Where Is Flora When the Governess Returns to the Room?

Chapters 10-12

Chapter 10

Where is Flora when the governess returns to the room?
What does the governess suspect her of doing there?
What is disconcerting about Flora’s reason for “pull[ing] the curtain over the [bed]”?
Do you think Flora is telling the truth or knows more than she leads on?
On a “different adventure,” DESCRIBE who the governess see while “looking down from the top [of the stairs]”.
On the “eleventh night,” the governess awakens to see Flora.
What is the governess convinced Flora has been doing while “peering out into the night” almost hypnotically?
Upon “applying [her] face to the pane,” what does the governess see “on the tower” and “on the lawn”?
What are your opinions of the children after such odd occurrences?
Innocent? Duplicitous? Possessed? What?

Chapter 11

When pressed to explain himself, what perfectly clever and conspiratorial excuse does Miles give the governess?
Do you believe him?

Chapter 12

While Miles reads to Flora, what conspiracy does the governess believe is at work?
Why now does the governess believe about the “more than earthly beauty” and the “absolutely unnatural goodness” of the children?
How does the governess react to Mrs. Grose’s suggestion of contacting the uncle?
In this same conversion, the governess finishes Mrs. Grose’s claim that the uncle does “hate worry. That was the great reason — ”
What do you make of this unfinished sentence? What is your opinion of Mrs. Grose?

Chapters 13-15

Chapter 13

According to the governess, what is “absolutely traceable”?
Do you agree with her?
What “tacit (unspoken) agreement” do the governess and children enter into?
What is meant by “forbidden ground”?
What do the children have a “delightful endless appetite for”?
When thought of “such occasions afterwards” what suspicions does the governess have?
What do the governess’ observations in the final sentences suggest?
Begins “Adorable they must in truth…” and ends “it came with a rush.”

Chapter 14

What is unnerving and/or ambiguous about the following inquiry and admissions by Miles:
“Look here, my dear, you know when in the world, please, am I going back to school?”
“Well, I want to see more life.”
“I want my own sort.”
What is Miles’ main objection to the present situation?
How does Miles propose to remedy the situation?

Chapter 15

What is Miles’ ultimatum to the governess?
What does she consider “so unnatural” about this?
Instead of going to church, what does the governess decide to do?
Overwhelmed with torment, what happens to the governess on the stairs?
What earlier event does this parallel?
Give the details of what the governess experiences in the schoolroom in the “clear noonday”.
After this what does the governess decide to do?
At this time, where do you stand on the following:
Are the children innocent or insidious?
Is the governess a guardian angel or misguided madwoman?
Are the ghosts wicked and wanting still or are there ghosts at all?

Chapters 16-18

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

List at least THREE sensory details (quotes) that establish the mood at the beginning of the chapter.
What term of endearment does Miles, who is only 10, keeps using with the governess?
What might account for such adult like mannerisms?
In speaking about the governess, Miles refers to “the way you bring me up. And all the rest!” as “queer business.”
How do you interpret this?
Is there more to her relationship with Miles?
What event at chapter’s end suggests that the ghosts are real?
What statement by the governess seems to act as a catalyst?
If these occurrences are not supernatural in origin, what about the governess’ behavior might have sparked Miles’ reaction and odd confession?

Chapter 18

How does Miles, “the dark prodigy,” lull the governess to “literally [sleep] at her post”?
For what purpose?
Who goes missing and where does the governess think she is and Miles will go? Why?