- [the real estate agent, Adam Talmadge, and his wife, Liz, are giving the Talmadges a lift to the old Bellmans' mansion]
- Gil Thrasher: Adam! The truth now. The people who built that place, where were they from?
- Adam Talmadge: The Bellmans? Pennsylvania, I think.
- Gil Thrasher: Sure it wasn't Transylvania?
- [Everyone laughs]
- Adam Talmadge: The mirrors! Then that's what the old coots were bending your ears about.
- Gil Thrasher: [cheerfully] Now, look. I'll admit that you warned us that the roof leaks and the cellar floods and the shutters go "Bang!". But what's this about no mirrors?
- Adam Talmadge: Didn't I tell you why you got the place so cheap?
- Gil Thrasher: You said the local characters think it's unlucky.
- Adam Talmadge: Unlucky because of the broken mirrors. Gil, you have no idea how these people can build up a story. Seems there were some nasty accidents up there, years ago. A couple of people killed by shattered glass. So now the yarn's been worked around to where they were actually murdered by the mirrors - with malice aforethought.
- Marcia Thrasher: [jovially] Seems logical!
- Gil Thrasher: [also cheerful] Sure, some mornings when I'm shaving, the guy in the glass looks pretty deadly. Especially with a razor in his hand!
- [Everyone laughs]
- Adam Talmadge: Well, I hadn't thought about it, but I'd better get you some sort of mirror, at least until you get settled.
- Marcia Thrasher: Never mind, there's one in my traveling case.
- Gil Thrasher: Marcia couldn't live without her mirrors.
- [He reaches for her affectionately]
- Marcia Thrasher: [also affectionately] What woman could?
- [first lines]
- [a man who has a hook for a hand knocks loudly on the door, then turns to the doctor]
- Nephew: I know she's in there, Doctor. She's always in there! With her cursed mirrors.
- Old Laura Bellman: Go away! Oh, go away! Leave me alone, can't you? Leave me alone... with my mirrors.
- [Boris introduces the show: he walks up to a mirror on the wall and holds a lantern]
- Boris Karloff: A beautiful young face in the mirror; a pitiful old face at the door. Could they have been one and the same? Some people say that mirrors never lie. Others say that they do: that they lie, they cheat, they kill! Some say that, every time you look in one, you see Death at work. But most of us see only what we want to see. And perhaps it's better not to see too deeply into the darkness behind our mirrors, for there live things beyond our imagination, as sure as my name is Boris Karloff.
- Radio announcer: Storm warnings are still hoist along most of the New England coast. But the Weather Bureau now reports that the gale has spent itself and is sweeping harmlessly out to sea. Damage cannot yet be estimated, but power failures have plunged many areas into total darkness. The northern tip of Cape Caution is among those affected. We return you now to recorded music.
- [the door bangs open as Gil and Marcia Thrasher enter, swept in by a strong wind]
- [When they enter the old Bellman's mansion for the first time, Liz Talmadge shines her flashlight around]
- Liz Talmadge: Well, well! "Early Mausoleum."
- Marcia Thrasher: But, Liz, what a challenge!
- Liz Talmadge: Granted. If you choose a house to pick a fight with!
- Gil Thrasher: Marcia's a decorator, I'm a photographer. We'll do a before-and-after layout that'll cover the down payment.
- Marcia Thrasher: You'll see. It'll be a show-place!
- Liz Talmadge: [drily] Like Madame Tussaud's.
- [Adam Talmadge enters, bringing the Thrashers' luggage in, out of the wind-storm. He joins the others in looking around at their new estate]
- Adam Talmadge: Well, Liz, now do you believe that I can sell anything?
- Adam Talmadge: Right this way. I built a fire in the living room.
- Marcia Thrasher: Oh, I love a fire!
- Liz Talmadge: [saucily] And if you're lucky, it might spread.
- [Talmadge leads them into a large but dark and dirty room]
- Adam Talmadge: Of course, we use the term "living room" rather loosely.
- Gil Thrasher: Your husband doesn't believe in the hard sell.
- Marcia Thrasher: Who needs it? Behold!
- [Marcia pulls open draperies that reveal an enormous window overlooking the ocean]
- Marcia Thrasher: Now, I ask you!
- Liz Talmadge: Wow! Wide screen!
- Marcia Thrasher: Is that too much? Our own private ocean!
- Adam Talmadge: And, by a startling coincidence, here's a bottle that came all the way across it.
- Gil Thrasher: Hey! Champagne! And chilled, too.
- Adam Talmadge: Yeah, I put it on ice when I built the fire. Now, how many real estate agents would supply these sensitive little touches?
- Liz Talmadge: [smiling widely] Only those with a guilty conscience, dear.
- Marcia Thrasher: Actually, Liz, we practically had to force him to take our money. Here's what really sold us.
- [She gestures at the view of the ocean]
- Adam Talmadge: [working the cork on the champagne] You never *have* heard my pitch, have you? Well, better late than never.
- Adam Talmadge: [He opens the champagne and pours into the glasses that Gil holds] I propose a toast to your new home at Cape Caution, folks. A year-around playground where there's never a dull moment. Something stirring every second. For example, in the winter-time, you can sit on the east side of your house and follow the sun around to the west
- [Liz smiles to herself, looking around the room]
- Adam Talmadge: Then, in the summer-time, you can sit on the west side of your house...
- [Liz looks past Marcia, her eyes widen, and she points and screams in terror]
- [toasting with champagne]
- Adam Talmadge: Champagne to our real friends, and real pain to our sham friends!