1 EXT CLIFF NIGHT

It is late summer, dusk; the sky is darkening ominously with a gathering of great
storm clouds, black, evil and frightening. A terrifying crack of thunder is followed by
a crystal clear fork of lightning which illuminates a windswept cliff top path. The rain
whips the landscape mercilessly and there emerges from the gloom a coach and
horses careering desperately close to the cliff edge. Inside the coach sit two couples
facing each other, the younger of which, the newly wed MR and MRS PRESTON are
both white with fear. The other couple are; PROFESSOR WYNDHAM, an elderly
man, greying hair, bespectacled, with lean, sharp features and quick, piercing eyes
and his beautiful young daughter, MYRA, dark-haired, black, haunting eyes and a
calm, almost disquieting, self-assurance. Mrs Preston looks out of the window and
recoils in horror.