Long Live Walter Jameson - Plot

Plot

Walter Jameson, a college professor, is engaged to a young doctoral student named Susanna Kittridge. Susanna's father, Samuel Kittridge, another professor at Walter's college, becomes suspicious of Walter because he doesn't appear to have aged in the 12 years they have known each other and seems to have unrealistically detailed knowledge of some pieces of history that don't appear in texts. Jameson at one point reads from an original Civil War diary in his possession. Later, Kittridge discovers the truth after recognizing his future son-in-law in a Mathew Brady Civil War photograph. Jameson had earlier denied having an ancestor in the war. Moreover, the man in the photograph has the same facial mole, and wears the same ring, as Jameson.

Jameson ultimately reveals his real-life history, which includes the fact that agelessness (but no kind of immunity to injury) was imparted to him by an alchemist more than 2,000 years ago. Jameson indicates that he's old enough to have known Plato personally. Jameson doesn't know what was done to him by the alchemist, only that the alchemist was gone when he recovered, and he then stopped aging while everyone around him continued with normal living. Soon, he had to leave and become a constant refugee.

Kittridge asks Jameson to share this "gift" with him, but Jameson doesn't know how. Jameson tells Kittridge that even if he could share it with him, it would only make him immortal from that point forward. He asks Kittridge if he would want to be a 70-year-old man forever. Jameson tells Kittridge that he learned a terrible lesson from living for so long and reveals his desire to die. Jameson mentions that he keeps a revolver in his desk drawer but doesn't have the courage to use it.

Kittridge soon realizes that if Jameson marries his daughter, she will grow old, and Jameson will eventually abandon her in order to keep his secret. Kittridge then refuses permission for Jameson to marry his daughter. In spite of this, Jameson proposes to Susanna, and they plan to immediately elope.

Unbeknownst to Walter, he is being stalked by an elderly woman. She is Laurette Bowen (Estelle Winwood), one of his many wives and consorts through the years, whom he had abandoned when she grew old and frail while he remained young. She claims that she cannot allow Walter to destroy another woman's life. She discovers Jameson's pistol lying on his desk, and impulsively shoots him. Kittridge passes by Laurette as she is making her escape. When he enters Jameson's study, he finds Jameson bleeding but seemingly at peace. Soon, Jameson starts to rapidly age. Kittridge attempts to help but nothing can be done, and Jameson collapses on the floor. Susanna enters the house, and Kittridge tries to stop her from seeing the aged Walter, saying only that he is gone. He is unable to keep her out of the room, but once inside, she discovers only an empty suit of clothes with a white substance near the collar and sleeves. When Susanna asks what is on the floor, the professor replies, "Dust, only dust."