The House on Telegraph Hill Page #7

and read while you're having your coffee.

Well, go ahead, dear.

I'll join you in a few minutes.

- Good night, Margaret.

- Good night, Mrs. Spender.

- Good night, darling.

- Good night, Mom.

Karin.

I think I'll have

my coffee with you.

You're even more jittery tonight

than usual, darling.

Hello.

Hello?

Hello?

Wrong number, I guess.

Well, maybe he just

changed his mind...

whoever it was.

You look tired.

You're going to bed right now.

Come along.

I-I think I left

a cigarette burning.

Feeling you left something behind,

you forgot something-

I could have sworn

I left a cigarette burning in there...

and I wasn't even smoking.

Come in.

I'll take it, Cai.

Yes, sir. Good night.

Good night.

You do look tired, dear.

You drink your juice, and we'll turn in.

I left my book in the library.

I'm going down to get it.

Now, how do you expect to get enough

sleep if you stay up reading till all hours?

Just for a little while.

Please, Alan.

Just a minute, darling.

I'll get your book for you.

Hello, Operator?

Hello?

Operator!

Thank you.

Oh, don't forget your juice, dear.

It'll help you sleep.

Uh, no, I don't think I want it tonight.

It doesn't taste right.

Well, what's the matter with it?

It seems a little bitter.

Bitter?

Tastes fine to me.

Come on, dear.

Doctor's orders.

The trouble with you is

you don't know how to relax.

Come on, dear. Don't fight it.

Just close your eyes.

Aren't you going to bed, Alan?

What is it, Alan?

Why do you look at me so?

I was thinking about a day

not too long ago.

We met in Callahan's office?

You were scared out of your wits,

but you carried it off magnificently.

I thought then, "This woman has

everything:
breeding, brains, fire.

I could be happy

with a woman like this."

Then something else said,

"Watch out. She'll give you trouble."

Trouble? What trouble

could I give you, Alan?

Why, don't be stupid, Karin.

You know very well what sort of trouble.

Alan, what are you afraid

I'd take away from you?

- Is it the money?

- Money?

How scornful you are of money-

you and Marc Bennett-

all you people

who were born with it.

I should never have had

to worry about money either.

Aunt Sophie's family had been wiped out

in Europe. I was her only living relative.

And what did it get me?

A job as a clerk in the

shipping office for $40 a week.

But it's all over. This is the last time

I'll have any trouble with your family.

You- You Poles

must be made of iron:

you, Chris, that old Aunt of yours.

Then it wasn't just Chris and me.

You had to kill

Aunt Sophie first.

You sent me the cable that she was dead,

and- and then you killed her.

Just like that, huh?

Just like powdering your nose.

You think it's easy to kill somebody?

It takes time and patience

and courage... and a strong stomach.

Oh, stop it. Stop it.

I don't want to hear any more. You're mad!

Mad?

If it's madness not to let

someone take from you what's

rightfully yours, maybe I'm mad.

But everything I've done,

I've planned with a perfectly sane mind.

I've never wavered for an instant,

and I'm not wavering now.

This house is mine.

The money's mine.

It's gonna stay mine.

You don't know what I went through

with that old woman...

your Chris.

Had to turn myself inside out,

dance attendance on the kid

like a monkey on a stick...

just so she'd write me in

as guardian for the boy.

You think I was gonna

give all that up...

just because you decided to come back

from the grave, walk in and take over?

Alan, I don't care

what happens to me anymore, but...

please, in heaven's name,

leave Chris out of it.

He's only a child.

He can do nothing to you- nothing.

Nothing... except take everything

from me and kick me out of the house-

- if he ever comes of age.

- Alan!

Don't worry. Chris is safe.

I'd have trouble with Margaret

if anything happened to him.

And you were the one

that wanted to get rid of her.

However, Chris is not of age yet.

That's a long way off.

And what are you going

to do now, kill me?

I understand that Dr. Burkhardt

has been giving you...

prescriptions for your insomnia.

He seemed quite upset when I told him

I was the one that had the insomnia...

worrying about

your strange behavior.

He'll be grieved, the little doctor...

when he hears that you've been

hoarding your sedatives to...

take them all at once...

in a glass of orange juice.

Oh, A-Alan, you must

call the doctor right away!

- Not quite yet, my dear.

- No, listen to me. I-

I didn't drink the juice you gave me.

You drank it.

- You're lying.

- No, no. I-

- You're lying!

- I am telling you the truth.

I-I was afraid.

And when you were downstairs,

I put what was left in the

pitcher in a fresh glass and-

and poured the juice you gave me

back into the pitcher.

Hello. Hello, Operator-

Something is wrong

with the telephone.

The library.

The library.

Margaret!

M-Margaret!

What is it?

What's happened?

She- She poisoned me.

- No. It isn't true. He tried to poison me.

- Get a doctor, quick.

I tried to call, but something

is wrong with the telephone.

Th-The library.

Th-The receiver's off in the library.

H- Hurry!

Gotta keep awake.

I gotta keep moving.

Keep- Huh? Oh, no.

You ju- stay away from me.

I'm sorry, sir, but the line is busy.

It's been busy for the last 40 minutes.

Are you sure there

isn't trouble on the line?

Oh. Did you get the doctor?

Doctor- is he- is he coming?

- Everything will be all right, Alan.

- Karin-

- Isn't there something more we can do?

- Get out.

Margaret. You must believe me.

He wanted to kill me.

You took him away from me.

You tried to take Chris away from me too.

But you won't have either of them,

whatever happens.

Get out! This is still my room.

Now get out!

- Lie still, Alan.

- I'm gonna be all right, Margaret.

Something wrong, Mrs. Spender?

- It's Mr. Spender. He's taken-

Make coffee, lots of it. Hurry.

- Yes, ma'am.

I'm gonna be all right.

You remember, Alan-

after the accident in the playhouse...

I told you that nothing was

to ever happen to Chris again.

N-Nothing did. I-

I gave him my word.

Your word. If only

I didn't know you so well.

If I hadn't kept Chris from

going with her in the car the

other day, he might be dead now.

I did it for us, Margaret. It was so-

so we could be together again, you know?

- Like old times?

- Old times.

- Old-

- And how long would it be before

you'd try again with Chris?

How long before you'd finally kill him?

Mom.

Oh, darling.

I heard noises. I woke up.

It was a dream, darling-just a bad dream.

Come on. I'll tuck you in again.

Where's that doctor? He...

should've been here a... long time ago.

- He isn't coming.

- Huh?

You left the receiver off the hook, Alan.

Remember? The phone is dead.

No, Margaret-

Margaret-

Margaret, you-you-you take the car.

You get somebody.

- You can't let me die.

- How many times have you

let me die, Alan?

- No. I'll make it up to you,

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