Seeds_of_Doubt

Cloak and Dagger is an NBC radio series, a foreign intrigue adventure adapted from the book Cloak and Dagger by Corey Ford and Alistair McBain. Ford also was host of the series. Cloak and Dagger was broadcast from May 7 to October 22, 1950, as part of "a mystery block with several other shows of far inferior quality". The program was sustaining for all 22 episodes

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Are you willing to undertake a dangerousmission behind the enemy lines, knowing you
may never return alive. What youhave just heard is the question asked during
the war to agents of the OSS. Ordinary citizens who do this question answered

(00:24):
yes, this is cloak and dagger, black warfare, espionage, international intrigue.

(00:50):
These are the weapons of the OSS. Tonight's story seeds of doubt concerning
an OSS agent to track down Nazisin American uniforms is suggested by actual incidents
recorded in the Washington files of theOffice of Strategic Services, a story that
can now be told. I'm gladI wasn't there when Celeste got my message.

(01:18):
If I had been, I mighthave called the whole deal off found
some other way to carry out mymission. What I did was pretty brute.
I know just how it must havebeen. I gave the note to
the baker's delivery boy, Henri.He must have driven the dilapidated old truck
through those majestic iron gates of theChateau Baton, twelve miles south of Paris,

(01:42):
circled the huge house and come toa staff at the servants entrance.
And perhaps it was Miriel herself,a celeste personal maid who answered the door,
doo, Mademoiselle, Monsieur Paul,and then Marielle began that long climb

(02:04):
up the celeste roof three flights ofmarble stairs, and then down the carpeted
corridor to the fourth door on theright hand side. Ma'amselle Celeste was probably
reading. She always was in thosedays. There was a way of passing

(02:24):
time while she waited for some wordfrom my friend Paul Blanchard. A message,
mamselle ass from whom Marie I donot know. It was all so
mysterious, it make us truck withat the door, and the boy give
it to me while a ma'miselle,Oh I'm writing it, ma'miselle, it

(02:46):
is not not, he glared,oh, mon dieu. But then then
it is his society is poil mypolice. Here in Peri he is waiting
for me and the cafe and Momparnasse. I was afraid he was dead,

(03:15):
That's how it must have been.And all the while I sat in a
dingy little room in the back ofthe cafe detoie Chap, drinking cognac,
feeling like a dog waiting. Iwaited about an hour and then Paul Mademoiselle
Breton, Oh, you are notborn, No, Mademoiselle, I was

(03:40):
a friend of Paul Blanchard. Mademoiselle, answer me very well, Paul is
dead. Like I say, itwas good, But is there any way

(04:00):
of saying it that isn't proven.She tottered toward the table and then slumped
into her chick did. Her facewas deathly white, and yet it was
still the loveliest face I've ever seen. But this note, this pulls handwriting

(04:23):
well a forgery, Mademoiselle. TheOSS is well equipped to forge any man's
handwriting. The OSS. Oh,I begin to understand you are a Lieutenant
Martin Ingalls Morale Office OSS, andyou deliberately too. That's right. I

(04:45):
had to see you, but Icouldn't come to the chateau, and I
knew you wouldn't ignore a note likethat. I see. I relate you
for this, Lieutenant, as longas it'll be rather awkward considering our future
relationship. We shall have no futurerelationship, you and I I think we
will. I've come to Paris totake Paul's place. Deckis play yes as

(05:10):
your fiancee at first, that is, and then later as your husband.
She sat down again slowly and listenedin stony silence as I told her how
I had met her fiancee in NorthAfrica. I told her how he described
me, and then how he describedtheir swift, frenzied courtship in Geneva,

(05:35):
just before Paul joined the Free Frenchforces. Then I told her how he
died. All loved France, yes, and he told me once that you
loved her too, and that's whyI'm sure you won't refuse to make your

(05:55):
own sacrifice for her. And thatis what monsieur allowing me to pose as
Paul, letting every one think I'mthe man you met in Switzerland. How
do you know you could pose aspoor? That's some one who might not
recognize you. The U. SS. Has made sure that will be
perfectly safe. You see, Paul'sfather was a government official in Madagascar for

(06:16):
twenty years before the war. Paulvisited France only once and that was the
age of eight, and from thatage until he met you in Switzerland,
he hadn't set foot in you.So you see, no one would know
the difference. I would know it, of course, that would be your
sacrifice, and I would Thrance benefitby my cyphary. I couldn't blame her

(06:45):
for putting it like that, butI wasn't exactly flattered. I tried to
explain my mission. D Day wassix months behind this, and most of
France had been liberated. But nowthere was bestone, the Battle of the
Bulls von Runtstet's offensive, and blackwarfare is a game too complain. Morale
or the lack of it, canhelp decide. The oss knew that,

(07:11):
and so did the Nazis. Andthat's why they're German agents floating around Paris
doing their best to plant seeds ofdoubt and to destroy a lied morale.
Nazis here in Peris. But nowis it there that cut Well, that's
my job. It's not going tobe easy because most of them are in
GI uniform. Yes, why wesend agents behind German lines, they send

(07:34):
them behind ours. Black warfare wasHitler's first great weapon. Why do you
think poland the low countries? Yes, even France collapsed so fast in nineteen
forty because the Nazis had agents behindthe lines fifth Calumnists doing the same thing
then that they're doing now. Thatwas in nineteen first the war isn't over

(07:55):
yet, mademoiselle, Far from it. And the longer these nats the agents
operate in Paris, the longer thewar is going to last. Now,
that's why it's important that the OShas smoked them out and fast. But
I do not see why it shouldbe necessary for you to do become your
husband, but because then i'd bethe master of Chateau Breton. And what

(08:20):
could be more natural for a wealthyFrenchman and his wife, out of at
a gratitude to the Americans than tothrow open their home the lonely Gis in
Paris. Parties, mademoiselle, cocktailparties, dinners, dances, whatever might
attract the Gis and the German Asians. Nissa right, it's an affairs like

(08:41):
that. They do their work.They spread rumors and lies, stir up
discension, and it wouldn't take melong to spot them. It is a
very clever scheme, Lieutenant. Thereis only one thing wrong with it.
I do not care to be yourwife. It would be a strictly impersonal

(09:03):
arrangement, and just as soon asmy job is done. No, it
is out of a Christian Very well, m'mselves, I'm sorry, Paul was
wrong, wrong about you. Thatwas another dirty trick, playing on her

(09:26):
memory of Paul, her love forhim, But it worked. In a
half hour we were engaged. Doyou say, Leste Blenton, take this
man to be your lawful wedded husband. I do? And do you,
Paul Blanchard, take this woman tobe ort One of the Paris blue bloods

(09:52):
who crowded into the church suspected thatthe headquarters colonel wasn't really a minister,
and I guess I was the onlyone who wished he were. After the
ceremony, Celesti and I drove outto the chateau and settled down to housekeeping.

(10:13):
Yes, who is he your husband? Yes? What is it you
want, Lieutenant? Well, Ijust got back from the USO. I
announced our first open house for Saturday. Looks like we're gonna have quite a
mob. We should be relady forthem. You don't mind my stepping in.

(10:33):
We can talk about it. Butwe just did talk about it.
No, yeah, uh, yes, I guess we did. Then good
night, Lieutenant, And that wasmarried life of the chateau. We're talking.

(10:56):
It's a good thing. Our seriesof parties did start. Them took
my mind off other things. Itlooked like every Joe in the European theater
attended those parties. The champagne flowed, the cannapase vanished. Each clam bake
was a bigger success than the onebefore it, except I didn't spot any

(11:18):
natty agents. Yes, we're plentyof rumors. Sure, that's one thing
an army always has plenty of.I'll tell you. I hear we're getting
our brains beat out at best Stone. This man's boring over yet. Well.
The guy was telling me the otherday how the brass snap food things
at Cambray Like a guy was sittingthe other day. If Hitler wants to

(11:39):
negotiate, I'll next negotiate and getit over with so as we can go
home. I heard Hitler's got asecret weapon, bacteriological stuff. He's just
waiting for the right time to useit. If I'd arrested every guy I
heard beating a rumor, I'd havehad half the Gis and Paris in the

(12:03):
clink. The guy I was lookingfor was a guy who did all the
talking the other day. I knewhe was one of the guys lounging in
the living room or sprawled on thepatio or loafing in the gardens, yes,
but which one. For several daysI didn't get anywhere, And then
I noticed Corporal Alan Chester. Imight never have paid any attention to him

(12:28):
if he hadn't paid so much attentionto Celeste. Every time I looked up,
they had their heads together, andCeleste was smiling. And the time
I found them sitting on a benchin the garden, she was actually laughing.
Oh well, if it was agood story, you're going to have

(12:50):
to tell it again, Corporal.It was a very good story. You
have met my husband, haven't you. Alla? This is goodber and shifted
boy. We've met so many timesand embarrassing. I've already apologized to your
wife, Monsieur, for wearing outmy welcome. No apologies necessary. My
only excuse is I can't stay away. Your chateau was the first place I

(13:11):
fell at ease since I left home. Whereas home government Lafayet, Indiana,
lafay Yet well, an American townwith a great French name. It's right.
Maybe that's why I feel like Ifound a second home right here,
twenty kilometers from Paris. There wasn'tmuch to go, just the word that

(13:31):
didn't ring quite true. I tookCelesti aside and asked her about it,
Adam Schester, do you think hemight be? You? Out of who?
Lieutenant? Maybe? But I stillwant to know why. I said
kilometers In Indiana they say miles toyou. He was a Harvard graduate.

(13:52):
They say miles at Harvard too.Only Europeans say kilometers. And because of
that you suspect him of being aNazi Asian. How absurd. He is
the most shaming of all the menwho have come here. I noticed you
thought, so, did you,Lieutenant? Then maybe that is the Lisa,

(14:16):
and you suspect him. I admittedshe might have something there. I
admitted it to myself that it wasnot to select. An hour later,
a jeep with four gis and itrolled through the gates of the chateau,
and one of the gis was CorporalAlan Chester. And thirty seconds later I

(14:41):
was behind the wheel of celeste littleJaguar following the jeep. Dusting was falling,
and the road to Paris was linedwith traffic, and it wasn't too
hard to keep a few cars behindthe jeep, seeing without being seen.
In town, the jeep pulled upin front of a cafe on the Boulevard
Sands, Germaine and Corporal Chester climbedout and waved goodbye to the other three.

(15:11):
Luckily it was a gloomy joint.He walked straight across the dance floor.
I hugged the walls and moved inthe same direction. He didn't stop
at the bar, he didn't sitdown at the table. He headed straight

(15:31):
for a back door. He openedit and he went out. I gave
him ten seconds. Then I wentout the back door too. It was
an alley and as dark as onlya paras alley can be. So dark,
I thought there was only one guyleaning against the building, Hard Monsieur

(15:56):
as a cigarette. I dug intomy pocket for a cigarette. That's when
I knew that there were two guys. I whirled around. The second one
was standing behind me, and therewas something in his hand that looked like
a black jack. My fist shotout quick and connected, but number one
was on me then, with ahole that hurt. I broke away and
I'll let him have it. Andthat's when I found out what it was.

(16:19):
The other man held that looked likea black jack. It was a
black jack. I hit the cobblestonethe moment I saw Number two standing over
me and heard a girl singing faraway, and I didn't see or hear

(16:41):
anything more for a long time.It was dawn when I climbed up to
the third floor the chateau. Ifso Lust was sleeping, she woke up
plenty fast. And if she hadto get into that shimmery house coach,

(17:03):
she wore, she must have doneit in record time. Du you look
terrible. I didn't tell her thatshe looked wonderful. I didn't ask her
if I could come in either.I had just walked past her, and
I sat down on the bay.I told her what had happened in the
alley off the Boulevard sam Germain.But all the time I talked, I

(17:29):
was thinking of something else. Butwe were alone. But she was very
beautiful. And so now, ofcourse you are quite certain that Kirkbery sches
there is is yourmin asient. Wellthat's how it adds up, doesn't it.
Perhaps I am not so good atfigures. These meant me I've been
thieves. They took your money inhis path. Well that doesn't prove anything.

(17:52):
Well, that could have been acover up. But why would Kirberry
and Chester. I have wanted youbeatn up? Why it stopped me from
tailor? Now that cafe may bea regular hangout, and his boys may
hang around outside to take care ofany shadows who show up. Then you
think he did not know you werefollowing him to night well as boys may
have reported that they slugged the guyin the alley, but but they can't

(18:15):
be sure who I was, oreven that I was tailing him. I
see might look that funny. No, I am just thinking, what I
fool? You are strange? Iwas thinking the same thing myself. What

(18:37):
do you mean a man who hasa wife as lovely as you doesn't even
kiss her. He is a fool, isn't he? It would be even
more of a fool if he tried. Have you forgotten that bargain strictly impersonal
relationship? You said? I saidwhen you said you'd be loyal to Paul

(19:00):
Blanchard's memory, And am I notbeing loyal? I don't know. The
way you smiled at Alan Chester wouldn'tsuggest you are. Oh you do not
like to rear smelledymah, I don'tlike it at all. Then naturally you
would not wish me to accept thisinvitation? What invitation? That is why

(19:25):
I call you a fool? Lookingon you think ellen Aire's men to keep
anyone from finding out where he isstaying. Why then, is he so
careless with me? Why does heinvite me to his room? Why that?
Of course? If I went,I could tell you where he is
staying. Perhaps I could tell youa great deal more. If he's a

(19:48):
Nazi agent, I would surely findit out. But you do not want
me to go. You're to go, whether I want it or not.
Oh no, but you are,Lieutenant. So she kept her date with

(20:10):
Corporal Allen Chester, and I pacedthe rooms of the chateau and waited for
her. It suffered. It wasdawn when she got back. Well,
let's have a report, the personalone, Lieutenant, or the impersonal one.
The impersonal one is the only onethat concerns me, may we Well,

(20:30):
I found out nothing, and Iam more certain than of it that
there is nothing to find out.Okay, thank you. Well, maybe
you'll try again some other night.The maronight it is unarranged, I see,
and I will give you the personalreport to lieutenant, even though it
does not concern you. I hada lovely time It was the next night

(21:00):
when I began to suspect her.I suppose I started even before she came
home. I tried to look atthings straight, and I asked myself if
I were being taken for a ride. She walked in an hour later.
You are wasting precious time, Lieutenant. I still think Ellen is just what

(21:21):
he says. He is an Americansoldier on detached service in Ferie. I
have seen his hearders. Well,orders can be fatal, sissir Hea.
Then if you are still suspicious,I will keep another date with you the
marrow night. I decided the betterbe three of us on that date.

(21:41):
She told me the name of hishotel, an old and honorable one,
and the root of old you are. I slipped into its musty larvae early
the next morning. An old manwith bushy brows and a faintly familiar face
eyed me as I approached the desk. I told him was Paul Blanchard,
the master Chateau Breton. If yousay you are Paul Blanchell Monsieur, then

(22:07):
you are Paul Blanchell. Any reasonto suppose I'm not mean al Monsieur,
none at all, just as therewas no reason doing the resistance to suppose
that you are an oss Adrian.I remembered him. Then. He had

(22:29):
been in the Marquis. You knowI'd work with on a mission before d
Day. It was Pierre Salon,a patriot. It was a break and
I knew that I was safe,safe enough to tell him as much as
necessary. It shall be done.Let this coupled. Chester's in room six
thirteen. Room six twelve will bevacant or evening. Here's the key to

(22:51):
a lieutenant. The dog between thetwo rooms will be unlocked. Unfortunately,
there was five minutes after CELESTI hadleft that night, I was on the
road to Paris. At the hotel. I went straight to the room six
twelve. Let myself in. Wasempty, pitch blacken. There was no

(23:17):
sound from six thirteen Celestian. CorporalChester had probably gone to a cafe first.
It might be a long wait.It was a long wait, and
a hot one. The windows wereclosed, the room was stuffy. I
stood there in the blackness and thesweat poured down my face. In the

(23:41):
minutes ticked by. Then at lastthe door the six thirteen opened and pressed
my ear against the wall. Ohl, the air was right about that
wall. It was paper thick.God would never get up here, darling,
or I could kiss you. I'vebeen wanting to kiss you all evening.
Oh the sweat was rolling down myface harder than ever. I don't

(24:02):
see how I'm ever gonna be ableto leave your Celeste last. Leaving Paris
tomorrow morning is very hard to pease. All. Yeah, if I were
not married before, were not reallymy husband? What's the use of saying
that he is your husband? Butwhat if I tell you is not?
What if I can't and mockery?I wasn't sweating anymore now, I was

(24:26):
so cold I shift. I don'tunderstand, Celeste. You mean he's only
pretending to be your husband? Butwhy in order to trap you? He
is an a merchant, an officerin the oasis. He thinks you are
a Nunciations. The butt of myrevolver was cold too, my hands squeezed

(24:47):
tight around it. Is this true, Celeste? He actually thinks I'm a
German? Yes, and I thinkso too. I know you are,
Celeste, but I don't care.I would not two of your mess if
I be I love you, howlong would you go on loving me?
I were an enemy of fracts whathe say, any country, to any

(25:11):
woman, I would love you nomatter what you are. Alright, So
let's you're right. I'm a memberof the intelligence Service of the Third Right.
I twisted the knob, jerked openthe door, and stepped in the
room. Six thirteen. Thank youfor selling me out, mademoiselle. You
weren't a traitor. I might neverhave been sure about. Corporal Chestnut with

(25:32):
a lamp on the table, theonly light in the room, and it
stood behind him as I spoke,a swift movement of his arms and a
crashing to the floor. Now therewas darkness again, enveloping all three of
us. We all moved, Wechanged our positions swiftly, silently. None
of us could speak without tipping offwhere we were. Neither Chester nor I
could fire for fear of missing.So we circled the room, and we

(25:57):
waited for our eyes to go accustomedto the dark. And then he must
have thought he saw me. Hemissed me. The bullet struck something near
the door, but the flash ofhis gun was all I needed. I
fired, and then on the thirdshot. It wasn't until old Pierre Salon

(26:23):
opened the door and light from thehall flooded the room that I saw what
the light Corporal Chesters bulleted it hitit mistaken Celeste for me. She lay
dead where she had dropped h sidhomagele a sidomage in this wall. Even

(26:49):
the innocent was the innocent. Hewas a traitor. Pierre, No,
died just as much as that rattleverthere. But if that is so,
then I should not have told her. Lieutenant. I am sorry. I
told her what she passed by thedisk. I thought she was working with

(27:10):
you. You did not? Yes, yes, But what did you say
to her? I said, Oras well, ma'amiselle, what the lieutenant
has a ive? He is inwhom six twelve? Good Lord? Then
she knew all the time. Thenthe only possible reason why she would have
told him who I was was wasto persuade him to confess who he was.

(27:33):
She'd have been crazy to say whatshe did otherwise, knowing that I
was listening. Then she did notbetray you, No, Pierre, No,
she didn't betray me. Perhaps itwas you she loved the lieutenant.
No, Pierre, it was Franceyou loved. The rest was easy.

(28:07):
In Corporal Chester's room, he founda list of names and Coke. We
broke the code before dawn the nextmorning. By that night we had every
Nazi agent and GI uniform corral,and once again the report of another OSS
agent closes with the words mission accomplished. Listen again next week to another true

(28:30):
adventure from the files of the OSSon Cloak and Dagger. Heard in Tonight's
Cloak and Dager Adventurers Lieutenant Ingalls wasChuck Webster, Celeste Alice Frost, Corporal

(28:53):
Alan Chester, Joseph Julian. Otherswere Carl Weber, Evelin Juster, Jerry
Jarrett, Lois Sarem, Horace Bramand Anna Karen. The script was written
by ken Field and music was underthe direction of John Gart, sound effects
by Manny Siegel and John Powers,Engineering by Don Abbott. Tonight's OSS Adventure
was based on the book Cloak andDagger by Cory Ford and Alistair McBain.

(29:17):
This program was produced by Lewis G. Cowen and Alfred Hollander under the direction
and supervision of Sherman Marx. ThreeChimes Mean Good Times on NBC