Seems more likely that Walter buried Matthew--but maybe Elizabeth quietly paid the expenses.

He must have, mustn't he? Unless.... If Julia and Barnabas hadn't arrived in 1840, maybe Roxanne would have resigned herself to marrying Lamar and becoming Gregory's mother. Hmm......

Lydia, wonderful post about the Justin-Josette affair. I'm sure you're right on target!

If Josette went to Boston alone (alone with Justin, that is), Bramwell must have been packed off to stay with his relations at the Great House. Strange to imagine the "boys" as teenagers. Maybe all four of them were even tutored together--I can imagine Justin arranging this for Josette's sake. But I'll bet this is when the enmity between Morgan and Bramwell began--family hatreds tend to have deep and bitter roots.

And poor Flora indeed! I wonder if she would have nursed Justin so devotedly and faithfully if she had known he had been unfaithful. And after he went mad, she never even thought of finding consolation for herself with another man. Maybe she thought no man could be finer than her husband, who had willingly sacrificed himself for all of them.

Justin (and Josette) must have concealed the affair very well. I suspect Julia didn't go through his old clothes and find the note until after he had done his time in the Locked Room. She could hardly take out her anger on him then. No wonder she became so protective of Flora, and no wonder she was so full of suppressed anger. And no wonder she could hardly bear even to look at Josette.

Although splashy weddings are a traditional soap-opera staple, Melanie and Kendrick are wise to get married off camera. The on-camera weddings I can remember are not very promising affairs: Angelique and Barnabas. And look at how that worked out. Ditto Vicki and Peter Bradford/Jeff Clark, Carolyn and Jeb, and Judah and RT Daphne.

I always though Melanie was possessed by the real Amanda. Part of Brutus's plan in keeping her spirit somehow imprisoned is to warp her to serve his needs. The last thing he would want is for her to rest in peace.

Well, PT Josette certainly has had a checkered career! I wonder if she was as demure and virginal as RT Josette when she married Barnabas. But pain and loss abound in this lose-lose situation: Josette turned to Justin in her grief, and when Julia found out, she probably felt Josette betrayed her personally as well as The Collins Family. That would go quite a ways toward explaining Julia's stiff-backed piety. And poor Flora never knew. At least the last we see of Josette, she's trading glares with Julia!

For Melanie, the main point of the story is that her parents were in love. Her morals are as tail-first as Bramwell's, so it must be hereditary!

It's kind of sweet to imagine little Melanie toddling around after the older Bramwell. Judging from the few times we've seen them together, he must have been very patient with her. She implies that Morgan and Gabriel didn't have time for her but that Quentin was nicer.

Wonderful work by KJ in Daphne's recovery and death scene, and by JF too. So very sad.

MT, I was in the middle of writing when your post appeared. I have a feeling that Josette went off to Boston when she started to show, probably giving everyone--including Bramwell--the excuse that Barnabas's estate was hopelessly entangled and it would take her forever to straighten things out. If Bramwell had any idea that Melanie was his half-sister, I'm sure he would have spoken about it, if only to her and his mother.

My private theory about Daphne was that she died of grief over Bramwell's neglect. But was her death connected with the Curse? Interesting idea. It might have been in a way--Bramwell always refused to take part in the lottery, so maybe Brutus was punishing him by striking Daphne down. After all, she was taken ill at Collinwood, the seat of Brutus's power.

Not at all, MT! You are quite right! 

Well, okay, I guess this was the goriest on-screen death in the show--pretty jolting stuff for 1971 daytime TV. Other deaths on the show were also gory, but the gore was more discreet. Think of everyone who got shot, stabbed, strangled or vamped or who fell or jumped off Widows' Hill!

Thanks! *bows low*