by Wilkie Collins
Dramatised as a serial for radio in twelve parts by Howard Agg
4—' The Fatal Step '
Characters in order of speaking:
Produced by David H. Godfrey
The death of both their parents has left Magdalen and Norah Vanstone alone at Combe-Raven with their former governess, Miss Garth. It is to Miss Garth that their late father's lawyer, Mr. Pendril, explains that the two girls were both born out of wedlock, their father having been married to a woman who would not accede to a divorce. The letter Mr. Vanstone had received just prior to his death brought information of the death of his wife, thus enabling him to marry the girls' mother, with whom he had been living for many years. With this ceremony complete, he had intentions of making a new will but he wes killed before being able to do so. Hence not one penny of the £ 80,000 fortune will be inherited by the two daughters, but the money will pass in its entirety to their uncle, Mr. Michael Vanstone.