Chapter 2 Summary

Hill House is described by the third person narrator as being intrinsically evil. No exorcism can clear it of the evil that inhabits its very structure; only utter destruction of the house could cleanse it. Eleanor wishes she had turned back at the gate. Yet she is unwilling to turn back now that she has reached the end of her journey and worries that caretaker Dudley would laugh at her if did so. She fights the desire to run and forces herself to set foot on the bottom front step. She feels an odd, evil sense that the house has been waiting for her. "Journeys end in lovers meeting," is the thought, which comes to her in that moment (pg. 27). It makes her laugh and she summons the courage to reach for the knocker of the iron door.

Before Eleanor can knock, Mrs...