Anyhoo...I love the look on Julia's face when Dr. W suggests that she's staying on at Collinwood because of an romantic interest in Seƒ±or Collins. I wonder if this is when it first came into Julia's mind as well...

The chapter also includes Diana Millay's comments about David Henesy, which are similarly edgy.  Of course, from what I understand, DM has quite the imagination, so her remarks are probably best taken with a grain (shaker?) of salt...

Now, my DSFMS (Dark Shadows Faulty Memory Syndrome) is kicking in, so while I do recall this little comment by Barnabas, I can't recall if it was from the series or from one of the novels.  He makes mention to Julia of how he is not enamored by the way women in the 20th century were "liberated" or "emancipated" or something like that.  Obviously, he was use to the "weaker sex" variety of the eighteenth century, especially when they knew-their-place so-to-speak with regards to men.  And here's this woman doctor, on equal par with her male counterparts, telling him on occasion in her own bedside manner to shove it.  And it's not bad enough that she engages in the vice of tobacco like a man would, but she doesn't even have the where-to-all to go to the appropriate smoking salon to indulge, and uses his candelabrum, which means something to him, as if it were a Bic.  All she needed to do send him into apoplexy was to walk up to a 200-year-old vase, once the favorite of his dear mother, and flick ashes into it.

I've only heard of this casually in passing once or twice... could you or anyone else elaborate on that??