] The power to the house was cut off (by Watkins in the basement), and Ryan realized that they were once again personally threatened.He is returning home o Los Angeles from college in the East.Appearing slightly shy and unprepossessing, his face has a blank, expressionless, enervated, zombie-like look.The exterior of a Chicago steel mill, and a view of junk pickers (one of whom is Abby) searching through industrial scrap.After a day of horseback riding and romance, he proposed marriage o her at breakfast the following morning."The middle-aged, refined-looking, aristocratic gentleman, Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan) ascends a winding staircase, enters his apartment, and then assures his grey-haired, mute servant John (Art Smith) that he will not keep his engagement - as he clarifies his life's values of irresponsibility and self-indulgence: "This is one engagement I have no intention of keeping.