Chapter 12 Summary

The governess told Mrs. Grose that Miles had said one last thing before they had separated: "Think, you know, what I might do." She then guessed that he had been expelled because he had shown the school just that. She continued suspect that the four met regularly, and their own little world in which they amused themselves was one that included the late Miss Jessel and Quint regularly. Even as they watched the two cross the lawn, the governess declared that they were discussing the specters. She proclaimed that their goodness and beauty were fraudulent. They belonged to the dead, who were trying to fill them with evil.

Mrs. Grose accepted the governess's interpretation of the situation, but she questioned what the late Miss Jessel and Quint could do to them now. The governess responded that they were trying to get closer to...