The first strange element is now introduced into the story. Miles, we find out, has been suspended from his school and will not be allowed to return. This dismissal immediately brings to the forefront the possibility of his being a bad boy. "Is he really bad?" the governess asks, and the idea is given further significance by the later use of words "contaminate" and "corrupt."
The idea of death is also introduced here as the governess discovers that her predecessor left with the intentions of returning and then was taken ill and died. The cause of her death is left unexplained, thereby adding a note of mystery to it.
