Joshua is wearing a very nice gray velvet coat when he comes downstairs and finds Natalie staring at Barnabas's portrait--particularly the onyx ring. Joshua quietly tells her that the portrait is only a few months old. Then Josette comes downstairs and faints. Joshua is stunned when he sees the ring on Josette's finger. Natalie asks him about the ring. His voice trembling, Joshua tells her, I placed it on Barnabas's hand when he was buried.
The admirable Riggs stands guard outside Josette's door and even has a few lines of the "yes, ma'am," "no, ma'am" variety. Josette is so frantic to get out that at first she doesn't notice when the secret panel opens and Barnabas steps into the room, arrayed for the first time in all his dark splendor. They leave through the secret panel.
Poor Joshua must go to Eagle Hill, where both his children are buried and as he thinks, in eternal slumber. After pausing to look at Sarah’s grave marker, he reaches up and pulls the ring that opens the secret panel. Joshua looks around for a moment. Barnabas has apparently been entombed for some days, but Joshua--perhaps distracted by grief and fear--fails to notice the lit candles in the secret room. I saw the ring on Barnabas' hand before I closed the coffin, he recalls. Who would dare defile the dead? Standing by his son's coffin, he murmurs sorrowfully, I never gave you love, but I wanted to give you peace. He adds fiercely, I swear revenge on whoever has desecrated my son's resting place. After pausing one final moment to gather his courage, Joshua steels himself to open the coffin--and is horrified to find it empty.
