The Haunting Of Hill House

On Saturday, Eleanor goes alone to the hills and lies down on the grass. She picks a daisy, which dies in her hand, and wonders what she is “going to do” (132).

That evening, Mrs. Montague arrives with her driver Arthur, a stern headmaster. Mrs. Montague orders Luke to help her with her bags. She scolds her husband for starting dinner without her and wonders why he failed to obtain answers about the house. When she says she wants to stay in the “most haunted” room (133), Dr. Montague suggests the nursery. Mrs. Montague says that now that she is there, they will “get things going right” (134). She insists that spirits want to see them “happy and smiling” and that they “may be actually suffering because they are aware that you are afraid of them” (135).

Mrs. Montague and Arthur go to the library for a session with the planchette, which enables spirits to write messages. Later, Mrs. Montague insists, despite Dr. Montague’s frustration, that the planchette has indicated the presence of a nun, whom someone had walled up alive. She also relates that a spirit named Nell told them she is a lost child who desires to “go home” (141) and that she is waiting for her mother.