 Roma wine presents suspense Roma wine made in California for enjoyment throughout the world Salute your house in your Roma wine toast the world the wine for your table is Roma wine made in California for enjoyment throughout the world this is the man in black here for the Roma wine company of Fresno, California to introduce this weekly half-hour of suspense tonight in Hollywood Roma wines bring you a distinguished all feminine cast of stars headed by Margo Miss Elsa Lanchester and Miss Janet Beecher the suspense play with stars these ladies and which is produced and directed by William Spear is called finishing school despite the absence of male participants in ethyl Lena White story we can promise you there is nothing dainty about proceedings and so with finishing school and with the performances in the order of their appearance of Margo is Caroline Watts of Janet Beecher as Melody and of Elsa Lanchester as Dean Sterling, Roma wines again hope to keep you in suspense. So vividly now just as I saw them the very first time those high stone I draped walls of Miss Nash's school for girls and the first person who greeted me that amiable soul Miss Melody I can see her too it was she in fact who showed me into my new room and who stood there watching me a moment smiling this is your first teaching job isn't it how did you know well if you've been around nothing but teachers for 30 years you'd know too let me guess now your subject is either French or no no it's sport on the nose what's your subject Miss Melody mine come in yes I'm Miss Sterling Madine welcome to the Nash school oh how do you do Miss Sterling I've been looking forward to meeting you thank you I wanted you to know about the general faculty meeting in my office pre this afternoon I'll see you then at three o'clock Melody yes Sterling Miss Nash is a little concerned about the new students might just check up on supplies for third floor it's already taken care of very well I should answer your question swap you see my subject is house keepers oh I didn't know I just suppose that you were one of the teachers I was up until a year ago when Miss Penelope passed away oh yes that was Mr. Nash's sister no changes like that are inevitable I suppose as inevitable as well that ugly rumor of that room about Miss Penelope's death but I hadn't heard any rumor or anything about it oh then I'm sorry this watch I I assumed you were that familiar with the school what was the rumor Miss Melody oh it was nothing really not even worth repeating wait Miss Melody look I'll I'll hear about it sooner or later well it's just a silly stupid tale but somehow it got around that Miss Nash's sister had been frightened to death this then was Caroline Watts introduction to the Nash institution a place which future events proved to be with the vengeance of finishing school that's the prologue for tonight's tale of suspense the narrative will be resumed in a moment but first let's take a little journey we'll journey to a capital in Latin America here at a gay allegation party on a lantern hung carols beside a garden pool listen everything is perfect at your wonderful party including this exquisite wine it is a wine that helps to bring back pleasant memory I of course agree it helps good friends such as us to appreciate good food too and this sherry has come far to add enjoyment to our allegation party it is of the famous vineyards of California in the far away United States see it is the celebrated Roma wine yes Roma wines are prized in other countries for the great enjoyment their superb quality of Ford they are esteemed as something rare a luxury but you in America may enjoy Roma fine wines in all the variety of types as an inexpensive everyday delight so trifling in cost are these fine Roma wines here in America that you can be a most generous host offering to each of your guests his or her favorite a delicious tangy California sherry a fine California Claret or Burgundy or a heavier sweeter California port you'll be delighted to learn from your dealer at what small cost you can get an assortment of several types permitting you now to boast of your private wine sellers as for Roma are all ma America's largest selling wine Roma wine made in California for enjoyment throughout the world and now it is with pleasure that Roma wines bring back to our soundstage Margo Elsa Lanchester and Janet Beecher in finishing school a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense frightened to death Miss Nash's sister well if I had known then what I know now I would have been able to judge with real accuracy the importance of Miss Melody's remark but the excitement of my first classes left little room for other thoughts a week or so later out on the athletic field one of my students Flora Nash the niece of the owner became quite ill I said it to the infirmary but within 10 minutes she had returned Miss Sterling she said had ordered her back I was furious and well I told her I was going to have it out with that woman what wait I know it isn't my place to say this but please for your own sake don't antagonize sterling oh now really I know what I'm talking about listen you know Miss Melody don't you of course Miss Watts she practically started this school with my two aunts when Miss Melody died everybody thought she'd move up to take a place but she didn't somehow or other sterling saw to it she was left with the job of housekeeper Miss Watts don't have any trouble with that woman please alright Flora I'll go see Miss Nash oh no why Flora Miss Nash is your own ass but sterling would find out please you must know I never heard such nonsense in all my life hurry straight to bed I went to the top floor of my building and entered the small waiting room of Miss Nash's quarters it was empty but just opposite was the door to the private apartment almost halfway open and I walked over to it ready to announce myself then I stopped dead still but it was then that I heard are you there Mr. Melody yes I it was an incredible sight seated at a table holy unlikely elderly but austere white haired lady I'd seen before was Miss Nash her eyes were closed and swaying gently she seemed utterly transfixed as she listened to Dean sterling's low mama we are here Mr. Melody we are waiting speak to her Miss Nash speak to her now oh my thing says you says you have predicted some tragic accident for another of our loved ones and then sterling turned toward me what what are you doing here I I'm sorry I wanted to speak of not the time or the place for that miss what miss Nash it's about your knees I'm familiar with this matter about Flora Miss Nash and at the moment I don't want you to be disturbed by anything so trivial trivial but I well I don't think I need to call a trivial miss sterling Flora was ill today why did you send her back to the field because she was no more ill than you are she was simply up to her old trick playing on the sympathy of a new teacher come we'll talk about this outside no I miss Nash your niece miss sterling she handled it and miss sterling knows best yes miss Nash good night if you'll just step out here no miss sterling you evidently don't realize that Flora Nash suffers from a slight heart condition it's entered on her card I'm sure it is because I entered it I'm a fairly competent judge in her state of health miss what's the simple reason that I happen to be a registered nurse can you say the same well no after this please be assured that I don't make a practice of deliberately murdering my students especially the niece of my employer I'm very sorry miss sterling very well miss what that will be all but it wasn't all I was bewildered even alarmed I suppose at the recollection of that voice calling out miss Penelope and I went to the one person that I felt must be told for quite a while the housekeeper said nothing then she motioned me to a chair you might as well know this miss what's sterling you see has deluded the smash into believing she can actually hear this Nash's sister she then reports relays messages which are supposed to come from Miss Penelope but Melody I'm afraid I don't under my dear these messages direct miss Nash to delegate more and more power to sterling that's a grip on this Nash that's the instrument she using to get the whole school away from her I can't under miss Melody how could she ever delude miss Nash that way the head of a school and in order to an old grief-stricken woman's what more important she's a woman who's been thoroughly sold on sterling's clever in power you see sterling's made quite a number of predictions and always they've come true they've come true because she makes them come true miss what there's a reason why I've told you this I have the feeling that rather soon there'll be another prediction and somehow some way it mustn't be allowed to come true I want your help miss Melody what could we do yes sterling what I'm perfectly aware that you regard me as a very ominous creature a sort of Lady Macbeth no doubt your special charge Florence shares the same view so bring her along when you come to my cottage tonight your cottage other girls I'm having a little party I hadn't what's the matter don't you want to what oh yes yes of course I do miss sterling I'd love to come back and you can come to Melody eight o'clock shop we were prompt Laura and I and the sharp tenseness and alertness we carried with us into that cottage banished almost at once to my surprise I discovered that when sterling chose to be she was one of the most compellingly charming women in the world and that night she chose to Laura since you're the one student in the whole pack of teachers we'll make you the guest of honor now what would you like to do yeah I don't know miss sterling anything I guess have you any ideas miss what well we can always play cards that of course is exactly why we shouldn't sterling I got what remember last spring that say aren't you gave us oh no no I don't think so Helen in the first place I haven't picked up a single new trick that's all right it'll all be new to Watson's Laura come on give them a chance to see you demonstrate your real powers all right then oh no I rather not Laura you're not scared are you a little maybe don't be it's all in fun like watching card tricks thank you yes we'll use this large table come on Laura you stick with me all right so presently in a room quite dark we ranged ourselves about a large bear table at the very head of which sat the dean and then the several long moments there was quiet broken at last yes by the low drone of sterling's yeah I hear you yes yes but you must announce your presence let us know you're here in the medicine just in the infirmary here the keys and hurry I'll go back sterling here what pick her up we'll put her on the server frightened yes frightened nearly to death there miss sterling you did this deliberately you knew that girl's heart condition you can't anticipate a thing like that I was simply going to tease her warn her not to not to fake any more illnesses well you see how she's faking this one you planned this mr. link the party having her here finding out her uncle's name I happen to know her uncle's name it was a joke a game everybody knows that game you tell these women it was a game but will you tell that to miss Nash don't know what I said oh yes she does you'll show miss Nash proof of another successful prediction melody you will have a completely at your mercy flora's the only remaining air to the school the only person who stands in your way don't leave all right flora I'm only going to get my coat will be right back please don't worry about a thing come along with five minutes later that melody and I crossed the campus to sterling's cottage and found it empty we learned that the doctor had arrived had prescribed for flora and ordered her to the infirmary sterling sterling alone was left in charge of the girl that's where melody and I found her directly before flora's room at the infirmary we wasted no time literally we pushed her aside and hurried into flora can't you see she's asleep the doctor gave her something to make her sleep is that what this is what this bottle a nice then you can see the label what it is digital a heart stimulant miss melody and not oddly enough a deadly poison the doctor left it here it's been given to flora every two hours now will you please be good enough to leave yes I'll leave but I shan't go far I expect to stay very close to this girl until she's safely under someone else's care you're completely mad aren't you that's an obgra marks sterling coming from you we maintained a watching post not far from the room and from their first melody then I made regular trips to the bedside flora was better there was no doubt of that and so at last I dropped off to sleep the sleep that lasted for an hour or more for dawn was filtering into the long infirmary corridor when I woke suddenly melody was shaking Caroline it happened what what do you say Caroline it happened what do you think she's dead flora's dead it was only a few minutes ago it's time for her medicine and I went over to wake her up for it her heart just stopped beating the medicine the digitalis you mean that's right melody where is it what where is it where is the bottle of medicine why why it used to be on that nightstand there but it isn't now where is it sterling what have you done I don't know let's see under the bed it might have rolled under but it didn't know under the chest of drawers either perhaps you should look out of the window maybe sterling decided not to give her any medicine at all this melody this medicine chest it's locked lock yes you happen to know where the key is one of our housekeepers major duties see if this will work Caroline being keeper of the keys it works what is it sterling bottle of medicine unopened unopened and unused I was right sterling you just sat there and watch her die that's not true Helen you saw me give floor of the middle early tonight right after the doctor left Helen you remember that don't you look like a different bottle still a different yes and I can guess what was in it a sleeping draft that's what you gave us sterling you knew that even a slight overdose would stop a weakened heart all right sterling we found one bottle the one that would have saved floor as life where's the one that took it you should know that melody what you should know where that bottle is because you took it out of this room just a little while ago when I was calling this Nash you are insane what's more you brought it into this room tonight in one of your countless visits you bought in a bottle of heavy sleeping draft and exchanged it for the digitalist you were hoping I couldn't tell the difference and that I'd give that to floor instead of the heart stimulant and that's what I did you did it all right but without any help sterling just how for example could I produce a bottle of sleeping draft so exactly like the digitalist that you couldn't tell the difference you had whole medicine chest to work with that's how you did it and that how I knew you did it Helen you know I know what you're thinking it just came to me go on when we were at the cottage when you set me over here for the bottle of digitalist that there wasn't any there wasn't any in that chance of course not sterling didn't put it there until tonight well that's not the point melody she couldn't have put it there at all because she had no way to get into the chest you see when sterling set me over here she gave me a key well well I forgot to give them back to her here they are I still have them in other words melody you were the only one who could put the digitalist bottle there in the chest very true what you said before one of a housekeeper's major duties is being keeper of the keys miss Melody that isn't true is it miss Melody it isn't true no the Scottish agent don't listen to the Caroline day no Caroline don't listen to us listen to Melody let her keep drugging you with lies until you see everything she wants you to see and hear everything she wants you to hear that's what she did to flora you know she flooded that poor girl's imagination with absolute terror and then she killed her I didn't kill her why should I why would I want to I so you could get flora out of your way so you could accuse me of killing her and getting me out of your way too you could have a clear path to miss mash well melody your plan backfired but you're not getting me out of the school Helen what go phone the police I'll never leave you hear that I'll never leave never oh yes you will melody yes you will and sterling was right too for within the month Melody was an inmate of a quite different kind of institution than the Nash school life settled down then into a state of normalcy that lasted through the rest of the year lasted in fact up to just four hours ago when I was crossing the grounds toward the main gate all of the teachers had gone into town and I was on my way to join them when I saw it there on the grass a tiny object glistening dully in the late afternoon sun what made me pick it up I I don't know but when I did it was as though a rocket exploded in my brain it was a small empty bottle and its label bore the slightly faded letters of the word digital then in the next instant sterling yes I I found something sterling this bottle labeled digital you know I bet anything in the world a good chemist can find traces of a sleeping drug in it you mean then you found it Melody's bottle Melody's bottle my guess is that Melody's bottle as you put it never will be found because it never existed except in your mind I picked this bottle up right here sterling right where I'm standing just three feet from the trash bin behind your cottage that was careless of me wasn't it you use this bottle we used it to get Flora Nash out of your way to kill her and make good on your warning you're taking it to the police I suppose I want to see if they can find your fingerprints on it sterling yes I'm going to take it to the police as fast as I can get there certainly what and the best of luck she went on inside a cottage and I struck out across the grounds for the main gate and the road into town I reached the gate just in time to hear the school caretaker playing it shut miss sterling he explained to just telephone the order and early closing hour I remember the service driveway then the other passageway through those high stone walls which encompass the ground and I found that it too was lost and then it was it was right then that the solution came to me I should have thought of it before Miss Nash herself was in those grounds right on the top floor of my own building I would take the bottle to her I would show her the proof the stairs down the corridor through the open doorway of the darkened suite with sterling and Miss Nash gradually then I don't know whether I fainted or not or how I got back to my room but I'm hearing it now and it is just ten minutes before midnight ten minutes before this school year ends my door is locked she has locked it from the outside but now now that door is going to open and she's coming in what are you going to do with it this revolver I'm going to use it to fulfill a predictor please don't please Laura made a prediction to Miss Nash tonight Laura made it through me do you understand that Laura made it to Lanchester and Janet Beecher tonight's tale of before we tell you about our star and story for next week a word about an American anniversary of 173 years this week still standing in California's a little winery founded in 1771 settlers from foreign countries discovered early that California vineyards were among the world's finest that in the rare combination of climate and soil which produces perfect wine grapes California surpasses some of the most famous Old World vineyards take Roma California share your port they are magnificent wines truly delightful yet like all Roma wines priced astonishingly low because you pay no duty no costly shipping charges toast the new year with Roma wine America's largest selling wine and let us hope that next New Year's we'll all be together our sons and daughters our husbands and fathers in a world at peace we help make this more certain with the war bonds and stamps we buy so for 1944 increase your purchases of United States war bonds good luck and help to you on and all from the makers of Roma wine made in California for enjoyment throughout the world next week Roma wines take great pleasure in bringing to you in his first radio appearance of the year mr. Alan lad mr. lad will be heard in a swift moving action drama played against the colorful background of the midway in an amusement park and called the one-way ride to nowhere don't forget then next Thursday same time for Alan lad in suspense presented by Roma wine are all m a made in California for enjoyment throughout the world this is the Columbia Broadcasting System