 Signal Gasoline. Let every traffic signal remind you, you do go farther with Signal Gasoline. Yes, you do go farther with Signal. The Signal Oil Company and your neighborhood signal dealer bring you another curious story by the Whistler. Tonight, the master's tree. And I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak. There's an old adage about letting sleeping dogs lie, but sometimes that's not so easy. Sometimes they won't lie still. Sometimes they walk in the night. We might have warned Alice Towers and the people of the little English village of Wickley about that, but they probably wouldn't have noticed. The mysterious disappearance of Philip Towers five years ago was all but forgotten, and the flood that had just engulfed the surrounding countryside was still the main topic of conversation. And that was when Alice Towers came home, arriving at the little station on the 10-15. Miss Alice? Oh, Miss Alice? Yes, dear old Anthony. Welcome home, Miss Alice. Thank you, Anthony. I was so glad to hear that welcome after all these years, Miss Alice. Even after I married, I was always Miss Alice to you. Yes, ma'am. You didn't mind, did you? Of course not, Anthony. And it's good to see you. Miss Milrid sent me down to meet you. She and Mr. Jeffrey be waiting at home. The weather be so miserable. Of course, of course. I wouldn't have had them transfer cold. You've had very bad weather for some time now. Aye, aye, the flood was terrible. Here, let me take your bags to the car. Oh, yes. These are all I think. We can get the trunk tomorrow. This way, ma'am. You know, I'm just as glad that they didn't come. Now I can have a talk with you alone. How are they? Have they been all right, Anthony? Well, ma'am, as well as can be expected. Why, what do you mean? Well, with Mr. Phillip and you gone. Mr. Phillip was always Miss Milrid's favourite brother. And then when he married you, you were the favourite of all of us. Oh, thank you, Anthony. Been a long time, Miss Alice. Yes. Five years, Anthony. Five years. And what about Mr. Phillip? I've never found a trace, Anthony. For five years I've searched two continents. It just disappeared from the face of the earth. I can't understand it. Nobody can. He was so fine a man. And he was such a happy, devoted couple. Yes. We were happy. Here, ma'am. The car's right over here. It's still raining. Hurry, and you won't get wet. Oh, yes, of course. I'll slide in on your side, eh? Yes. I'll put the bags in the back. I'll have you in front of a roar in fire at Miss Milrid's inner jibby. So, Anthony, you're still taking care of Milrid's place? I'm just as I used to take care of your garden as the master's place. Oh, he thought so much of you, Anthony. You were one of his favourite people. Maybe, ma'am. That was because he loved flowers and trees so much and so do I. I mind how he used to sit out in the gardens all day. You and the master used to sit under that cherry tree on the edge of the cliff there and look out at the sea, and I'd bring you tea out there. Yes. That was Philip's favourite tree. Besides, I think he loved it almost more than anything. Maybe so. He was strange in some ways. Is the cherry tree still there? Yes, ma'am. I think so. I don't rightly know why he didn't notice it when I went out to look after the flood. Was there much damage? Oh, yes, ma'am, frightful. The brook that went by the house had tore up everything. The garden, the orchard. Even the house was badly hit. Oh, no. The topsoil's gone. The ground up rooted. Oh, Anthony, I want to go out there. Of course, ma'am. I'll take you out to look it over, but it's not a pretty sight anymore. No, Anthony. I mean, I'm going out there to live. Oh, no, ma'am. Why, it's... It's why not? Well, it's badly damaged. Well, we can fix the damage. Oh, but Miss Alice... It's what? Well, really, it's like a dead place. A dead place? I don't know how to tell you, but there's something queer there. It's almost like a smell of death over it. And since you left, it's been vacant these five years. Well, with Mr. Philip's disappearance... What are you trying to say, Anthony? Well, it's just that... Will you know how these village people talk? Oh, you mean they decided to haunt it? Well, something like that, ma'am. Oh, Anthony, you know they say that about any vacant house out on the moors? Yes, I know, but... But nonsense, Anthony, nonsense! I'm going back to the master's house, and I'm going to live there. All right, ma'am. But somehow I don't like it. Whistler fans, can you answer this question? Who brings you the Whistler? I hope you said Signal Oil Company. We asked that same question four weeks ago, and we were pleased to learn that so many of you gave the right answer. Frankly, we were surprised, in view of the fact that the Whistler has been adding so many new listeners each week. You see, the Whistler is now the most popular Pacific Coast program, thanks to your interest. And naturally, we of the cast want all of you to know our sponsor. For you new Whistler fans, if you have trouble remembering names that can remember faces, let me give you this tip. Visualize for a second the Signal Oil Trademark, the black circle sign with the yellow letter spelling Signal Gasoline, that so conspicuously identifies a signal service station. It will pay you to remember that circle sign when you need gasoline, because that is the station that supplies the gasoline that does go farther. Ration coupons are precious these days, so do as thousands of motorists do who keep a record of mileage, and discover for yourself that Signal Gasoline is the gasoline that does go farther. And now, back to the Whistler. Alice Tower is back in the English village of Wickley after an unsuccessful five-year search for her missing husband Philip, has announced her intention of going back to the lonely old tower's home by the sea, against the advice of old Anthony the gardener and Philip's sister and brother, Mildred and Jeffrey. It's utterly ridiculous, Alice. You can stay right here in the village with us. Of course, Alice. We've made all the arrangements for you. You can spend the rest of your days here with us, if you will. Surely you understand. The old place out there is my home. It's where Philip brought me as a bride. It's where we spent so many happy hours together. But it's not the lovely place it was then. Perhaps not. Philip is not there either, but... but living there, I'll have my memories of him. I'll feel close to him. I don't understand you, Alice. You're not the type of woman to brood. It's too much of a matter of fact to go on spending your life living with a ghost. Jeffrey. What would you call this, this compulsion to bury oneself out there on the moors? I don't know, Jeffrey. I only know I must go. And that's enough for me. If Alice feels she must go, then we will lend her every assistance. We can drive out there tomorrow and look it over. See what must be done. Anthony can help and... we'll stay with you until you're settled. Thank you, Mildred. You're not at all, my dear. I'm going to bed. You two can stay up till all hours if you wish. Night, Jeffrey. Good night, Mildred. Good night, my dear Alice. It's good. Very good to have you back. Thank you, dear. Good night. Well, Alice... Well, Jeffrey... Your mind's made up? Yes. Nothing I can say will stop you. Why do you want to stop me, Jeffrey? Because I fear for you, Alice. I fear for you're staying alone in that godless second-world place. Come now. You're not going to tell me the ghost stories, are you? Not the kind they mean, of course. But there are other kinds of ghosts, Alice. Ghosts are the mind. What do you mean? I only mean it's not good for a young, attractive, vital woman to bury herself in a lonely past. You need life, not death. But we don't know that Philip is dead. Well... it doesn't seem much doubt of it now, does it? And any radio might as well be as far as you're concerned. Jeffrey, why don't you want me to live there? I've just told you. Besides, the place is ruined. Unlivable. It'll take months to fix it up. There must be a reason. A better reason than all this. Perhaps there is, Alice. You never liked Philip very much, did you? No. You were the only one who ever noticed him. You even hated him, didn't you? Sometimes. But why not? Why should I have loved a brother who always got the best of it? The family of Fortson, the home out there, the adoration of everyone. And the only woman I ever loved. Oh, Jeffrey. You didn't even look so surprised, Alice. You knew it even then. Perhaps you liked it a little secretly. Sometimes I thought you might even return my feelings. My husband's brother. But sometimes it seemed your affection was more than that. It was your imagination, wasn't it, Jeffrey? I think not. Now, Alice, I waited five long years for you to come back. Now that you have, I won't let you go so easily again. I won't let you go out there and bury yourself in the past. Living, Philip stood between us. Dead, I won't let him stand between us any longer. Jeffrey, could it be that you're trying desperately to keep me away from that house? Because of something you're afraid I might find? You're suggesting I might have done away with Philip? No, Alice. I hated him, but I couldn't have killed him. I've told you my only motive, Alice. I love you. I want you to forget, Philip, the past. That house would be my wife. If you go out to that house, you're lost to me. And perhaps to the world. Alice, your homecoming is not quite as simple as it might appear to the villages of Wickley. It begins to take on something of the qualities of a nightmare, doesn't it? Haunted houses and secret motives for perhaps murder? It promises to be very interesting. But then you don't frighten easily, do you? And you've made up your mind. So the next day, bright and early, you all drive out to the lonely house on the cliff. Blast it, Mildred. Why did you have to bring that dog along? He's off again. Lovely to get into anything. Oh, never mind, Jeffrey. Prince can take care of himself. Decides he'd love to run around the old place. Let him. Oh, my. Just look at that. You see, Miss Alice, the water did a lot of damage. Oh, yes, but the house isn't as bad as I expected. I could live in it just as it stands. Wouldn't be very comfortable, Alice. Dear, no. But if Alice insists, we can fix it up. Oh, dear. Just look at the garden while there's nothing left. No, mum. It would have broken the master's heart to see this. Yes, but the stream must have been diverted right through here. Yes, practically dug in your channel right through the garden and over the cliff down there. Took a lot of earth with it, right into the sea. Well, Alice, where are you going? Just down to the cliff for a moment. Why don't you and Jeffrey go on back to the house? Be careful down there. The ground's still soggy and lively. Give way. Well, I'll be careful. Anthony will take care of me. I am. Oh, it'd be like a wasteland. Dear, now, what's your foot in, Miss Alice? Thank you. Miss Alice, what's your step? Oh, dear. There'll be no need to worry. It'll be there all right. What? The tree. The master's cherry tree by the cliff. I looked while he was in the house. The ground be all dug up around there. But the tree be still safe. I must see it. Aye, mum. Right there behind the big rock. There. Right there. Strange. What, mum? It's in bloom. Everything else on the estate is ruined and dead. The cherry tree is in bloom. Stop me, Alice. Don't you go out there. That ground be looser might give way. And it's 100 feet down to the rocks. Oh, yes, yes, of course. It's enough to see there any way that the tree is there. Philip's tree is there. And in bloom. That might be some sort of omen, mightened it, Alice. But for good or ill, who can say? At any rate, you decide to stay. Move in right now. Geoffrey and Milrid protest. But when they can't dissuade you, they offer to stay for a night or two with you and help to get the house fixed. They send Anthony into the village for linen and food. And after dinner, you all make the beds and settle down for the night. But there are strange noises as the old house rocks in the wind. And you can't sleep very well, can you, Alice? And so, in the early light of dawn, you're up and about. And you're not the only one. Now what be that blasty dog of two? Down by the cliff, he'd be too. Bad enough having to get up early without having to plain nurse me to a blooming dog. What be he stuffing for vassals? What be down by the cherry tree? Bad, blasty dog. Wait, listen to me. Miss Anthony. Anthony, I didn't think anyone was up here. Quiet, friends, quiet, please. Come on, doggie, come on. What on earth would you be doing down here all by yourself this time of day? I don't know, Anthony. I couldn't sleep. So I just walked out here to look at the ocean. See, it's the way Philip and I used to. Now who miss Alice? It'd been good for you to grieve so. I'm all right, Anthony. And look at your dress, all covered with mud. Oh, well, I slipped on the path. Oh, shame, and such a nice dress. It's all right, Anthony. Oh, but it pains. I know what you was going to do. You come down here to sit under the tree and stare and dream, just like the master used to do. Oh, quiet he used to be, often his dream. The body could have walked up behind him and bashed him on a foreign odic. Anthony! Oh, I beg your pardon. I forgot myself for the moment. I wasn't thinking to what I was saying. It's no matter. No, you had me so upset that you were coming out here. But why, Anthony? Why shouldn't I come out here? Why don't you want me to get near the tree? Why, why? Only because, mommy, it pains me. Remember, I told you with this soft ground. Oh, no, of course. Look! Oh, that blasted doggie is going to start it digging under master's feet. Anthony, stop him! Stop him quickly! You've got to stop him! Oh, good-bye, mama. Good heavens if you've forgotten already. The soft ground you just told me about. Prince! Prince, come back, Prince! Prince! Good doggie. Good doggie, good doggie. Anthony, you must keep him away from here from now on. You hear? You must keep him away from here. You must keep him away from here. Don't you worry about that. I should that chance meeting with all Anthony bother you, Alice. But it does, doesn't it? It seemed to strengthen some vague fear you had before you couldn't understand. Now you're beginning to, aren't you, Alice? Because now it's growing into suspicion and terror. Later that day you have another conversation with Anthony that doesn't help much either. I tried just like he told me to get workmen from the village to come up and help us rebuild the place. But I couldn't get none. Why not? We'll pay them well. Oh, would that be nothing to do with it, ma'am? They just won't come. Not for any price. Oh, now, Anthony, we're not going to let village ghost stories upset our plans. Oh, Miss Alice, I tried to tell them there was nothing to stories, but they won't come. They do say so much... Well, so much mysterious is about the place. And they word about cherry-tree a bloom in there on the cliff when the rest of the place be in ruins. That only makes them more sure that... That what? Well, they do say... I mean, some folks think the master never did leave here. That he'd be here now, alive or dead. Oh. I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to frighten me. It's all right. It's all right. What do they think happened to him? Well, there be some talk that he might have been murdered. Do you think he was murdered, Anthony? No, ma'am. Do you? No. Of course not. All right. Sorry, Miss Alice. Perhaps I shouldn't have said nothing. It was only that those men refused to come in. We'll talk about it tomorrow, Anthony. Yes, ma'am. Oh, that? Oh, my dear, that's nothing to get so excited about. Oh, it's just an old walking stick that Geoffrey found out buried in the mud out in the garden. Yes, I dare say it's Phillip's old stick. Didn't get all the mud off it. But, Alice, you're well. Oh, of course, dear, dear. What is it? Why should this old walking stick give you such a star? Well, I couldn't find it after he left. I've always naturally supposed he took it with him. It was just seeing it here. My dear, my dear. Well, you can consider it of us not to have thought. I'm so dreadfully sorry. It's all right, ma'am. It's not all right, Alice. Come to see what this house is doing to you. Only two days here and your job is a cat. Geoffrey! You've got to get out of here. Forget the whole thing before you crack up. Alice, for once I'm beginning to agree with Geoffrey. Please, dear, won't you come home without me? I can't leave. I mustn't. I can't understand why not. I'm beginning not to understand you at all, Alice. Geoffrey's right. It's perfectly obvious that Phillip's gone. Gone forever. And therefore it's silly and stupid of you not to go on with your life without him. Please! I don't know why you two and all of you can't let me alone. What did you want of me? Why can't you let me alone? Alice, my dear. Come on. Yes. You letting all this talk of Phillip's ghost get you down? You can't do that, you know. You can't go to pieces like this. After all, it's only in your mind, isn't it? This fear, the fear that's growing. You've got to stop it. Perhaps when the others have gone. Yes. And they're going. They're going to give you your wish to be let alone. They've already packed and Geoffrey's come to say good night. Alice. Yes, Geoffrey. It's raining again, isn't it? Yes. The more of a cliff will break away. Fall into the sea tonight. Alice, for heaven's sake. Don't you see you must get away from here. Don't you please reconsider. Consider? I'll say it again, I love you. I want you to come away with me. Be my wife, forget all this. Become once again the loving, gay, lovely girl I once knew. Will you? No, Geoffrey, no. I might have once, but not now. Maybe later. No, Alice. If you don't leave this house now, you never will. I can promise you that. What do you mean by that? I mean that very shortly you'll be quite mad. Or dead. I don't understand. I don't understand either why you must stay. Why you feel you must find out whatever it is you must find out. All you need to do is forget the past and all will be well. I could believe that. Very well, Alice. I must go. Mildred's waiting in the car. Anthony will drive us in and come back. Mildred insists that we stay. You can't be here alone all night. Off the door with you. Good night, chef. Good night, Prince. Good night. Come here. Hey, that bastard dog sir. He'd be off digging under master's cherry tree again. Just have some choice morsel there. I can't get him to cross. What? I'll get him. Prince! Prince! Looky, there he comes. You must have away with him that once, sir. I'll look at him flying up the path. Yes. Well, it looks very... He's got something in his mouth. Well, I wonder if he's digging. Come here, boy. Look at that. The biggest bone I ever saw. Well, Prince... No! No! What is it? Oh, no! Forgive me, Philip. Forgive me. Alice, what are you saying? Forgive me. I didn't know what I was doing. Sir, look at her. I don't know. I don't know. I thought I hated you, Philip. I thought I hated you. And that day when I came up behind you, I hit the walking stick in my hand. You were staring out at the sea. You didn't notice me. I don't know what came over me. I don't know why I did it. I don't know why. I don't know. Philip! Philip, I'm coming, Philip. I want to tell you why I did it. Philip! Philip! Philip! Turn in just a moment with a strange ending of tonight's story. Meantime, if you're driving one of today's overage cars, here's an important point to consider. In races, you've no doubt noticed that the entrants get off to a pretty good start. But soon some start dropping behind because they haven't the stamina to keep up. Well, motor oils are like that, too. Most of them are okay for the first few hundred miles. But today, when cars have to last out the duration, your motor needs the full-time protection of an oil that can stand up and take it right through to the last mile. And that's why more and more drivers are switching to Signal Pen, the pure Pennsylvania oil with a fighting film. Signal Pen not only guards moving parts against wear and seals in power, but actual tests show that the fighting film of this super oil doesn't break down, not even under extreme heat. So make your next oil change a change for the better. Stop at Signal's black and yellow circle sign and say, drain and fill her up with Signal Pen motor oil. And now, back to the Whistler. Well, it last the mystery of Alice Towers and the house by the sea was cleared up. Alice Towers, the ever-loving wife, had actually killed her husband Philip in a fit of rage. Then she buried him under his favorite cherry tree and spent five years abroad looking for him. His money, of course, had made it pleasant looking. When she returned for a visit, she heard about the flood and worried about whether it might have uncovered Philip's grave. She shouldn't have started worrying because once you start, well, you saw what happened to her. She ended up on the rocks, literally. Jeffrey and Anthony heard a confession babbled in her delirium, but no one else ever did because you see, nothing could be proved. It was all in her mind. The walking stick had no trace of blood, no trace of crime at all. The bone which the dog dug up and Alice must have been mistaken for one of her late husbands was actually only a large soup bone Anthony had given him the day before. There was left only the tree, the master's tree blooming in the midst of ruin to be explained. And Anthony had the answer to that, too. I knew how much she thought of that tree. So when the real one was washed away by the flood, together with the earth and rite, I planted a new one. That wasn't the master's tree at all. The evidence of her crime was destroyed long ago. Next Monday at 9 o'clock, the Whistler will bring you another strange tale, the curious story of accident, according to plan. The Whistler is broadcast for your entertainment by the marketers of signal, gasoline and motor oil and fine quality automotive accessories and by your neighborhood signal dealer. This program directed by George W. Allen with tonight's story by Larry Roman and John Dunkel music by Wilbur Hatch is transmitted to our troops overseas by the Armed Forces Radio Service. Marvin Miller speaking and suggesting that you let every traffic signal remind you that you do go farther with signal gasoline. Yes, you do go farther with signal. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.