Subj: Collinwood 2001 Year One Part Sixteen
Date: 4/26/01 2:07:25 AM Central Daylight Time
From: N.E. Collins

"Just WHAT is the meaning of this? How DARE you eavesdrop on a private conversation of ANYone in this family! Just what do you MEAN by this outrageous display of bad manners and disrepect?" She had to stop. She had to stop or she might have very easily flown into an all out rage. She was seething with such fury that her very gaze frightened Matthew horribly.

He stuttered with a lame excuse for a reply. "I...I didn't mean ta....I was just walking by and....I couldn't help but hear. What she said. About yer father and about that girl and....and...."

"I HEARD what she said, Matthew. I was here. And it is all complete and utter nonsense. Do you hear me? Nora Collins is an old, sick woman and she lives in a world of make-believe. Nothing that she said here today has any merit. Not a word of it was true. And if I EVER catch you listening in to another one of my private conversations I will be forced to dismiss you ON THE SPOT!"

Matthew was flustered. "Oh, Mrs. Stoddard, please don't do that. It won't happen again, I SWEAR it! And I won't tell nobody what I heard here today. I promise ya that."

Without another word she slammed the window tightly shut and drew the blinds shut. Matthew walked on about his business, but he said to himself out loud as he went. "She shouldn't say things like that. Shouldn't do it. Somebody ought to do something about that old woman, yessiree."

As the blinds came together a pain like before rose in her head and she fell back against the wall from the severity of it. It didn't last for more than a few heartbeats, but it seemed like forever to her. "No, no! I don't want to. No. Don't make me." Then her expression went blank for a second and then her features went back to what someone may call normal. Normal for Liz. She blicked and seemed lost for a moment as if she didn't know where she was.

Nora Collins snored peacefully and the room was cast in semi-darkness. Liz gave her hair a pat and smooth out the wrinkles from her dress. She turned off the endless drone of the television and left the room. Nurse Worsinski had just returned from her errands and asked if everything was alright. Liz responded blankly. "She's fine. She's...sleeping now. Let her sleep."

The nurse noted a strange quality to Mrs. Stoddard's voice. "Is there something wrong, ma'am? Did something happen while I was gone?"

Liz shook her head absentmindedly. "No, nothing. It's just that...." she had a fleeting thought and she knew what was wrong, but it was snatched away by angry hands. "It's nothing. Nothing at all."

"What do you mean, David? Are you telling me that there is really something about this new governess that is causing your aunt undue stress, or is this just another of your clever ways to avoid your own behavorial issues?" Dr. Hoffman worded her query in the most respectful way. She had been seeing David Collins for two years now and in that time she had learned how to properly pose a question to this complicated young man. He was still a child when he had first begun sessions with her and now he was on the brink of his own adolesence. He had been sent to her initially for his destructive tendencies. He had a history of setting fires and stealing and above all a brillant ability to lie convincingly. He was nothing sort of a little master mind and Dr. Hoffman had found him to be a continual challenge to her psychological expertise.

"I meant what I said. There is some secret about the truth of Miss Winters and it is driving my Aunt Elizabeth crazy. I don't know exactly WHAT the secret is, but that doesn't matter. I KNOW that I am RIGHT. And I think that the best thing would be for her to leave before the secret isn't a secret anymore. And that's ALL I'm gonna say about it."

Well, Julia had long ago learned that that was ALL she would be getting out of the boy on this matter. There was no need to push him. When he was ready to give more, he would. In the meantime, she thought to herself, perhaps I could do a little investigating on my own. And then she wondered why she was so curious? She drew a blank, and that was when she wanted an answer more than ever. "Alright David. That's fine. We won't talk about this anymore right now. Let's move on to something we covered in our last session, shall we? We were talking about some unpleasant things concerning your mother, I believe, and..."

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.