I thought it was kind of nice that Julia felt sorry for James and Amanda, even though she completely lost it when she thought one of the bodies moved and Brutus locked the Iron Door. And yes, I'm sure everyone in the house has had Locked Room nightmares, probably starting in utero. Julia and Justin's own father--or maybe an uncle--must have had to spend a night in the room. What dreadful lives the Collinses must have lived, knowing that one of their generation would have to go into the room, yet also being obliged to reproduce, knowing that one of their own children would have to make the sacrifice for the next generation to spare the rest of them, or at least enough of them to keep the family business going, and so on and so on....
I've always thought Catherine wakes up screaming right about the time that Julia thinks one of the bodies moved, but maybe that's just my imagination working overtime.
Everyone underestimates Melanie's real strength of character, kindness and unselfishness--I liked her heart-to-heart with Catherine. If Melanie and Kendrick can survive long enough to get married, they should be very happy together. Julia did give her good advice under the circumstances, but I had to cheer when Melanie actually got angry with her!
And I agree that Morgan seems to be one of those people who want something all the more if they think somebody else has more of a hold over it than they do. Bramwell may be a very, very rough diamond indeed, but thinking of Catherine as a possession is not one of his faults. Perhaps in another time and place, the story might have explored the possibility--which only just now occurred to me--that Morgan's real attraction was to Bramwell--? I suppose there's some slash fiction about that somewhere.
More fun with mad Gabriel. But Catherine is a good enough negotiator that she kept him from killing her. Loved the comment about Daddy Brutus's knife.
Too bad he has only one, and that Gabriel has it instead of Melanie. Maybe Brutus has been giving Gabriel mental instructions all along, but with Gabriel actually about to leave the house (and Brutus's sphere of influence?), Brutus probably figured he had to put the fear of-- well, of Brutus--into Gabriel.