After seeing the person (or apparition), the governess wonders if there was a “secret at Bly”. (Bly is the name of the country house.) She spends a good portion of the succeeding days thinking about this encounter. The shock has “sharpened all” her senses, and she fears that she might become too nervous to keep her wits about her.
The children occupy most of her day, and she continues to discover new and exciting things about them. The only obscurity that persists is the boy’s conduct at school, which had brought about his dismissal. The governess finds him to be an angel and decides that he was too good for the public school. Even though things are not well at the governess’ own home, she has no complaints about her work.
One Sunday as the group is preparing to go to church, the governess returns to the dining room to retrieve her gloves from the table. Inside the room she notices the strange weird face of a man staring in at her in a hard and deep manner. Suddenly she realizes that the man has “come for someone else.” This thought gives her courage, and she goes immediately to the outside. Once there, she finds nothing, but looking through the window, she sees Mrs. Grose, who upon seeing the governess outside the glass turns pale from fright.
In a moment, Mrs. Grose appears outside the house and tells the governess how white she is. The governess explains that just a moment before she saw the figure of a man standing on the outside looking in. She reports having seen him one time before. It is settled that the man is no gentleman; in fact the governess calls him “a horror.” She refuses to go to church with the others because she is afraid—not for herself but for the children.
When Mrs. Grose asks for a description of the stranger, the governess is able to give a rather minute and detailed account of him. His red hair, his thin but good features, and his clothes remind her of some actor who is imitating some other person. Even though he was dressed in clothes a gentleman would wear, he was indeed no gentleman. Mrs. Grose immediately seems to recognize the person described and explains that the man was dressed in the master’s clothes. He is Peter Quint, who was once the master’s personal valet and who wore the master’s clothes. When the governess wonders what happened to the ex-valet, she is told that he died.
