What happens
Wilfred Carpenter, a botany professor, and his domineering wife Hermione are preparing to sail to America. Hermione manages every detail of their lives, and Wilfred has long chafed under her control. Before leaving, he shaves his beard at Hermione's insistence and meets Marion Markham, a bookshop clerk who listens to him sympathetically. Meanwhile, Wilfred has been digging a deep pit in the cellar for an experimental garden of wild orchids. Suspense, the radio thriller series, aired this Holiday Story on December 23, 1948, starring Herbert Marshall in Anton Leader's production of John Collier's story.
A house in England, and later a ship crossing to America and a New York hotel.
Characters: Wilfred Carpenter, Hermione Carpenter, Marion Markham, Freddie Ferris
Listen for: The strained exchanges between Wilfred and Hermione, and the sudden shift in tone when Wilfred's plans take shape.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.