Elizabeth is so nice when she pleads with Julia to let Barnabas come home and stay at Collinwood: "He could recover here, in familiar surroundings and with the people who love him--and where you could look after him personally." But Julia is not convinced that Barnabas is well enough yet.
Another great Doctor-Devil scene, but this time Nicholas has come to Collinwood. He reminds her that whatever happens to Adam happens to Barnabas--and since Adam is now mateless, he might as well kill him. Eve’s body will have started to deteriorate, Julia points out. Why is the experiment so important? I see that instead of summoning me, you’ve come to Collinwood yourself. You even seem afraid, despite your attempts to conceal it. Nicholas denies it but is desperate enough that he actually explains the Master’s plan to Julia: The original Adam and Eve were tempted by my Master. You mean Satan! Julia exclaims as she recoils in horror. I know him by another name, Nicholas replies calmly, silhouetted against the window just in time for a flash of lightning. He reminds her, Although the original Adam and Eve sinned, they were still their Father’s children. The new Adam and Eve are to be the parents of a new race loyal to my Master. That’s monstrous! Julia exclaims. That is the intention, Nicholas assures her calmly. Julia says she'll have to look over her journals; Nicholas warns her not to take too long. After he leaves, Julia picks up the receiver on the rotary-dial phone and tells the operator she wants to make a person-to-person call to Windcliff.
Nicholas awaits the Master’s summons at a table draped like an altar. Right on time, the Master announces, Instead of coming to your world, I will bring you to mine. (I don’t get that--isn’t it Nicholas’s world too?) Nicholas cries out as he is engulfed by white-hot flames.
When Nicholas is able to look about him again, he finds himself in the same executive office as Angelique visited, with the Master once again seated behind his desk. [Whether by accident or design, the wrought-iron gate at the back of the scene has a large “S” monogram! Maybe "S" for Satan?] The Master reproaches him for falling in love with a human, but Nicholas defends Maggie. Maggie Evans is innocent and blameless, he insists. I take complete responsibility. But the Master is still furious at having been deprived of innumerable potential worshipers and is prepared to reward Angelique and punish Nicholas severely. Nicholas manages to transfer at least some of the blame onto Angelique. He persuades his Master to give him one more chance. But you have only forty-eight hours to complete the experiment, the Master warns. Nicholas asks, If I succeed, will I be allowed to remain in the human world with Maggie? Do you love her enough to give up your powers to stay with her? the Master asks. Nicholas admits he does. The Master apparently agrees to his condition, but Nicholas’s relief turns to horror when the Master qualifies his statement: You can be with Maggie Evans, but only here below. In other words, Nicholas gasps, she must-- die! Yes, the Master replies. The only way you can be together is for you to celebrate the Black Mass, with Maggie as the sacrificial offering....
