he is, gasping for breath on the floor. And I'm glad. I'm glad I'm... He is my father. Does he know you're his daughter? No. No, of course not. When I went to work for him as a secretary, he hadn't even seen me since I was a child. But I got near him. I worked for years to get near him. No. I wish I hadn't. Look here, you've got to pull yourself together. Why? Who cares? The ambulance's coming and maybe the police. What do I care? Tell the police what you like. My dear girl, you don't think I'll tell them anything. I'm merely an onlooker, an amateur Satan who doesn't believe in ghost voices. Yeah, yeah. What's that? Templeton, his eyes are open. He's trying to get up. Mary Ellen, Mary Ellen, Mary Ellen. It's as though he could see something that we can't do. What's that? He's got his hand. It's a revolver. He had one at the club. He's putting it against his chest. I'll stop him. Look out! Look out! And now he's tried to join us. Oh, don't let him die. All right, Molly. You've grabbed the gun just in time. If he doesn't die, I'll make it up to him. I swear I'll make it up to him. Tell you now, he's not going to die. Mary Ellen, Mary Ellen, Mary Ellen. What? But what? But what? Mary Ellen. I was just wondering, is there a ghost in this room tonight? So close is the dead sleep lightly, starring Walter Hemden, Susan Hayward, and Lee Bowman. Tonight's tale of... The Shed. This is your narrator, the man in black, who conveys to you Columbia's invitation to spend this half hour in suspense with us again next season. As Hayward appears with the courtesy of Paramount Pictures, and Mr. Bowman appears with the courtesy of Metro Golden Mayor Studios, William Spear, the producer, John Deets, the director, Bernard Herman, the composer-conductor, and John Dixon Carr, the author, collaborated on tonight's... Suspense.