Nicholas has underestimated Adam, who accuses him (N.) of acting as if he (N.) owned Adam and Eve.
Eve boasts about killing Philippe Cordier out of love for Peter Bradford. But Peter/Jeff wants nothing to do with her, and she goes back home to sulk.
Nicholas visits Maggie and asks her to marry him. The painting Nicholas purchased from Maggie and took away is now back in the Evans Cottage. Only we viewers know the depth of his dismay and disappointment when she gently refuses him. Assuming there’s nothing more to be said, he makes to go, but Maggie says, You have a right to an explanation. I am grateful for the kindness you’ve shown me in recent months. But even though Joe and I are through, I’ll always be concerned for him. I don’t feel I can make any plans until he has recovered. Nicholas asks what she means and is astounded to hear that Barnabas found him in the woods, badly injured after his suicide attempt. Nicholas expresses his crocodile sympathy and asks if she saw him at the hospital. No, she tells him, at the Old House. She also tells Nicholas that Joe admitted there was “another girl,” but (to Nicholas’s relief) Joe didn’t say her name. Nicholas can always come up with the means, but now he has a motive; all he’s missing is an opportunity. He leaves as quickly as he can without seeming rude.
Nicholas returns home and tells Adam that their departure will be delayed, making Adam very angry. Just then Harry arrives, and Nicholas orders Adam out. Nicholas gives Harry a vial of poison and tells him to go to the Old House once it gets very late, find out which room Joe is in, and pour it into his medicine. Harry raises faint objections--he may be a bad hat but he’s no murderer. Nicholas simply asks, Do you need to be disciplined again? The mere mention of “discipline” is enough to send Harry packing, however reluctantly. Nicholas tells us, By tomorrow morning, Joe Haskell will be dead....
