You're welcome! 

Lawyers didn't go to law school in those days. A young man (never a woman) who wanted to be a lawyer would more or less apprentice himself (for a hefty fee) to someone who already had a practice. That person would supervise his studies and would decide when he was qualified to practice law. I suppose that being poor, Peter couldn't afford to pay for an apprenticeship. He did the next best thing by becoming the jailer so he could work with suspects and read law in his spare time.

Missed you, Lydia!  I guess that tradition developed back when the world was flat.

Wow, MT, you raise some interesting questions.

I think I have a good idea of the answer to your first one: Then as now, navy ships are commissioned from and built in privately owned shipyards. Nowadays, they might go to Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut. With his background as a Patriot, Joshua no doubt has managed to wangle some highly  lucrative contracts from the fledgling U.S. Navy. I think the earliest shipyards were in New England, because that's where all the timber was, so having one in Collinsport actually makes sense. (I've edited a lot of history books, and some interesting but useless factoids have lodged in my brain as a result.)

Suicide actually was illegal in a lot of places, especially those with theocratic tendences. I'm sure it was illegal in Britain. I don't know about Maine, but since it was originally a British colony a lot of the laws would have been similar or the same. The rationale for criminalizing it was that in taking your own life, you were sinning against the Creator himself, who alone has the power of life and death and who was the source (it was believed) of all government power--remember all those divine right rulers. If you survived a suicide attempt, you would go to prison.

The burial upside down at a crossroads was to make sure your soul wouldn't somehow find its way to heaven.

Countess - heart-shaped beauty mark - and according to the beauty mark chart (thanx, DL!) it proclaims that she is married.

 

I don't think it's a spoiler when I say that I also loved Naomi's sumptuous evening robe. I think the collar is supposed to be (I hope) fake chinchilla. I still say JB never looked more beautiful than in the 1795 story, and Naomi is one of my all-time favorite characters.

Poor Barnabas has so little reason now to hold on to any human feelings. But even now, Angelique won't let him give himself up. She has destroyed what she supposedly loved, and the transformation is complete: Barnabas has changed from an affectionate, lively, even passionately volatile young man to the ruthless, tortured creature we first met when he grabbed the hapless Willie Loomis by the throat.

Joshua and Naomi (in her dark lime green gown) are in the drawing room at Collinwood. Naomi reports, Madame du Pres has cried herself to sleep. [How did the family learn of Josette’s death, which occurred with no _living_ witness? Perhaps Natalie and Riggs found her shattered body at the foot of Widows Hill.]

Poor Millicent is changing too, and not for the better. Now we can see the first hint of madness in her eyes. (Nice work by NB.)

Another sad soliloquy for Barnabas as he kneels by Jeremiah’s grave marker. He tells his cousin, I am glad you cannot see me now. Now Josette will now lie beside you--the husband she never loved. You will be together in death as you never were in life. The choice was not your own. Angelique has made you win again.

But Millicent actually catches sight of him and decides he will avenge her honor. After all, she tells the shocked Joshua and Naomi, Barnabas has already fought one duel. The fact that she addresses this offhand remark to the man whose son killed his (J's) brother must be proof of dawning insanity--Millicent was so thoughtful of Naomi before.

Joshua is back to his usual pompous form, declaring that only he will testify at Vicki's trial.