Barnabas--who as we saw in 1795 really is quite a sociable creater--no longer needs the coffin, so he can be as hospitable as he pleases! He now has a houseful of guests on his hands for an indefinite stay.
Too bad we don't get a scene of the negotiations between Mrs. J and Willie.
David suggests to Amy that they go to the kitchen and ask Willie to tell them a story. One wonders if the stories Willie knows are suitable for such young ears.
Chris tells Barn about seeing a stranger in a frock coat. The writing and direction have worked us into such a state that even hearing about Quentin is scary now! Barn knows who Chris means and is gently perceptive about Chris's plight. Maggie joins them and tells them about hearing David say Quentin's name (after Quentin had burned his arm).
Now that Barnabas knows the ghost's name, he can make some progress. He gives Chris and Maggie a photo album to see if they can identify the man they saw while he does a bit of research on his own. From another book, he reads aloud: Quentin Collins, born 1870; date of death--unknown. Maggie and Chris find a photo of Quentin (labeled in excellent Palmer Method penmanship) and show it to Barnabas. The caption reads, "Quentin, just before he left for Paris." [The coincidence here is still lost on Barnabas, who supposedly went to England.]
Meanwhile, the kids go back to the Old House. Sure that Beth will protect her, Amy bravely goes upstairs alone to retrieve the candlestick telephone from Maggie's room.
Carolyn stops by the cottage and finds a very nice photo of Chris and Amy together. She's glad that Chris has decided to stay, but he breaks her heart all over again when he insists they can't see each other any more.
Worried about Amy, David decides to look for her. She tells him that the phone is gone! The next minute, Maggie bursts in and tells them, Forget the phone! Don't concern yourselves with anything like it anymore! And stop running off, too! The kids are quite happy to agree. I never want to go into this house again! David declares. I don’t either, Amy says. The three of them have a group hug, right there in the foyer. It’s good to believe you, Maggie tells them. Amy decides she wants to visit Chris, and Maggie agrees as long as Chris brings her back to the Old House. Since the children aren’t supposed to be outside alone, Maggie and David walk Amy to Chris’s cottage.
Carolyn leaves in tears when Amy arrives at the cottage. Did you make her unhappy? she asks. I did, Chris admits wretchedly, and myself even more so. (And it’s plainly written all over his face.)
In the evening at the Old House, we see a scene of some domestic tranquility. Maggie is reading by the drawing room fire while Barnabas continues his researches. [They look very comfortable together, but where is Julia? Maybe she has some responsibilities at Windcliff.] How little information there is on Quentin Collins, Barnabas comments wearily as he looks up from his book. His life seems uneventful until he went to Europe. The family histories are often inaccurate, he muses, carefully not looking at Maggie. He continues, There’s nothing to indicate why he would drive the family out of the house, possess the children. Maggie suggests Barnabas get some rest, but he answers, Not until I find something out. Why did he choose David? He had a much younger brother about David’s age--Jamison Collins. But that’s no reason why he would choose David! [Eventually the writers [spoiler]grafted Edward (formerly Oscar) Collins (Louis Edmonds) onto the family tree as Quentin’s older brother and Jamison as his son and therefore Quentin’s nephew. [/spoiler]The family histories are often inaccurate.]
David's room in the Old House is the first present-day upstairs room we see, apart from Josette's room, so Willie has finished the renovations after all. We never do see where Barnabas sleeps as a mortal man--presumably in his old room, or more likely in what was once his father’s room, since he himself is now the master of the Old House. David awakes from an uneasy sleep to hear Quentin’s music. Then he hears a phone ringing and sits up in bed. Quentin’s phone is on David’s table--in David’s room. He’s still staring at it when Amy comes in and chirps in a creepy voice, Beth woke me! I had forgotten how nice Beth is, how pretty the music sounds. David stares into space, mesmerized.
Maggie tells Barnabas, I believe that today, David was really trying to fight Quentin. I believed him when he said he never wanted to go to Collinwood again. I'll look in on him before I go to bed. Don't despair, Barnabas reassures her. We'll learn what it's all about, and soon--I know it. Maggie wishes him goodnight and goes upstairs.
But left alone, Barnabas seems to sense the full weight of the challenges ahead of him. Frowning as he closes the book, he thinks to himself, Quentin Collins! While he lived, I lay in my coffin in the mausoleum. He did not know about me, nor I him. Now, now I must discover the secret of his life! How? How?
Maggie opens the door to David’s room. [She closes it, but it opens again behind her.] First she sees the candlestick telephone on the table--and then she sees that David’s bed is empty. He’s gone! she gasps. He’s gone!....
