Yes, Patti, I remember this topic too.
I agree that Roger and Elizabeth would have been shaken to learn that Barnabas was a vampire, but ultimately they would have rallied to protect his secret, partly in gratitude for all that he had done to save the family, and partly from a sense of family duty. The Collinses were very clannish; they stuck together when there was trouble and did their utmost to keep problems and scandals within the family. Elizabeth would never let David be exposed as a near-murderer, Carolyn and Roger would never let the villagers find out about Liz's death obsession, and nobody would have let any harm come to Barnabas.
Moreover, he was not an evil-doer by choice. When he attacked a victim, it was because the curse had inflicted him with bloodlust (or because he needed to keep a villain from harming the family.) In fact, I think Barnabas could have made his life a lot simpler if he had come clean with the family after the Leviathans turned him into a vampire (e.g. "Look--I tried to stop them from taking over the world and harming Carolyn, and this is what they did to me!") Roger certainly recognized that the Leviathans were an evil force and would have seen Barnabas's affliction as a punishment that he did not deserve. Under these circumstances, I think Liz and Roger would have pitied Barnabas and been sympathetic to his plight.
ProfStokes
