In the reshoot of the last scene, the sheriff is already dead when Barnabas enters and surveys the wrecked police station. (So we don’t have to wonder after all why he didn’t try to save the sheriff.)
Paul's funeral. Elizabeth's ostentatious widow's weeds are in inverse proportion to her actual grief. And in fact, we can see no trace of emotion in her face as she talks on the phone, inviting the Todds to the funeral. Roger is actually wearing a black suit (a real one) and stuns Elizabeth when he opines that maybe there actually was something to all of Paul's crazy talk. He adds, Certainly he was a scoundrel and worthless, but I thinks the family should inquire privately into the circumstances of his death--and of course, hush it up publicly. Carolyn, also in black with a long chapel veil on her head, overhears this and derides her uncle’s hypocrisy. My father was murdered, she insists, and I intend to find out who killed him. You barely knew your father, Roger points out. I did know him, Carolyn retorts, and I’m glad I had the chance. Sobbing, she asks her mother if she can remember loving him. Elizabeth turns away. Roger calls Carolyn “Kitten,” possibly for the last time, and tries to get her to stop crying. Collinses aren’t supposed to cry, Carolyn says sarcastically, then adds, But this is the Stoddard part of me, the part that lets me feel.
A very subdued Barnabas arrives, glad to be in time for the funeral. (At last, he can attend one in daylight!) He tells Roger about his remorse at not helping Paul.
Jeb is quite put out when he returns to the shop and finds that the Todds aren't there. On the shop desk he finds a folded note that they left for him. He reads it and thinks to himself, The funeral, yes--Paul Stoddard’s funeral. This thought makes him smile.
At the cemetery, Carolyn is almost overwhelmed with grief and wishing that she had gone to New York with her father. Meanwhile, Jeb surveys the whole scene from his hiding place behind Jenny Collins’s gravestone (1867-1897). He smiles broadly with anticipation as he watches Carolyn avidly, with no thought for her grief, and certainly no remorse over having murdered his intended bride’s father and the sheriff too. His desire seems not merely carnal (though that’s part of it) but simply and totally possessive. Roger finally persuades her to leave. She vows never to forget her father.
Jeb has summoned Barnabas to the antique shop. Barn warns him not to change to his true form, even in his room, in case the police come. Jeb says that Barn isn't the boss of him and wants Barn to tell him about Carolyn. Tell me about her, he orders. Has she ever been in love? I won’t talk about Carolyn now, Barnabas says stiffly and moves toward the door. Jeb grabs him and demands an answer to his question. Barnabas tells him to forget Carolyn. Jeb refuses, but Barnabas tells him, You must! By killing her father you have caused her more grief than she has ever known in her life. In addition, you have spoiled the entire plan by killing the man who sold her to us and who was going to give her away. The book won’t allow me to give her away. Jeb practically pitches a tantrum, throwing a chair onto the floor as he shouts, Forget about the book! Barnabas insists, You must give Carolyn time to recover--until the time is better. As he stands outside the shop, he thinks to himself, I will see to it that Carolyn’s time never comes. Inside the shop, Jeb finds something else to throw around.
Sometime after the funeral, Elizabeth is observing the decencies (if not the spirit) of mourning by doing nothing but some very fine embroidery in blue on white linen. (It looks like Joan Bennett actually was a good needlewoman too!) Barnabas abruptly tells Carolyn that she should go away. Neither Carolyn nor Elizabeth thinks this is a good idea, and all Carolyn can think of is visiting Sheriff Davenport's widow. She's going through the same thing I did, Carolyn argues. lizabeth doesn’t want Carolyn to leave the house tonight, but Carolyn leaves, declaring, Mother, I know what I must do. No one is ever going to stop me from doing it again. Barnabas tries to prevail on Elizabeth to make Carolyn go to New York--she needs a different life. She needs to become one of us, Elizabeth says. She needs our sense of mission. The book will tell us when the time comes, Barnabas replies--and it won’t come for months. Nor do I plan to hasten it.
Megan and Philip are still away from the shop when Carolyn stops by on her way home. She reads back the note she has written to Megan: Dear Megan, I have been to Mrs. Davenport's, and I stopped by to thank you for coming today. I am sorry to have missed you. Behind her, Jeb comes silently down the stairs and puts his hands over her eyes. She starts with surprise, pulls his hands away, and turns around to see him smiling at her. I frightened you, he says apologetically (for him). I'm Jeb--Jabez Hawkes. I live upstairs. You are Carolyn Stoddard. His manner with her is surprisingly gentle, but it is the gentleness of overweening self-assurance rather than courtesy or compassion for her. How do you know that? she asks, seemingly mesmerized as she looks into his eyes. He says nothing, so she asks about Megan and Philip. They are out, he replies. She turns away, and Jeb says, Don’t be frightened of me. I-- I must be going, she stammers and turns toward the door. No, he says, Megan and Philip told me so much about you. You must forget your father. In her surprise, Carolyn turns to look at him and is again mesmerized. I will help you, he says. I’m afraid no one can, she tells him sorrowfully. Oh, but you don't know me, he says airily, adding with subtle innuendo, I know so many ways to help you--to make you forget. Carolyn forces herself to turn away and again starts for the door, saying, I’m sorry, but I have to leave. Jeb puts his hand on her shoulder. If she was mesmerized by his gaze, she is electrified by his touch. Fortunately for her, she still has her back to him. No, he says again, adding, You don’t look at me when you talk to me. Slowly she turns toward him again. That’s better, he says and notes, You are shy. This elicits a faint smile from her, and he adds, I like that--I like that very much. Desperate to flee but unable to tear herself away, Carolyn finally says goodbye and heads for the door, where she remembers her errand and asks him to tell the Todds that she left the note. Please don’t forget, she adds. As he joins her at the door, Jeb replies, I won’t--never. She quickly walks out of the shop and down the street, but Jeb steps outside to watch her retreat and calls out, Never. Then he turns toward the street and shouts, Never!
Some time later, Barnabas has rejoined Jeb, who still has only one thing on his mind. Barnabas is upset that Carolyn was at the shop and doesn’t know why she was there. She was destined to be, Jeb replies grandly--just as she is destined to walk up the stairs and into my room. I need company. Perhaps realizing for the first time _all_ the implications of Carolyn’s being the bride of a Leviathan, Barnabas asks, Will she become as you are when you’re behind that closed door? You should do some more reading, Jeb suggests, then explains, Carolyn will be the first so honored. Then each one of you will be able to take on any form. He looks upstairs, savoring the thought, but Barnabas retorts, And we will be as mindless as you when you change? Be careful, Jeb warns, but Barnabas continues, And we will murder as you do? If it is necessary, Jeb answers calmly. This is too much for Barnabas, who declares, You cannot have Carolyn. The rest of us will face our fate if we must, but you cannot have her! Enraged, Jeb retorts, I can! And I will! Friday--Friday, there will be a wedding! A wedding between Carolyn and me!......
