Dialog from Episode 383 scene 5.

     PEYTON COMPETENCY HEARING

  1. Mr. Jordan.
  2. Atty. Wm. Kennerly.
  3. Mrs. Foster.
  4. Adrienne Van Leyden.
10:00 [Courtroom of Judge Irwin A. Chester.] CC: Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God? MF: I do. WK: [Quietly] Do you know her? MP: [Quietly] Never saw her before. SC: Thank you for coming, Mrs. Foster. I know what an inconvenience it was. And what an ordeal it will be. Are you married? MF: I was. SC: Is your husband deceased? MF: No. We're divorced. SC: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Divorce is a devastating and often needless way to solve certain difficulties. SC: Can you tell us why it happened? MF: My husband was a rather well known and accomplished chaser. SC: You mean he saw other women while married to you? MF: Oh, he was discrete, but persistent. WK: Your honor, this is simply not germane to the issue of competency. JC: I must agree, Mr. Cord. Your witnesses thus far have testified directly to the issue at hand. SC: So does Mrs. Foster, your honor. Mr. Jordan testified as to Mr. Peyton's forgetfulness at the cemetary. Mr. Kennerly himself has testified as to the wills. I must ask that a-l-l testimony relate directly to competency. SC: I'm building a line, your honor. JC: Proceed, Mr. Cord. SC: You have stated that your husband saw other women while married to you. Mrs. Foster, what did you do about that? MF: Well, when I finally had enough of it, after 17 years, I decided to get a divorce. But, well, Charles just wouldn't hear of that. He was content with his life. He could pursue his hobby with having to deal with any lasting entanglemants. Well, you see. Charles was a conosseur. With a very large appetite. SC: What did you do? MF: Decided to feed that appetite. With a concoction he couldn't resist. SC: In other words, you hired someone to compromise your husband in order for you to obtain your divorce. MF: And to obtain a settlement. At the rate of a dollar an infidelity, I would be a very rich women. SC: How did you find this person? MF: Through a private detective agency? SC: Is that person you hired present in this courtroom? MF: Yes, she is. SC: Would you point her out? MF: There she is. That's the woman. SC: Let the record show that the witness indicated Adrienne Van Leyden. MF: Only then her name was Holland. SC: What happened? MF: She agreed. And then decided to play both sides of the street. SC: Will you explain that? MF: Oh, with pleasure. She knew a good thing She bled my husband dry while telling me she suspected something. She needed more time and more money. SC: You mean she lied to you? MF: She lied to both of us. Over and over. Until he had nothing, and I had less. She then coerced him into a final payment that sent him into bankruptcy. I was left with a broken man and a mountain of defts. I finally got out from under two years later. MF: I went to work. SC: Corobberation, your honor. JC: Witness is excused. SC: Thank you, Mrs. Foster. [Mrs. Foster gets up and goes to the back of the courtroom.] [mood music] SC: Call Adrienne Van Leyden to the stand. CC: Adrienne Van Leyden, please take the stand. 3:42 [break for commercial] CC: Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God? AVL: I do. SC: What are you doing in Peyton Place, Mrs. Van Leyden? AVL: I believe you already know that, Steven. SC: Refresh my memory. AVL: I'm engaged to Martin Peyton. SC: Were you engaged before you arrived here? AVL: No. SC: What brought you? AVL: Mr. Peyton graciously asked me to be his house guest. My husband and he were friends. SC: Oh, well then. It was love at first sight. JC: Let's drop the sarcasm, counselor. SC: I'm sorry, your honor. SC: How much did he pay you to become his fiancée? JC: Mr. Cord, I've warned you about that type of question. WK: Your honor, I fail to see the revelency in this line of questioning. JC: That makes two of us. Care to let us in on it, Mr. Cord? SC: I intend to establish, your honor, that Mrs. Van Leyden was brought here by Martin Peyton, for the express purpose of destroying my marriage, so that he could carry out the provisions of his bizarre, eccentric, amoral will. Namely the namely the marriage of my wife to his grandson, Rodney Harrington. JC: I'm going to give you a little more room, Mr. Cord. Bit, if you've got a point, I suggest you make it. JC: Objection denied. SC: How would you describe yourself, Mrs. Van Leyden? AVL: I'm a housewife SC: And before that? AVL: Various things. SC: Please be more specific. AVL: Well, when I was 5 I started to kindergarten and then I wwnt to first grade . . . SC: Does the name Richey Taeger mean anything to you? AVL: No, not off hand. SC: I have a photostatic copy of a private detective agency's report on Richie Taeger and his business associates. SC: Would you please read the name I've underlined? AVL: Adrienne Holland. SC: Well, isn't that a coincidence? You both have the same first name. What was your maiden name Mrs. Van Leyden? AVL: Holland. SC: Exactly what was your business with Mr. Taeger? AVL: We were just friends. SC: So friendly that he paid the rent on your $450 a month apartment? AVL: No. SC: I have photostats of the rent receipts, Mrs. Van Leyden. AVL: It was a loan. SC: Yes, I can imagine how you paid it back. JC: Strike that. SC: Wasn't Richie Taeger one of New York's foremost suppliers of party girls? And weren't you one of his most expensive commodities? WK: Objection. JC: Sustained. SC: Did you go to many parties while you were in New York, Mrs. Van Leyden? AVL: A few. SC: Did you go to one where another of business associates took an overdose of drugs and wound up in the morgue? AVL: I don't remember. SC: She was 19 years old. Mrs. Van Leyden. I wouldn't enjoy having to read the police report on that party. AVL: Wouldn't you, Steven? SC: Didn't Richie Taeger set you up in business? WK: Objection. SC: As a professional in the play-for-pay set? WK: Your honor, the witness is not on trial here. The purpose of this hearing to determine the competency of my client. SC: Your client hired this woman to destroy my marriage. JC: Mr. Cord you have a very strong voice. But so far you haven't reached me. SC: I contend that the only difference between a party girl who takes $100 for the powder room, and a $10,000 bracelet from a senile old man, is the price. JC: Those are very serious charges. SC: I believe I have corrobborated them, your honor. SC: I'll put the question to Mrs. Van Leyden. SC: Did Martin Peyton hire you to break up my marriage? AVL: No. He did not? SC: Did anyone hire you to break up a marriage. JC: Strike that. The witness will disregard the question. SC: Thank you, Mrs. Van Leyden JC: The witness may step down. You've been very helpful. MP: Stay where you are, Adrienne. JC: Mr. Peyton. MP: Stay where you are. He gave her the means to start a new life. And I intend to continue those means. JC: Mr. Peyton, please. [Gavel] Look to yourself Steven Cord, then cast the first stone. Or are you to busy trying to get your hands on my money with this circus. Well, do you have an answer? Or are you ashemed to give one? JC: Is that your case, Mr. Cord? SC: That's my case. JC: The witness may step down. JC: Case dismissed. [Gavel] Episode 383, Scene 5 HOME