At a later time, the governess has a talk with the housekeeper, when they agree that the governess couldn’t make up the story because she had given such a perfect description, even to the last detail, of the two characters. In the meantime, the governess has devoted herself to her pupils, who have been more than charming—they have been perfect.
The governess cannot forget that Miles was discharged from his school. Therefore, one day she decides to question Mrs. Grose about him. She wonders if he has ever been bad. Mrs. Grose responds that she could not like a boy that did not sometimes show signs of typical badness. Upon being pressed further, she does admit that once Miles was very bad to her. Mrs. Grose had suggested that the young boy was stepping beyond his position by having so much to do with Quint, and the young child reminded her that she was also a servant and no better than Quint. Furthermore, he lied to her about how much time he actually did spend with Peter Quint.
It is brought out that the previous year, young Miles spent an exceptionally large amount of time with Quint, and during this time Flora was alone with Miss Jessel. Thus, the governess thinks it is quite possible that the young children knew what was taking place between Quint and Jessel.
The governess decides to do nothing but wait and see what should happen. She waits a long time before another incident occurs. One night, she wakes up at about one o’clock, and taking her candle, goes to the stairs. Halfway down the staircase, she sees the figure of Peter Quint standing at one of the landings. She faces him directly until he retreats into the darkness. She feels that he knew her just as well as she knew him. After he has disappeared, she returns to her room. She knows that she left the candle burning and now it is out. Immediately she notices that little Flora is at the window. When she questions the child suspiciously, little Flora says that she awakened and felt that the governess had gone and she was watching to see if the governess was outside walking. The young woman wonders if she saw anyone, but little Flora innocently answers that she saw no one. When the governess tries to trap the girl by asking why she pulled the curtain over the bed to conceal her absence, little Flora simply says that she didn’t want to frighten the governess. Everything seemed perfectly natural to her. For many days after this, the governess again goes to the staircase, but never again sees Quint. Once on one of her walks, she sees the back of a woman’s figure bent over as though in heavy mourning.
One night the governess awakens to find that little Flora is again missing from her bed. This time she notices that the young girl is seemingly talking to someone outside the window. Rather than confront the girl directly, the governess decides to go to Miles’ room and then changes her mind because this act could be awkward. Instead, she goes to a room above, where she can view all the actions. As she peers out the window, the thing that most strikes her is the figure of poor little Miles out on the lawn by himself.
