I can see why Mr. Drew would want to have his daughter married to the heir of Collinwood, but why would Daniel want the marriage?

Magnus, if I remember, sometime at the beginning of this story line somebody mentions that Mr. Drew the elder owns the Collinsport bank. So I suppose Daniel might have been counting on having an unlimited ATM in the family.

I do like your hypotheses about why Quentin might have married Samantha in the first place. Maybe he did feel that he would be less likely to murder a woman he hardly knew. And it sounds as if he's been to sea more than once, maybe partly for the same reason. I have to feel sorry for both of them--perfectly decent people but totally wrong for each other.

And I also am enjoying Samantha's woes as well as Virginia Vestoff's performance.

Best line today is from Gerard: Samantha--I forgot to tell Samantha!

Interesting point. I'm sure the original Collinses were solid Puritans who believed their commercial success was owing to predestination or whatever. Being a Catholic in Puritan Massachusetts was virtually impossible--I think you could be fined, imprisoned, banished or any number of other unpleasant things. You certainly couldn't own property. But we can hypothesize that as the town grew and the shipbuilding business took off, the Collinses found themselves forced to look farther afield than Collinsport for shipyard workers--it was a real skill, not just a dead-end job. So they might have (grudgingly) employed non-Puritans, say, French or French-Canadian or Portuguese workers who at first might have had to hide their religion or at the very least practice it in secret and certainly without benefit of clergy. I suppose eventually as the town's Catholic (and general) population grew and as the religious laws of Massachusetts were relaxed or ignored, they might have been able to build some kind of inconspicuous chapel and a teeny graveyard somewhere on the edge of town. I just don't know enough to say for sure, but it's certainly interesting (at least for me) to speculate about!

Interestingly, Josette was buried at Eagle Hill--I suppose her father and the countess could have imported a priest to consecrate her grave site at least. One wonders whether her and Barnabas's children would have been brought up Catholic--the church would have insisted on it, but without a strong Catholic presence Joshua might have prevailed.

Anyway, Zahir, thanks for bringing this up!

Bob, what an interesting post! It's funny to imagine Joshua fuming as the DuPres family leaves for Midnight Mass, no doubt at some small chapel built by the shipyard workers. I can't imagine Collinsport having a big Catholic church. It would also be fun to imagine Naomi defying Joshua to go with them in support of her future daughter-in-law.

As for patron saints, before 1795 it could have been Saint Elmo, the patron of sailors. After Barnabas's "resurrection," Saint Blaise would be appropriate, or even Saint Quentin, patron of those who suffer from coughs. Plus Saint Q's feast is October 31.

I suspect Nicholas Blair considered himself Collinsport's resident god. Nothing less would do for him.

So sorry to hear that you're under the weather, MB! I hope things clear up for you soon!

We get yet another telling of the events of 1692, as Julia discovers--at last!--that Valerie/Angelique = Miranda.

Didn't Angelique draw a pair of great big googly eyes to find Ben back in 1795? I think she's used other methods of scrying as well, over the years. Are the writers trying to hint to us that she's losing her powers now that she's apparently genuinely in love with Barnabas?

In any ordinary household, the governess wouldn't have lunch in the dining room, but in the nursery with her charges. But that allows us to hear Samantha comment that Gerard gave D. "the look of a man and a woman." Gerard's best line: Oh, I desire women who are jealous!

Evidently Dawson hasn't yet rested his case, because Desmond has been subpoenaed to testify for the prosecution. What the heck crazy kind of trial is this anyway?

And evidently Samantha has planted one letter too many....

True, but the fact that he wisely remains off camera probably guarantees that he will have a long life!

Almost forgot these priceless lines by Gerard to Samantha--just another day at Collinwood:

"Daphne came to avenge her sister’s death, and if it hadn’t been for you, she might have done it. The notes only brought Quentin and Daphne closer together. She’ll never murder him now."