Strange Paradise: Episode 131
 Episode 131:  Slideshow
 
Laslo: “Evening at Desmond Hall. This day just passing has brought the Egyptian Key to the one it has been seeking. And it has led Holly to the peace she has been longing for with her love Philip Desmond in a world beyond our own. Now the ancient key awaits the next person who will take it.”
 
Raxl walks down the staircase and walks towards the Drawing Room doors when she hears a pounding noise coming from the other side of the foyer. “Master what are you doing?” She asks as she rushes over to Jean Paul. “I’m trying to rescue Holly.” He says as he pounds on the panel with a hammer and wedges a chisel into the cracks.  “No master, no.” She pulls the hammer and chisel from his hands.  “Her life was in my care.”  “It was, but it is no more. She chose to go to the region below.”  Jean Paul turns away. “I’ve got to find her. I’ve got to bring her back.”  “You cannot. You do not know how.”  “Then I will find a way!”  “She is beyond your help Master accept it!”  “She went through this panel.” He says pointing at it. “Are you certain?”  “Yes and so did Quito.” Jean Paul tells her.
“That may be but no human being has ever returned from the region below.”
“Quito returned.” He says to her.  “Quito died to do it.”  Jean Paul glances away. “And I would rather die than to live with the memory and the knowledge that I did not try to rescue her.”  “No one can help her now.”  “We shall see!” Jean Paul tries to take the hammer and chisel from Raxl.  “No Master do not follow Miss Holly.”  Jean Paul jerks the tools from Raxl’s hands. “Now leave me Raxl. I command you to leave!” He shouts.  Raxl rushes past him.’’ Jean Paul works to force the panel open when Laslo walks from the Drawing Room. “Jean Paul, Ada and I would like to speak to you for a minute.”  “Later I don’t have time.” Jean Paul says as he glances at Laslo then back to the panel.  Laslo walks towards him. “Are you still trying to find something behind that wall?”  Jean Paul looks up at him. “Yes.”  “There’s nothing there I can assure you. I checked several times.”
Jean Paul turns away shaking his hands. “All right.” He walks into the Drawing Room.   Laslo follows behind him. “Ada has some questions she would like to ask you.” Laslo says as he walks behind the couch standing behind Ada.  “It’s not me really its Laslo.” Ada says to Jean Paul.  “He’s your cousin not mine. Oh very well.” Laslo looks at his wife. “If Ada won’t I will.” He walks over to Jean Paul. “Everyone in town talks about what takes place at Desmond Hall.”  “I couldn’t care less what they are saying.”  “You don’t have to. I go down into town every day. I see the secret whispers and the glances as I pass. I don’t like my name bandied about in that fashion.” Laslo says as he turns away from Jean Paul.
It’s not your name it’s mine.” Jean Paul tells him.  “Oh listen to him Jean Paul please for my sake.” Ada says to Jean Paul.  “All right. What are they talking about the gossips of Desmondton?” Jean Paul asks as he walks towards Laslo.
“They speak about the girls who mysteriously arrive and then vanish without a trace. Even the workmen at the family mill talk about it amongst themselves. Sly winks and secret speculations.”  “And what do you tell them?”  “What can I say? I’m as much in the dark as they are.”  “You can tell them to mind their own business!” Jean Paul says angrily.  “They will make it their own business if you’re not careful.”  “Take care what you accuse me of Laslo.”  “I do not accuse you of anything. I’m merely trying to find the reason for these sudden arrivals and departures in this house.”  “It is none of their business and it is none of your either!”  Ada stands and walks over to the two men. “He’s only trying to protect you and Cort and me.”  Jean Paul sighs and places his hands behind his back “What is it precisely that you want to know?”  “Where is Holly? She was here one moment then she was gone.”  “I don’t know what has happened to her.” Jean Paul says to Laslo.  “I don’t believe you.”  “Well Cort said she was standing in the foyer then she vanished.”  “Then Cort is the one you should ask not me! I have no idea where she is.” Jean Paul says then turns away.  “Well Cort locked himself in his room. He’s very frightened.”  “As you know Cort isn’t easily frightened.” Laslo says.  Jean Paul looks at Laslo. “I can tell you nothing.” “You refuse to tell me.” “I cannot tell you what I don’t know!” Jean Paul shouts and walks from the Drawing room. Laslo follows him. Jean Paul walks into the foyer, turns and looks at Laslo then rushes up the staircase. Opening the dresser drawer Philip takes out the totem. As he raises it there is a knock on the door. He places it back in the drawer. “Yes?”  The door opens and Raxl enters. “I’ve come to beg your help.” She walks over to him.  “My help? I suppose I should be grateful that you haven’t come again to tell me to go back to my own people.”
“It is not for myself that I ask but for my Master.” “Well of course I’ll do anything I can.” “Only you can help him. He won’t listen to me.” “Help him from what?” “He’s determined to rescue Miss Holly from the beyond.”  “Well she can return without his help.” Philip says with a smile.  “No she has gone to join your cousin Philip Desmond.”  “Yes I know.” “But he is dead.” “No. He’s not dead.” Philip says. “Oh you must believe me. I have knowledge that the others do not know. Philip Desmond is dead and he has lured that girl to him.”  “You’re wrong. My cousin appeared to me.” “It was his ghost not him!”  “He appeared in this very room and promised me he would return!” Philip says angrily.  “No person can return from the room unlocked by the Egyptian Key.” Philip looks away. “Holly will set him free.”  “Your unfortunate cousin has yet to know the door opens only inward. It does not lead back to us. But yet to another place.”  Philip walks across the room. “My Grandfather used to speak of a legend. A land beneath our fields and forests that holds the peace that we all seek.”  “It is peace of death. Oh you must save my Master from entering that dismal area.”  Philip looks back at her. The pure of heart has nothing to fear there.”  “Your cousin is not pure in heart!” Raxl shouts at Philip. She turns and rushes from the room.  Philip steps forward. “Not pure of heart?” He walks to the dresser and takes the totem from the drawer. “Orendo, guardian spirit.” He raises the totem to his head and closes his eyes. “Heed me well. What is the curse that haunts my clan? What should I do? Can I protect my cousin from the evil of Uthco? Speak to me Orendo, I await.” Philip lowers the totem. “Help me, I await your sign.” He bows his head.
 
Emily is coming down the staircase and sees Laslo checking over the panel on the side of the staircase. Laslo walks to the bottom of the stairs and waits for Emily. “Oh my dear girl, it seems you work all the time day and night.”  “Well there is a lot of work to catch up with.”  “And I think that pretty little head of yours contains the answers to all the questions that baffle us.”  “Oh don’t overestimate the contents of my head.”  “Of course not. What is not in your head is in the books.”  “Oh books can tell us a great many things but not everything we want to know.” Emily says as she turns and walks into the Drawing Room.  She stands at the bookcase as Philip walks into the Drawing Room carrying an open book. His head is lowered as he reads it. He closes the door not noticing Emily.  Emily steps up to him. “The River Caves of Desmondton. Where did you get it?” She asks touching the book.  “Well under Holly’s bed.”  “What were you doing in Holly’s room?” Emily asks as she takes the book from Philip.   “Well I thought she might have left a clue behind as to her disappearance. Something that would help me save Jean Paul.”  “Jean Paul?” Emily asks looking at Philip.  “Yes Raxl says he intends to follow Holly.”  Emily looks away.
 
Jean Paul has the hammer wedged into the panel. It still will not budge. The music from Philip’s carousel sounds in the foyer. Jean Paul steps away from the secret panel. The panel swings open, Jean Paul turns and looks at it.
 
Emily glances up.  “What is it?” Philip asks.  “I thought I heard something.”
Philip glances around the Drawing Room.
 
Jean Paul is no longer in the foyer as the panel closes.
 
Emily glances at the closed doors of the Drawing Room. “I thought I heard something.”  Philip opens the door and looks back at Emily. “It was only the wind through the trees outside. Walking back to Emily he takes the book from her and sets it down on the desk and looks at it.  Emily walks up behind him. “What are you looking for?”  “Raxl told me that only the pure in heart could pass through that door into the beyond.”  Emily nods. “That’s right.”  “Isn’t it possible that those whose hearts have been tormented through no fault of their own could be purified by passing through that door?”  “It’s possible.” Emily says as she pulls the book towards herself.  “My Grandfather was a very wise old man he knew of many legends.” Philip tells her as he crosses his arms. “Now he told me that...”  Emily gasps.  “What is it?”  “Why it’s gone.” Emily looks at the book. The picture of the key is no longer on the page in the book. But there are words on the page. THE KEY IS ME WE BOTH ARE FREE.
 
Jean Paul walks through the passageway until he comes to a door. And leans on it tiredly, He turns and notices the Egyptian Key and reaches his hand out to it.
 
Emily reads the words. “The key is me. We both are free.” She looks up at Philip. “She can never come back now. She has joined her fate with his.”  “She’s where she wants to be.” Philip says as he looks away from Emily.  Laslo enters the Drawing Room and walks up to them. “Have you seen Jean Paul? He’s not upstairs.”  “I’ll get him.” Philip says as he walks from the room.  Emily closes the book.  Laslo follows Philip from the Drawing Room closing the doors behind him. “Raxl?  Raxl!”  Raxl enters the foyer. “You called me?”  “Where’s Jean Paul?”
“Why do you ask?”  “Never mind evading my question where is he? Well never mind Philip is looking for him. I want to talk to you.” Laslo says as he turns and faces Raxl.  “Yes.”  Laslo walks around Raxl. “You have brought evil to Desmond Hall”  “If there is evil here, it was here before we arrived.”  “Ever since you arrived from Maljardin one by one you have disappeared or died.”  “What are you saying?”  “Count them yourself. First Quito then Miss Holly now Jean Paul.”
“He is here. He has not disappeared.” Raxl says to Laslo.  “I think he is just like the others.” Laslo steps foreword. “And each one was last seen in this foyer.” Raxl turns and starts to walk away. Laslo looks at her. “I’m not finished.”  “I must find my Master!”  “Begin this search with this panel.” Laslo says as he walks to the staircase and points at the panel.  Raxl rushes to it and tries to open it with her fingers. “But it is tightly shut.” She glances up at Laslo.  “It is? Quito came out of that panel when he died. I saw him. Cort said he saw Miss Holly standing here just before she disappeared. And tonight Jean Paul was here on his knees with a hammer and chisel.”  “Oh it cannot be.” Raxl says to him.  “Find him then. Go below the caves and you may find him there.” Laslo says as he turns and walks up the staircase.
 
Jean Paul tries turning the key. When it doesn’t turn he pounds on the door with his fists. Philip’s carousel music is heard through the tunnel. He turns and looks around. “Philip?” He turns back to the door. “Philip!” he shouts.  “Jean Paul.” Philip calls to him.
 
Emily sits at the desk looking through a book and using her notes. She picks the book up. It has the picture of the three hanging women. Looking at the picture Emily looks away from the picture.  Philip walks into the Drawing Room, he walks up to Emily. “Jean Paul is gone. We must hurry.” He notices the book in Emily’s hands. “What is that?” He asks staring at the picture; He takes the book out of Emily’s hands.  “A photograph. We found it one evening weeks ago when the four of us were sitting here talking. Helena, Holly, Agatha and now I’m the only one left.” Emily says turning away from Philip. “Agatha was found dead in the river. And Helena is gone. And Holly has disappeared forever.” Emily says as she walks through the Drawing Room. “Does that mean I’m next?” She turns and rushes from the room.  Raxl walks through the foyer as Emily rushes past her. She walks into the Drawing Room closing the door behind her. “You did not keep your promise. My Master has gone to the caves.” Raxl says as she walks up to Philip.  “He can’t have.” Philip says.  “He’s followed the evil spirit.”  “He’s gone to save Holly. That can’t be evil.”  “You refuse to understand. The Desmonds are destined for unhappy endings. One by one they seek that which will destroy them. Philip Desmond and now my Master has gone to join them.”  “But Philip said he would return and when he does he will bring the others.”  “Philip Desmond had no way of knowing his fate. Go you will be guarded by your guardian spirit Orendo. Go find them. Bring them back and take the totem with you.” Raxl says as she touches Philip’s arm. “It will guard you against evil spirits. Find my Master! I implore you!”  “Well I’ll only go if Orendo advises me to. I will not act against his word.”  “Only then will you find what you came here to find.” Raxl tells him.  “Can you promise me that?”  “I cannot force the future but I can foresee it. You will be sent to your own people without fear if you find Jean Paul Desmond.”
 
Jean Paul leans against the door. “Philip? Do you hear me?”  “I hear you brother.”  “Open the door!” Jean Paul shouts.  “It cannot be opened from this side.”  Jean Paul tries to turn the key then pushes against the door. “The door won’t open for me!”   “We Desmond’ are not pure in spirit, brother.”  “I must save Holly!” Jean Paul shouts.  “Holly is with me.”  “Set her free!”  “She’s now with me.”  Jean Paul hits the door with his hands. “Holly!”  “She cannot hear you. She’s beyond your voice. She has a happiness she has never known. I’m happy too at last.”  “Don’t go Philip! Philip, send Holly back! Philip!”  “Farewell, my brother.”  Jean Paul turns away from the door and walks away.
 
Philip enters his room and finds Laslo waiting for him. “What are you doing in my room?”  “My dear fellow this is your cousin Philip’s room not yours.” “I was told it was my room. What are you doing here?” Philip asks as he walks closer to Laslo.
“Waiting for you.” Laslo says to him.  “I’d rather not have people waiting for me in my room. What do you want?”  “I can’t decide whether you are a guest or one of the family?”  “What difference does it make?”  “None at all really.” Laslo says as he walks away from Philip. “But I can enter any room I wish. This is my house.”
“I thought it was Jean Paul’s.”  “Jean Paul’s house was Maljardin. It burnt to the ground.”  “Well I don’t see how that makes you the owner of Desmond Hall.” Philip says as he looks at Laslo.  “Oh did I say owner?”  “You said it was yours.”
“I meant I look after Desmond Hall. I handle the family interests as Philip requested before he departed on his journey.”  “Wouldn’t it be more appropriate with Jean Paul? He’s a Desmond and you aren’t.”  “True but my wife is a Desmond and her son. I look after their interests.  “How very good of you.” Philip says as he looks away from Laslo.  “Yes how very good of me. And out of my goodness I advise you, do not get involved in their family affairs. It would be safer if you didn’t.”  “Safety can be a matter of decisions”  “Oh you Desmonds are always tempting fate.” Laslo says as he circles Philip. “Philip Desmond dabbling in necromancy and the black arts. Jean Paul rushing off to rescue his charge Miss Holly.”  Philip glances at Laslo. “How do you know about that?”  “Oh I keep a watchful eye on the Desmonds. I look after their business and as I said my interest are their’s.”  “You needn’t include me as one of your interests. I can look after myself”  There is a knock on the bedroom door. Philip turns. “Who’s there?”
“It’s Mrs. Thaxton.” Ada calls out.  “Please come in.”  Ada steps in and closes the door. “Oh Laslo there you are. I’ve been looking for you.”  “Philip and I were having our first friendly talk. But it’s over now.”  “Good then you can help me now.”  “Help you my dear?” Laslo asks.  “I need a strong man to help me take some things up to the attic.”  “Really my dear. Laslo walks to the doorway. “I perform many functions for the Desmonds but I am hardly a porter.” He turns and walks out of the room.  Philip smiles. “I would be very glad to help you Mrs. Thaxton.”  “Oh would you please. I can’t manage myself.”  Philip holds his arm out allowing Ada to leave the room first.
 
The secret panel on the side of the staircase opens and Jean Paul climbs out. He tiredly leans against a pillar and turns and watches the panel as it closes. Jean Paul sinks to his knees then he collapses against the pillar.  Emily is walking down the staircase. At the bottom she sees Jean Paul and rushes over to him. “Jean Paul! Raxl, Raxl! Come quickly, its Jean Paul.”  “Master!” Raxl cries out.
“Look at him. Where has he been? Look at his cloths and his face.” Emily says to Raxl as they help Jean Paul to his feet.  “Just be grateful that he is back.” Raxl says.  “What happened?”  “Everything is all right now.” Raxl says. “Everything is all right he has returned.”  Swaying on his feet Jean Paul puts his hand to his head. Raxl and Emily help him to the Drawing Room. They get him to the couch where he lays down as Emily gets him cleaned up.  Jean Paul looks at Emily. “Thank you, thank you Emily.” he says as he sits up. “I feel better now.”  “We feared for your life Master.” Raxl says as she collects the bowl of water and the towels from Emily.  Ada rushes into the Drawing Room. ”Jean Paul! Jean Paul I have something to show you! It’s astonishing really! I found it in the attic behind some old trunks!” Ada says excitedly.  Philip follows her into the room. “Jean Paul thank God your back. Are you all right?”  “Yes I’m all right.”  “Show it to him Philip.” Ada says.  Philip holds up the portrait of Jacques Eloi Des Mondes.  Raxl looks at it in fear. “Take that away.”  Jean Paul draws back in fear, “No, no!” he cries out.
 
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Summaries written by Debby Graham .  The slide presentation is the work of Ron Janick.
~Ron/Bella~
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Episode 132