What happens
Mrs. Gillis, an elderly widow living alone, hires a young man named Howard Wilton to help with heavy housework. Her late friend Mr. Armstrong had warned her about hiring a stranger, and Howard quickly shows an unsettling temper, resenting her questions and her interest in him. Howard keeps to the den and polishes a small square in the corner, while Mrs. Gillis grows uneasy as the morning wears on. The Suspense program on the Columbia Broadcasting System presents this play, starring Ethel Barrymore and Gene Kelly, first broadcast on January 6, 1949.
A house on a quiet road outside town, with a long driveway, a kitchen, a den and a storeroom, in the late 1940s.
Characters: Mrs. Gillis, Howard Wilton, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Stevens
Listen for: Howard's sudden shifts in temper and Mrs. Gillis's growing fear as she tries to keep him calm.
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.