Mrs. J, of all people, rescues Barnabas from Joe. Afterward, Joe wanders disconsolately around the woods, still in his cut-open turtleneck and five o’clock shadow, and looking quite fetching, I must say.
Roger finally convinces Elizabeth to let him arrange a resting place for her in "Old Joshua"'s mausoleum. When Elizabeth and Roger get to Eagle Hill, Elizabeth looks around fearfully. She tells Roger, The dead walk here. The spirits are watching us. They envy us--they hate us because we are alive. I hear the groans of our ancestors, jealous of the living and frustrated by their own unfulfilled lives. She notes the tomb of Jonah Collins, who died in 1862 at the age of 23 (in the Civil War, I suppose), but that is all we will ever learn about him, maybe because Joe, who was hiding in the corner of the mausoleum, collapses at their feet.
At Collinwood, Mrs. Johnson tells Harry (whom she once lectured about not being allowed in the front of the house, but she herself enters through the front door) about Joe’s attack. I just can’t figure out people anymore, she sighs. It’s as though everyone has lost control of his senses, even a sane man like Mr. Barnabas. I just hope I never have to go through a day like this again, she tells her son. Harry flips out at this news because obviously Joe is supposed to be dead--not that Harry regrets escaping being an accessory to murder, mind you. His comments immediately make his mother suspect that he knows more than he’s telling, but she can’t get anything useful out of him. However, he does keep her from calling the sheriff by pressing down the switchhook and arguing with her.
When Julia arrives at Collinwood, Mrs. Johnson tells her about Joe’s dreadful behavior. She also mentions (again) how Harry found Mr. Barnabas unconscious in the woods the night before, and how Barnabas refused all medical attention, even from Julia. Julia barely has time to register all this before Elizabeth and Roger come back, with Roger supporting Joe. While they settle Joe on the couch in the drawing room, he raves, I have to kill him! I have to kill him! For about the eightieth time, poor Mrs. Johnson now has to tell them about how Joe tried to kill Barnabas.
Harry might have stopped his mother, but of course he can do nothing to prevent Roger from calling the police.....
