The Old Nurse’s Story by The CBC Mystery Theatre

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Horror! (Old Time Radio)
Episode: The Old Nurse’s Story by The CBC Mystery Theatre
Host/Author: RelicRadio.com
Release Date: February 8, 2025

---

Introduction

The Horror! hosted by RelicRadio.com delves into spine-chilling tales from the realm of Old Time Radio. In this episode, titled The Old Nurse’s Story, listeners are transported to the eerie Furnival Hall, unfolding a narrative rich with mystery, supernatural occurrences, and dark family secrets. Based on a story by Elizabeth Gaskill and adapted for radio by Gavin Douglas, this episode captivates with its atmospheric storytelling and haunting dialogues.

---

1. Arrival at Furnival Hall

The story introduces Hester Allwood, a devoted nursemaid assigned to care for Rosamond, an orphaned child with noble lineage. Their peaceful lives take a turn when Carsten, an agent for Lord Marquess of Fenival, arrives to transfer Rosamond to the ancestral Furnival Hall in Northumberland.

• Carsten: “I have the honor to be agent to the Lord Marquess of Fenival... We are ordered to escort her post haste tomorrow morning to Furnival hall in Northumberland.” (03:30)

Hester and Rosamond embark on their journey, setting the stage for the unfolding mystery.

---

2. The Journey and Arrival

As they approach Furnival Hall, Rosamond is unsettled by the desolate landscape.

• Rosamond: “Oh, where are all the farms and cottages? Far back on the road... it's all wild and cold.” (05:15)

Hester describes the estate as grand yet neglected, with overgrown gardens and a foreboding presence.

---

3. Meeting Miss Furnival and the Staff

Upon arrival, they are greeted by Miss Furnival, a frail yet imposing figure who oversees the estate. Hester is assigned to the nursery, sharing her quarters with Dorothy, the cook, and James, Dorothy’s husband.

• Miss Furnival: “Welcome to Furnival Hall, Rosamond. You're a surprisingly pretty and graceful child.” (08:44)

• Mrs. Stark: “You will share your meals with Dorothy, the cook, and old James, her husband.” (09:19)

The staff appears courteous but with an undercurrent of tension, hinting at underlying secrets.

---

4. Unsettling Occurrences and the Haunted Organ

Hester begins to experience strange phenomena, notably hearing the organ play in the otherwise silent and broken instrument.

• Hester: “I can hear it again. That's the second night I've heard it.” (17:38)

• James: “Your fancy's got you, Hester. It's the wind in the branches and the old eve.” (17:59)

Despite Hester's concerns, James dismisses her fears, intensifying the sense of unease surrounding the estate.

---

5. Revelations of a Dark Past

The staff reveals the dark history of the Furnival family, marked by forbidden love affairs and tragic outcomes. Miss Furnival admonishes against exploring the forbidden east wing, suggesting its abandonment is for a reason.

• Dorothy: “Miss Grace and Mrs. Stark had killed... over the years they did the same for ours.” (26:58)

• James: “She saw Miss Furnival's hell. It's always with her. That's with her for 50 years.” (24:39)

These revelations hint at vengeful spirits and cursed legacies tied to the Furnival lineage.

---

6. Climax: The Escape from Furnival Hall

As winter approaches, supernatural events escalate. Rosamond recounts a chilling encounter with a spectral figure in the snow, deepening the mystery.

• Rosamond: “I saw a lady weeping and crying. Devil.” (22:40)

• James: “We are faithful servants of the family. We are adopted carnivals. If we love you, they will kill you. Run, Hester, run.” (27:23)

Realizing the imminent danger, Hester decides to flee Furnival Hall with Rosamond, escaping the clutches of the haunted estate and its malevolent spirits.

---

7. Conclusion

Hester and Rosamond narrowly escape the haunted Furnival Hall, leaving behind the tormented spirits and dark secrets of the Furnival family. The story underscores themes of love, betrayal, and the enduring impact of past misdeeds, wrapped in a narrative that keeps listeners engrossed until the very end.

---

Notable Quotes

1. Frank: “Turn them out.” (00:16)
2. Carsten: “I have the honor to be agent to the Lord Marquess of Fenival... We are ordered to escort her post haste tomorrow morning to Furnival hall in Northumberland.” (03:30)
3. Hester: “I can hear it again. That's the second night I've heard it.” (17:38)
4. James: “She saw Miss Furnival's hell. It's always with her. That's with her for 50 years.” (24:39)
5. James: “We are faithful servants of the family. We are adopted carnivals. If we love you, they will kill you. Run, Hester, run.” (27:23)

---

Production Credits

• Cast:

  • Joan Orenstein as Hester (both youth and age)
  • Dan McDonald as Carsten
  • Faith Ward as Rosamond
  • Miriam Bell as Miss Furnival
  • Muriel White as Mrs. Stark
  • Bill Fulton as James
  • Flora Montgomery as Dorothy

• Production and Direction: Peter Duncan from CBC Halifax

• Audio Production: Lee Bailey and Harold Porter for Audio Bud Tabor

• Narration: Frank Cameron

---

Final Thoughts

The Old Nurse’s Story masterfully blends suspense, supernatural elements, and intricate character dynamics to deliver a memorable listening experience. Through its compelling narrative and atmospheric production, the episode exemplifies the allure of Old Time Radio horror, making it a standout installment in The Horror! series by RelicRadio.com.

For more thrilling episodes and stories from the CBC Mystery Theatre, visit RelicRadio.com. Support the show through donations on the website and stay tuned for upcoming episodes every Saturday.

---

<a name="timestamp00:16"></a>
<a name="timestamp03:30"></a>
<a name="timestamp05:15"></a>
<a name="timestamp08:44"></a>
<a name="timestamp09:19"></a>
<a name="timestamp17:38"></a>
<a name="timestamp17:59"></a>
<a name="timestamp22:40"></a>
<a name="timestamp24:39"></a>
<a name="timestamp24:39"></a>
<a name="timestamp26:58"></a>
<a name="timestamp27:23"></a>

Transcript

[Frank]

Oh, stories. Weird stories. And murders too.

[Dorothy]

Turn out your legs.

[Frank]

Turn them out. Good evening. Come in, won't you? What's the matter? Surely you're not nervous. But I tell you a story.

[Carsten]

We are meant to call from out of the past.

[Narrator]

Stories strange and weird tales of mystery.

[Frank]

And terror by radio's masters of the MAA Story of his supernatural entry the supernormal dramatized fantasy the mysteries of the unknown. We tell you this Frank, frankly. So if you wish to avoid the excitement tension of these magic play. We heard him our radio series return off your radio.

[Host]

This is the horror Old fashioned fear. Every Saturday relicradio.com our story comes from the CBC Mystery Theater. This week we'll hear the old nurses story based on a story by Elizabeth Gaskill. It was first published in January of 1860. I don't have a broadcast date from this episode. From the CBC Mystery Theater the old.

[Narrator]

Nurse'S story now on Mystery Theater. On Mystery Theater tonight, Mrs. Glasspell's story in radio version by Gavin Douglas. From CBC Halifax we present the old nurse's story.

[Hester]

There, there now, my loves. Come closer and I'll tell you something from long ago. Something that you've never, never heard. You know, my dear, that your mother was an orphan and an only child. There never was such a baby before or since. Though you've all been fine enough in returns. But for sweet winning ways you've none of you come up to your mother. To my dear Rosamond, my mistress, your grandmother commanded me on her deathbed never to leave my little charge. For I was the last person left alive who loved her. If my lady had never spoken so much as a word, I'd have gone with Ms. Rosamond to the end of the world. Far we were to go before our tears would dry or the gray flowers could wither.

[Carsten]

You are the woman, Hester Albert?

[Hester]

I am, sir.

[Carsten]

There is an orphan child here named Rosamond?

[Hester]

There is, sir.

[Carsten]

Good. Stand aside.

[Hester]

If I may be so bold as to ask.

[Carsten]

Be good enough to stand aside when you are told. I am informed that you are the child's nurse. Fetch her.

[Hester]

I tell you right, sir. I was entrusted with Ms. Rosamond by her poor mother. That's now in a better place. And at the last word I'll say, until you tell me your name and your business.

[Carsten]

I suppose that allowance must be made for your grief or your breeding. My name is Carsten. I have the honor to be agent to the Lord Marquess of Fenival. Oh, indeed. I should think that even a nursemaid would know it. When her mistress was first cousin to appear in the realm.

[Dorothy]

I was aware, sir, that your mistress.

[Carsten]

Married a commoner of no birth or means, against my lord's command. With the present result, a penniless orphan. The child may count herself lucky that the Fernivals do not visit their wrath to the second and third generations. My lord is pleased to recognize Miss Rosamond as a blood relative, though mingled with inferior stock, as her guardian. He has ordered me to escort her post haste tomorrow morning to Furnival hall in Northumberland. See that she is ready.

[Hester]

Mr. Carson. You'll not separate us?

[Carsten]

The choice lies with you. Miss Rosamond is accustomed to your care. If you mind your place, you may remain with her. One or two dependents, more or less are of no concern to my lord. Good day.

[Hester]

But, sir, what are we to do?

[Carsten]

You have your instructions. Good day. Esther.

[Hester]

Yes, Mr. Carsty.

[Carsten]

We are approaching Fernival Hall. Wake the child.

[Hester]

Must I, sir? She's in the deep sleep at last.

[Carsten]

And it's been such a long care. I see. We are entering the great park. And it's my lord's orders that the estate and rank of our ancestors be impressed at once upon her mind.

[Hester]

Very well, sir. Come now, my love.

[Rosamond]

Rosie, dear, wake up.

[Hester]

Rosalind.

[Rosamond]

Where have we come to? Oh, where are all the farms and cottages?

[Hester]

Far back on the road, my dear. We're driving through the great park of Furnival hall at the foot of Cumberland Fells. Look around you.

[Rosamond]

Oh, Hester, that's not a park. It's all wild and cold. There's nothing but rocks and old trees. Or white and lonely.

[Hester]

Come now, Rotimus. Look at the great Hall.

[Carsten]

Yes, you were about to say. With tree branches dragging against its windows. And its gardens turning back into forests.

[Rosamond]

Don't they have a gardener?

[Hester]

Hush, Rosamund.

[Carsten]

Miss Furnival will tolerate no gardens and no scenery. The curtains of her own apartments are drawn winter and summer, day and night.

[Hester]

Miss Furnival. Is my lord not here, then?

[Carsten]

Lord Furnival? Wherever did you get that idea? My lord has never set foot within the walls, nor has any other member of the family these 50 years for the same length of time. My lord's great aunt, Miss Furnival, has never set foot in the outside world. I think it was in my lord's mind that Miss Rosamond might perhaps amuse his aunt. And the air is healthy here. Only beware of the winter.

[Hester]

The winter, sir.

[Carsten]

Come. We have arrived. Step down. Step down?

[Rosamond]

Hardly.

[Carsten]

I may not accompany you within. I am to join my lord at once in Newcastle but you are expected, Mr. Carson. You have a month until the winter gales. When they come, if you are a wise girl, stop your ears and keep away from the windows.

[Hester]

Mr. Carsten. Mr. Carsten. When we came up the great front steps and were admitted into the entrance hall, I thought we should be lost. It was so large and vast and grand. There was a chandelier, all of bronze, hung down from the middle of the ceiling. I'd never seen one before and looked at it all in a maze. At one end of the hall there was a great fireplace. Cold and unlit, it was large as the size of houses in my country. And on the western side was a huge old organ built into the wall, so broad and high that it covered the best part of that area. We were led on past the organ, through endless stately corridors to the west wing, and at last we came to a suite of apartments where it always seemed to be night. Fires crackled in all the rooms and curtains of heavy velvet shut out the daylight. Miss Furnival sat in a high, narrow chair, a face as full of fine wrinkles as if they'd been drawn all over it with a needle's point. She looked proud and frail and trembling with a cold no fire could warm.

[Miss Furnival]

Welcome to Verdiver Hall, Rosamond. You're a surprisingly pretty and graceful child. Perhaps you are a furnival after all.

[Hester]

Sitting with her and working at the same great piece of tapestry with her companion, Mrs. Stark. She looks so gray and stony, as if she'd never loved or cared for anyone.

[Mrs. Stark]

Do not stand staring, child. It shows an idle mind. And you, what is your name, girl?

[Hester]

Hester Allwood. Mary.

[Mrs. Stark]

Very well, Hester. Your quarters in the child's nursery will be directly over the kitchen. You will share your meals with Dorothy, the cook, and old James, her husband. Since Miss Rosamond has connections with the family, she will dine with Miss Furnival and myself. You will, of course, remain in attendance behind her chair throughout the meal. Is that clear?

[Hester]

Perfectly, ma'am.

[Mrs. Stark]

Good. We dine at seven. I think that will be sufficient until then.

[Miss Furnival]

There is one other matter and it is absolutely vital. You may move throughout this west wing and the centre hall. As you wish, Hester. But the east wing is locked and long abandoned and is never, under any circumstances, to be entered, no matter what may occur or seem to occur.

[Hester]

Very well, Miss Furnival.

[Miss Furnival]

You are very silent, Rosamond.

[Hester]

Oh, she's shy, ma'am. It's all very new and strange to her.

[Miss Furnival]

Very likely. Very likely. And yet she ought to be at ease here. You will see her face in a dozen portraits on the wall. Perhaps, Rosamond, our ancestors will approve. Perhaps the dead will even grow to love you.

[Rosamond]

Will they speak to me? Speak to you?

[Miss Furnival]

Oh, no, no, no. God grant they be too proud for that. God? I would not allow an innocent to hear. God would not. I beg your pardon. I am an old woman gathering wool. You'd better go now, Hester. James and Dorothy will show you round your quarters. Oh, Hester.

[Hester]

Yes, Miss Furnival.

[Miss Furnival]

When Rosamond is ready, you may bring her down to us. Don't wait until the bell.

[Mrs. Stark]

Grace, if you are going to spoil the child.

[Miss Furnival]

It has been so long.

[Carsten]

So long.

[Miss Furnival]

Surely we may relax. Some ceremony for the very young.

[Dorothy]

I tell you, Hester, James looks down on me. Away, I tell you he does. He's lived near all his life in my lord's family and thinks there's no one so grand as they. Till he married me, I'd never lived in any but a farmer's household. And he lords it over me as if he was a very furnival himself.

[James]

Well, I be, anyway. Mind ye, I'm very fond of ye.

[Dorothy]

Hear him now?

[Hester]

I can think of nothing I'd rather do, unless to hear both. Oh, it's so good to be amongst my own sort of people.

[Miss Furnival]

In a house.

[Hester]

In a house.

[Dorothy]

Say it. In a house that's forbidden. Strange and cold, Dorothy. Oh, all right, James. I'll say nothing against your Miss Furnival. She's a good enough mistress in her high, grand way. If she holds herself so tall, she pays for it, as the Good Book says. Did you see her tonight? After dinner, Hester, When Miss Rosamond went skipping off with James and me to the kitchen as soon as ever she could.

[Hester]

Yes, I do believe she wanted to stay. Her eyes were begging Rosamund to stay, but she wouldn't ask.

[Dorothy]

She loves the little one. Never doubt it. It's too late now to make amends.

[James]

The weather's closing in these nights, Dorothy. You best pay mind to your own duties.

[Hester]

Is the snow so terrible here?

[James]

Eh? The snow.

[Hester]

Everyone seems to dread the weather tonight. At dinner, Miss furnival stared at Mrs. Stark with those sad eyes of hers and said, I'm afraid we shall have a terrible winter. It seemed a harmless enough thing to say, but Mrs. Stark pretended not to hear and talked very loud of something else.

[Dorothy]

Well, come along, my dear. We're all becoming gloomy and there's no need. Lord knows, there are distractions enough here. It's a wonderful, great rambling house. And a famous place for a wee one like Miss Rosamond. Come tomorrow when you're free, and I'll show you the east wing.

[James]

You mean the west wing, Dorothy.

[Dorothy]

Bless us. Yes, what am I saying, you great Gok. You flustered my wits with your teething. Of course I mean the west wing. It's all green and gloomy, Hester, through the tree boughs and the ivy that darkens the windows. But the rooms are full of treasures. Or drowned, you might say, in green water. Old china jars and carved ivory boxes and wonderful things. Of course we'll go tomorrow. There's nothing to see in the east wind.

[James]

Nothing at all that a Christian would.

[Rosamond]

Want to see from your slow coaches.

[Dorothy]

I haven't run in many a year, Miss Rosamond, and I shan't now. So there.

[Hester]

How many pictures there are, room after room.

[Dorothy]

Aye, they were a mighty family since the time of the Border wars and long before. But this is the last chamber. That was the old state drawing room in the grand days. They hung the best of the pictures here.

[Hester]

Who's the man in the plumes and gold lace?

[Dorothy]

That's Sir Humphrey Furnival, that fought for the martyr king and fled to France with Charles the dissolute.

[Rosamond]

Dorothy. Who's the lovely lady over the mantelpiece?

[Dorothy]

Ay, well, you may ask. That, my dear, is the mistress, Miss Furnival, as she was these 50 years gone by.

[Hester]

Oh, that Miss Furnival.

[Dorothy]

Wonder to look at, she was then, but such a set. Proud look, and the scorn in her eyes.

[Rosamond]

Esther, if she's laughing at us. Why should she laugh? It's she who has the funny dress up.

[Dorothy]

It was all the fashion when she was young, Miss. I remember something like it when I was a wee. Anything like you. Great ladies wore beaver hats with ostrich plumes tilted over their brows like that. And satin gowns with them quilted stomachers, just as you see her.

[Hester]

Well, to be sure, flesh is grass, they do say. But who'd have thought that Miss Furnival had been such an out and out beauty to see her now.

[Dorothy]

Ay, folks change sadly. But there was another sister. And if what my master's father used to say was true, Miss Vanessa, that's dead now, was even handsomer than our mistress, Miss Grace. But if I show it to you, you must never let on, even to James, that you've seen it. Can the little one hold her tongue, do you think?

[Hester]

I wouldn't risk it. Rosamond, dear, go and hide in the next chamber, in the red room. And I'll show you how quickly I can find you.

[Rosamond]

All right. You never will find me, Hester. You know you never will.

[Dorothy]

Now, quickly, turn the picture around. That one that's not hung up and leans against the wall.

[Hester]

Yes, this way, to be sure. It beats Ms. Grace for beauty and I think, for scornful pride, too. Though for that matter, it's hard enough to choose Miss Vanessa. She's dead, you say?

[Dorothy]

She was buried. I turn the picture around again, Hester. Turn it around and come away.

[James]

What a bitter night.

[Dorothy]

And bitterer yet for the shepherds on the fells.

[James]

I Just the time of year now from our Lord's birth to epiphany that the wind and the cold here do their worst.

[Hester]

Seems cruel of the weather to bite most keenly in the crystal season.

[James]

The wind's a Turk. It pays no mind to savior.

[Hester]

Hester, I can hear it again. That's the second night I've heard it. Someone's playing the great organ in the entrance hall.

[James]

Your fancy's got you, Hester. It's the wind in the branches and the old eve.

[Hester]

James, it's not. Trees don't play melodies in ears. I can hear them distinctly.

[James]

And the more fool you then to take wind in the branches for honest tunes. I've better things to do than to listen to the girl's fear of a storm I've worked to do in the pantry. And I'll thank you to keep your dreaming to yourself.

[Dorothy]

Forgive him, Esther. He's not been well these last days.

[Hester]

Dorothy, please hush for a moment. Hush and listen. Will you confess it, Dorothy? You hear it as clearly as I do. You do.

[Dorothy]

Oh, God help me, I do. So does everyone else. You must learn to bear it as we do. It will not harm you.

[Hester]

But who is it? Who's playing it?

[Dorothy]

Since before I came to the hall, it's been said to be the old Lord Furnival, the grandfather of the present Lord, praying on the grand great organ in the hall just as he used to do when he was alive. I've heard it many a time, but most of all on winter nights and just before storms. You said Mr. Carsten, when he brought you here, told you to stop your ears in the wintertime and you did not know what he meant. I think you know now.

[Hester]

I thought at first it might be Miss Pernival who played unknown to Dorothy. But one day when I was in the hall by myself, I opened the organ and peered all about it and around it as I'd done once to the one in our village. Church. And I saw it was all broken and destroyed inside. Oh, it looked so brave and fine. And then, like it was noonday, my flesh began to creep a little, and I shut it up and ran away to my own bright room. I didn't like hearing the music for some time after this.

[Mrs. Stark]

Come in.

[Miss Furnival]

Oh, you're back, Hester. It was a bitter cold night to walk to church, I should think. I must confess that I admire your piety.

[Hester]

It's kind of you to say so, mem, but it's no sacrifice on a night like this, with the moon on the snow. It's as bright as day outside. Where is she hiding?

[Mrs. Stark]

Where is who hiding?

[Hester]

Why, Rosamond. Mrs. Stark. Dorothy said she left the kitchen an hour ago, and she's not in any of the other rooms.

[Mrs. Stark]

Hester, you are a.

[Miss Furnival]

What have you done?

[Mrs. Stark]

The little vixen is asleep among the cushions somewhere in the room or hiding behind a screen, Depend upon it.

[Hester]

Oh, miss Farnab.

[Dorothy]

Yes, Mrs. Sto. Heaven bless you. Esther, you're here.

[Hester]

It's Miss Rosamond, James's br.

[Mrs. Stark]

How is she?

[James]

She's nearly frozen.

[Hester]

Where was she?

[James]

There now, a chaffer. Arms and legs. I saw her tiny footprint vanishing up the hillside in the snow. I ran as I haven't ran these 30 years, and I found her halfway up the fell by the old holly bush. Stuff and cold.

[Miss Furnival]

The holly bush?

[James]

Ay, ay.

[Hester]

Sleepy.

[Rosamond]

Sleepy. The beautiful lady. If you'd heard her cry, you'd have let her in, thank God.

[Hester]

James. Dearest James, you were just in time.

[Rosamond]

Yes, lad. Hester, where's the lady and the little girl?

[Hester]

Gently, my darling, gently. Tell us everything from the beginning, and then perhaps we can answer you. Where did you go when you left Dorothy? In the kitchen.

[Rosamond]

I was on my way to see Auntie Furnival, and I saw snow falling through the windows. And I thought how pretty and white it must be to see it on the ground. So then I went to the great hall to see out through the tall windows, and I looked out and the snow was bright and soft. But there was a little girl and so thinly dressed, Hester, in all the snow and cold, and not so old as I am, but so pretty. And she beat her hands against the window and cried to be let in. But all the time she beat on the glass. All the time she cried, you couldn't hear sound.

[Miss Furnival]

Oh, heaven, forgive. Have mercy.

[Rosamond]

So I went outside to let her in. But instead of coming in, she took my hand fast and tight in hers. It was very, very cold. And she took me up the fell path up to the holly trees. And there I saw a lady weeping and crying. Devil.

[Mrs. Stark]

Devil. Restless alive she was and restless dead.

[Rosamond]

But as soon as she saw me, she hushed her weeping and smiled very proud and grand. And she took me on her knee and lulled me away. Away. Off to sleep.

[Miss Furnival]

Oh, have mercy. Wilt thou never forgive? It's many a long year ago.

[Dorothy]

My dear.

[Mrs. Stark]

We're old, you know.

[Dorothy]

We're old.

[Mrs. Stark]

And it's time to rest. Don't you think it's time?

[Miss Furnival]

Of course. Of course. You're right, Anne. You always were. Rosamond.

[Rosamond]

Yes, Auntie?

[Miss Furnival]

Would you remember something, my dear? Would you remember something, Something if I said it?

[Rosamond]

Yes, Aunt Furnival.

[Miss Furnival]

What is done in youth cannot be undone in age. Good night, my dearest.

[Rosamond]

Good night.

[Miss Furnival]

Good night.

[Mrs. Stark]

Come, Grace. Come. That's it, my dear.

[Hester]

Rosamond. You were lying just now, or imagining things, weren't you?

[Rosamond]

Indeed, Hester. I'm telling you the truth. Indeed I am.

[Dorothy]

She must be telling the truth, Hester. She can have heard no stories of the child and the woman in the snow. But they existed once, and God help us, they do. Still, she must have seen them.

[Hester]

Tell me once and for all, what did she see?

[James]

She saw Miss Furnival's hell. It's always with her. That's with her for 50 years.

[Dorothy]

James was but a boy in the days when America rebelled against King George. The old Lord Furnival, our mistress's father, ruled here. He was a fierce, dour old man that broke his wife's heart with cruelty and his mad pride.

[James]

But above all things next his pride. The old lord loved music. He could play on nearly every instrument you ever heard tell of. And it was a strange thing. It didna go to soften his heart, but it didna.

[Dorothy]

He had over an Italian music master to teach him the organ. But manys and many's a time as he rolled out his fine music, his teacher was walking in the woods wi his daughters, Miss Grace, our mistress, and Miss Vanessa, whose picture you saw up above. You know their pride.

[James]

But pride will have a fold, they say. And they loved the both of them that scorned the dukes and princes of their day.

[Dorothy]

They loved an Italian music master which was Miss Vanessa. Got him.

[James]

Aye. And Miss Gray swore vengeance she did and bided her time.

[Dorothy]

And the child at the window was Miss Vanessa's. And the music masters?

[James]

Ay. And the next year the Italian went.

[Dorothy]

Off across the sea and never came back.

[Hester]

What did Vanessa do with the child?

[Mrs. Stark]

She tried to Conceal it in her own quarters in the east wing. And I found it.

[Hester]

Oh, Mrs. Stark. I didn't hear you at the door.

[Dorothy]

Nor did she.

[Hester]

The mother and child crying and freezing in the snow.

[Mrs. Stark]

It was the old lord's right to know what went on in his house.

[Dorothy]

He didna make the weather, he didna make the days, but he laid down all his music and died soon after.

[James]

We think that, like the Italian, he loved Ms. Vanessa more.

[Dorothy]

Ms. Grace and Mrs. Stark had killed.

[Mrs. Stark]

Their loves, and over the years they did the same for ours.

[James]

Houseguests died, servants and the rest of the family fled, never returned.

[Mrs. Stark]

Take Rosamund away, Hester, far away. Miss Grace loves her. They will kill her.

[Carsten]

Go away, Esther, away.

[Dorothy]

We love you.

[James]

They will kill you.

[Hester]

But you're innocent. You kill no one. They can want nothing of you.

[James]

We are faithful servants of the family. We are adopted carnivals. If we love you, they will kill you. Run, Hester, run.

[Hester]

And I ran, my dears. With your mother Rosamond in my arms, I look backwards at Furnival hall, the center block.

[Rosamond]

The.

[Hester]

The west wing where we'd lived was shrouded in darkness, as if long abandoned. The east wing, my dears. The east wing. It glowed and shone with lights as for a children's party.

[Narrator]

Mystery Theater has brought you the Old nurse's story by Mrs. Glass Bell in radio version by Gavin Douglas. The cast Joan Orenstein as Hester in youth and age. Dan McDonald as Carsten. Faith Ward was Rosamond. Miriam Bell played Miss Furnival. Mrs. Stark was played by Muriel White. James was Bill Fulton. Flora Montgomery played Dorothy Sound. Lee Bailey and Harold Porter Audio Bud Tabor. The Old Nurse's Story was produced and directed from CBC Halifax by Peter Duncan. Frank Cameron speaking.

[Host]

That's the horror for this week. You can find more from the CBC Mystery Theater, the Horror and all of the other Relic radio podcasts@ Relicradio.com. you can donate through the website as well if you'd like to help support this and all of the shows. Thanks for joining me this week. I'll be back again tomorrow with Strange Tales. Next Saturday with our next episode of the Horror.