Maggie is still teetering on the window ledge as Hoffman watches. I want to die! Maggie sobs. You don't mean that, Hoffman replies as if she's talking about the weather. Elizabeth rushes in, orders Hoffman out (she doesn't obey), and eventually talks Maggie down by telling her how bad Quentin would feel about it if she jumped. Hoffman finally walks out after watching Elizabeth bring Maggie back into the room and shut the window. Elizabeth seats Maggie on the davenport. I have nothing to live for--nothing, Maggie says despondently. Everything that she said was true! It was all true! She bursts into tears.
Angelique (now in a multicolored pastel robe) is still talking through her portrait, still urging Maggie to jump but not realizing that her signal has been disrupted, when Hoffman arrives to report that Maggie didn't jump after all. Hoffman opines that it's better this way because Quentin would have felt guilty for the rest of his life. I could handle his guilt, Angelique huffs. You wanted Quentin and Maggie to separate of their own free will, Hoffman points out. Maggie will never stay with Quentin after what he did to her tonight. You’ve won, she tells Angelique. You just don’t realize it yet. Angelique is somewhat disappointed that Maggie didn’t go through with it; she was quite looking forward to seeing Maggie reduced to chunky salsa on the pavement below her window, but she agrees with Hoffman that she’s won: That’s what’s important, isn’t it? she says.
Elizabeth takes Maggie to the still untidy drawing room, probably figuring that Maggie wouldn't hurt herself if she still felt like jumping. Barn arrives (still in his 18th-century outfit), wondering about Quentin. Elizabeth takes him to the drawing room, where Maggie basically in shock after her near-death experience. Barnabas asks Elizabeth about Quentin, but Maggie replies, He will never come back--as long as I am here. Barnabas gently asks Maggie if she’s all right. Of course she isn’t, Elizabeth says shortly. Pouring a brandy for Maggie, Elizabeth fumes, I will never forgive Quentin for running out like that! He was only thinking of Angelique, Maggie says morosely. I don’t care what he’s thinking about! Elizabeth snaps and tries to get Maggie to drink the brandy. Barnabas has better luck and persuades her to drink just a little. She takes the glass, looking up at him like a lost child. Of course he’s only TOO happy to look after Maggie while Elizabeth goes upstairs to make up a bed for her in her own room--just as RT Naomi had Vicky bunk with her long ago. I don’t want to leave Maggie alone tonight, Elizabeth says. (I get the feeling that the writers started out by having Elizabeth just always be Quentin's abject dependent, but lately she seems to have developed some backbone--and a real fondness for Maggie.)
Maggie suddenly shudders with reaction, and Barnabas stirs the fire to make it warmer for her. (Well, actually he turns his back to us and pretends to, anyway.) He is utterly shocked when Maggie suddenly remarks, Angelique promised she would return. Unaware of his reaction, Maggie continues, She has kept her promise: I heard her voice tonight, but that wasn’t necessary. For a long time I knew that she had come back. Maggie now has Barnabas’s entire attention, and he asks for details. At first she's discouraged, fearing that he'll only say what Elizabeth said, but eventually she tells him about hearing the voice apparently emanating from the portrait. She starts crying when she says that Angelique vowed never to give Quentin up. Angelique is dead, Barnabas reminds her. Then why is she still here? Maggie asks in despair. She is in every corner of this house. These rooms are filled with her presence. Barnabas is sure Maggie only means that Angelique’s spirit is here, but Maggie, now shaking from her ordeal, replies, I don't know what I mean. But I know that this house is hers and all of these rooms--and Quentin, even Quentin is hers. She will never let me have Quentin--never! Moving toward the door, Barnabas tells Maggie, In a way, I believe you’re right--more right than you know.
Elizabeth's room (the same room as RT Elizabeth's) is furnished comfortably, if not luxuriously. She gently brushes Maggie's hair as if Maggie were a little girl. Maggie feels calmer--but only because she has accepted defeat. She reminds Elizabeth that she wore Angelique's dress tonight--and that Quentin compared her with Angelique. Elizabeth tries to encourage her, but as she lies down wearily on the bed, Maggie sighs, I don't want to fight anymore.
Downstairs, Barn asks Hoffman about Angelique's promise to return after death. Mrs. Collins had a wide variety of interests, Hoffman replies. (She should have said "the first Mrs. Collins," but we know how she feels about Maggie.) She adds, Angelique had a wide variety of interests. She didn't mean that she would literally return. She just meant that her love for Quentin was so great that it would survive even after her death. At this point “Alexis” comes in and comments, Angelique was something of a romantic. Hoffman sidles over to Angelique and mentions, Mr. Collins was just looking at one of Angelique’s books on witchcraft. “Alexis” gives Barnabas a keen look and says, I hope you don’t think Angelique’s promise to return has anything to do with witchcraft. Then she sends Hoffman out of the room on a fake pretext and fences with Barnabas a little bit. I have no interest in the occult, “Alexis” says--that was Angelique’s great hobby. A really fertile imagination, she declares, wouldn’t have to resort to witchcraft for stimulation. What if the purpose was of a more concrete nature? Barnabas wonders. You’ve gone back to Angelique’s promise to return, “Alexis” says impatiently. This conversation is positively ludicrous. Some portions of the book might interest you, Barnabas observes. You do seem to like fire. According to the book, fire is one of the elements used in witchcraft. When I found you looking at the fire, you seemed to have more than a merely aesthetic interest. “Alexis” says, It’s too bad you never knew my sister. She had an appreciation for the preposterous. I know exactly what you mean, Barnabas replies and gets in a dig by saying pointedly, Good night, _Mrs. Collins_, leaving the room and leaving Angelique with the realization that he is her adversary.
Later, in Angelique’s room, Hoffman wonders if Barnabas knows. He definitely suspects, Angelique replies. What if he talks to Quentin? Hoffman frets. Angelique reminds her, Quentin’s doubts about me were destroyed with Alexis’s body. Hoffman is still worried, but Angelique tells her, Just sit back and enjoy the spectacle of Barnabas Collins trying to prove anything. She adds: Even it Mr. Collins does get a little too close to the truth, I have the means to deal with him. After all, he is only human. How could I have forgotten that? Hoffman comments.
Barnabas visits Maggie to say goodnight (yes, it’s still the same night) but has to tell her (in answer to her question) that Quentin STILL hasn’t returned. (A mic casts a giant silhouette on the wall behind them.) I will help you, he promises her. Whatever difficulties there are, we will find a way of handling them. After he leaves, Elizabeth pronounces him a fine man. When Maggie doesn’t reply, Elizabeth reminds her, You have many friends who love you.
Barnabas very cleverly turns Angelique's powers against her. He already has experience of one Angelique (the one who made him a vampire back in 1795 in our time band) and decides to put his knowledge to the test. He thinks to himself, I also have a few useful powers of my own. He goes to Angelique’s room, shuts the window that Maggie nearly jumped out of (yup, it was open again), and fixes his gaze on the portrait. With anger and determination, he says, Let me look into the eyes of Angelique and know the truth. As he gazes at the portrait intently, his expression changes, then he turns away.
Meanwhile, Angelique and Hoffman are still gloating over her apparent victory. Angelique dismisses Hoffman for the night. She declares, Tomorrow will be the morning of my new-- Someone is watching me, looking into me eyes, she suddenly realizes. I feel as though my eyes are on fire! she says, actually afraid.
In Angelique’s room, Barnabas is still staring at the gigantic portrait as he says, It is the eyes of Angelique I am looking into. It is the truth of Angelique that I must know. Closer to me... closer... CLOSER! Angelique rushes into her old room. Covering her eyes with her hands, she screams, My eyes! Stop looking at me! Barnabas turns around, and she looks at him with shocked surprise. You know! she gasps. Gazing at her with anger and loathing, he answers, Yes--I know!.........
