What happens
In 1937 New England, Genevieve Garrison works as secretary and companion to Lydia Bartlett, a cold and ill widow who rules the Bartlett estate. Her son Barry, back from Europe, has secretly married Genevieve, but he is now courting Joan Marvell, and the newspaper announces their engagement. Genevieve learns she is pregnant and confronts Barry, who has been tricked into a secret marriage and wants out. Lydia's suspicions grow sharper as the household tensions mount. Genevieve must decide how far she will go to hold on to Barry. The Whistler, a CBS radio anthology, presents this story from its 1943 broadcast of May 15.
The Bartlett estate in the New England countryside, 1937
Characters: Genevieve Garrison, Barry Bartlett, Lydia Bartlett, Joan Marvell, Annie, Dr. Anstead
Listen for: Pay attention to the tense exchanges between Genevieve and Lydia Bartlett, and to Barry's shifting loyalties between his wife and Joan Marvell.
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.