Chapters 1-3 | Bly Manor - The Turn Of The Screw

Relax and listen to Chapters 1-3 of The Turn of The Screw by Henry James, a gothic novella first published in 1898.

A story about a young governess that arrives at Bly Manor to care for two orphaned children. Initially charmed by the picturesque estate and her delightful wards, she soon encounters disturbing phenomena. Ghostly apparitions of former staff members begin to appear, their intentions toward the children seemingly malevolent. As reality blurs with imagination, the governess desperately tries to protect Miles and Flora, uncertain whether she's battling genuine evil or losing touch with reality.

Narrated by Jane Watson

Transcript

Welcome to Jane's Dreamy Bookshelf. Tonight, I'll be reading The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, A classic story first published in 1898, Often described as a tale of love, Duty, And unsettling mystery. The tale begins on a winter's evening when a group of friends gather around a fire to share strange and unsettling stories. One guest promises a story unlike any other, A tale of innocence, Terror, And mystery. At its heart is a young, Inexperienced governess who accepts a position at a country estate called Bly. She is entrusted with the care of two orphaned children under a peculiar condition set by their guardian, The children's uncle. He must never be disturbed no matter what occurs. The governess is captivated by this man from their very first meeting on Harley Street in London. Her infatuation colors her choices, Giving her both a determination to succeed and the desperate need to prove herself worthy in his eyes. This further heightens her vulnerability when strange apparitions begin to haunt the grounds of Bly, Where every glimpse, Every shadow turns the screw tighter. So now, Let us step into that firelit room, Sit back, Relax, And listen as the tale of Bly and its secrets begins. Chapter 1 I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, A little seesaw of the right throbs and the wrong. After rising in town to meet his appeal, I had at all events a couple of very bad days, Found myself doubtful again, Felt indeed sure I had made a mistake. In this state of mind, I spent the long hours of bumping, Swinging coach that carried me to the stopping place at which I was to be met by a vehicle from the house. This convenience, I was told, Had been ordered, And I found, Toward the close of the June afternoon, A commodious fly in waiting for me. Driving at that hour, On a lovely day, Through a country to which the summer sweetness seemed to offer me a friendly welcome, My fortitude mounted afresh and, As we turned into the avenue, Encountered a reprieve that was probably but a proof of the point to which it had sunk. I suppose I had expected, Or had dreaded, Something so melancholy that what greeted me was a good surprise. I remember, As a most pleasant impression, The broad, Clear front, Its open windows and fresh curtains, And the pair of maids looking out. I remember the lawn, And the bright flowers, And the crunch of my wheels on the gravel, And the clustered treetops over which the rook circled and cawed in the golden sky. The scene had a greatness that made it a different affair from my own scant home, And there immediately appeared at the door, With a little girl in her hand, A civil person who dropped me as decent a curtsy as if I had been the mistress or a distinguished visitor. I had received in Harley Street a narrower notion of the place, And that, As I recalled it, Made me think the proprietor, Still more of a gentleman, Suggested that what I was to enjoy might be something beyond his promise. I had no drop again till the next day, For I was carried triumphantly through the following hours by my introduction to the younger of my pupils. The little girl who accompanied Mrs. Gross appeared to me on the spot a creature so charming as to make it a great fortune to have to do with her. She was the most beautiful child I had ever seen, And I afterward wondered that my employer had not told me more of her. I slept little that night, I was too much excited, And this astonished me too. I recollect, Remained with me, Adding to my sense of the liberality with which I was treated. The large impressive room, One of the best in the house, The great state bed, As I almost felt it, The full-figured draperies, The long glasses in which, For the first time, I could see myself from head to foot, All struck me, Like the extraordinary charm of my small charge, As so many things thrown in. It was thrown in as well, From the first moment that I should get on with Mrs. Gross, And a relation over which, On my way in the coach, I feared I had rather brooded. The only thing indeed that in this early outlook might have made me shrink again was the clear circumstance of her being so glad to see me. I perceived, Within half an hour, That she was so glad, Stout, Simple, Plain, Clean, Wholesome woman, As to be positively on her guard against showing it too much. I wondered even then a little, Why she should not wish to show it, And that, With reflection, With suspicion, Might of course had made me uneasy. But it was a comfort that there could be no uneasiness in a connection with anything so beatific as the radiant image of my little girl, The vision of whose angelic beauty had probably more than anything else to do with the restlessness that, Before morning, Made me several times rise and wander about my room, To take in the whole picture and prospect, To watch, From my open window, The faint summer dawn, To look at such portions of the rest of the house as I could catch, And to listen, While, In the fading dusk, The first birds began to twitter, For the possible recurrence of a sound or two, Less natural and not without, But within, That I had fancied I had heard. There had been a moment when I believed I recognized, Faint and far, The cry of a child. There had been another when I found myself, Just consciously starting, As at the passage, Before my door, Of a light footstep, But these fancies were not marked enough not to be thrown off, And it is only in the light, Or the gloom, I should rather say, Of other and subsequent matters that they now come back to me. To watch, Teach, Form, Little Flora, Would too evidently be the making of a happy and useful life. It had been agreed, Between us downstairs, That after this first occasion, I should have her as a matter of course at night, Her small white bed, Being already arranged, To that end, In my room. What I had undertaken was the whole care of her, And she had remained, Just this last time, With Mrs. Gross, Only as an effect of her consideration, For my inevitable strangeness and her natural timidity. In spite of this timidity, Which the child herself, In the oddest way in the world, Had been perfectly frank and brave about, Allowing it, Without a sign of an uncomfortable consciousness, With the deep, Sweet serenity, Indeed, Of one of Raphael's holy infants, To be discussed, To be imputed to her, And to determine us, I felt quite sure she would presently like me. It was part of what I already liked Mrs. Gross herself for, The pleasure I could see her feel in my admiration and wonder, As I sat at supper, With four tall candles, And, With my pupil, In a high chair and a bib, Brightly facing me, Between them, Over bread and milk. There were naturally things, That in Flora's presence, Could pass between us, Only as prodigious and gratified looks, Obscure and roundabout illusions. And the little boy, Does he look like her? Is he too so very remarkable? One wouldn't flatter a child. Oh, Miss, Most remarkable, If you think well of this one. And she stood there, With a plate in her hand, Beaming at our companion, Who looked from one of us to the other, With placid heavenly eyes, That contained nothing to check us. Yes, If I do. You will be carried away by the little gentleman. Well, That, I think, Is what I came for, To be carried away. I'm afraid, However, I remember feeling the impulse to add. I'm rather easily carried away. I was carried away in London, I can still see Mrs. Grose's broad face, As she took this in. In Harley Street? Yes, In Harley Street. Well, Miss, You're not the first, And you won't be the last. Oh, I've no pretension, I could laugh, To being the only one. My other pupil, At any rate, As I understand, Comes back tomorrow? Not tomorrow, Friday, Miss. He arrives, As you did, By the coach, Under care of the guard, And is to be met by the same carriage. I forthwith expressed that the proper, As well as the pleasant and friendly thing, Would be therefore, That on the arrival, Of the public conveyance, I should be in waiting for him with his little sister. An idea in which Mrs. Grose concurred so heartily, That I somehow took her manner, As a kind of comforting pledge, Never falsified, Thank heaven, That we, Should on every question be quite at one. Oh, She was glad I was there. What I felt the next day was, I suppose, Nothing that could be fairly called a reaction, From the cheer of my arrival. It was probably, At the most, Only a slight oppression, Produced by a fuller measure of the scale. As I walked round them, Gazed up at them, Took them in, Of my new circumstances, They had, As it were, An extent and mass, For which I had not been prepared, And in the presence of which, I found myself, Freshly, A little scared, As well as a little proud. Lessons in this agitation, Certainly suffered some delay. I reflected that my first duty was, By the gentlest arts I could contrive, To win the child into the sense of knowing me. I spent the day with her out of doors. I arranged with her, To her great satisfaction, That it should be she, She only, Who might show me the place. She showed it step by step, And room by room, And secret by secret, With droll, Delightful, Childish talk about it, And with the result, In half an hour, Of our becoming immense friends. Young as she was, I was struck, Throughout our little tour, With her confidence and courage, With the way, In empty chambers, And dull corridors, On crooked staircases, That made me pause, And even on the summit, Of an old matriculated square tower, That made me dizzy. Her morning music, Her disposition to tell me so many more things, Than she asked, Rang out, And led me on. I have not seen Bligh, Since the day I left it, And I dare say, That to my older, And more informed eyes, It would now appear sufficiently contracted. But as my little conductress, With her hair of gold, And her frock of blue, Danced before me, Round corners, And pattered down passages, I had the view of a castle of romance, Inhabited by a rosy sprite. Such a place, As would somehow, For diversion of the young idea, Take all color out of storybooks and fairy tales. Wasn't it just a storybook, Over which I had fallen a dose, And a dream? No, It was a big, Ugly, Antique, But convenient house, Embodying a few features of a building still older, Half replaced, And half utilized, In which I had the fancy, Of our being almost as lost, As a handful of passengers, In a great drifting ship. Well, I was strangely at the helm. Chapter Two This came home to me when, Two days later, I drove over with Flora to meet, As Mrs. Grose said, The little gentleman, And all the more for an incident, That, Presenting itself the second evening, Had deeply disconcerted me. The first day had been, On the whole, As I have expressed, Reassuring, But I was to see it wind up in keen apprehension. The post-bag, That evening, It came late, Contained a letter for me, Which, However, In the hand of my employer, I found to be composed, But of a few words, Enclosing another, Addressed to himself, With a seal still unbroken. This I recognize is from the headmaster, And the headmaster's an awful bore. Read him, Please, Deal with him, But mind you don't report, Not a word, I'm off. I broke the seal with a great effort, So great a one, That I was a long time coming to it, Took the unopened missive, At last, Up to my room, And only attacked it just before going to bed. I had better have let it wait till morning, For it gave me a second sleepless night. With no counsel to take the next day, I was full of distress, And it finally got so the better of me, That I was determined to open myself at least to Mrs. Gross. What does it mean, The child's dismissed his school? She gave me a look, That I remarked at the moment, Then visibly, With a quick blankness, Seemed to try to take it back. But aren't they all? Sent home, Yes, But only for the holidays, Miles may never go back at all. Consciously, Under my attention, She reddened. They won't take him? They absolutely decline. At this, She raised her eyes, Which she had turned from me, I saw them fill with good tears. What has he done? I hesitated, Then I judged best simply to hand her my letter. Which, However, Had the effect of making her, Without taking it, Simply put her hands behind her. She shook her head sadly. Such things are not for me, Miss. My counselor couldn't read. I winced at my mistake, Which I attenuated as I could, And opened my letter again to repeat it to her. Then, Faltering in the act, And folding it up once more, I put it back in my pocket. Is he really bad? The tears were still in her eyes. Do the gentlemen say so? They go into no particulars. They simply express their regret, That it should be impossible to keep him. That can have only one meaning. Mrs. Gross listened with dumb emotion. She forbore to ask me what this meaning might be, So that, Presently, To put the thing with some coherence, And with a mere aid of her presence to my own mind, I went on. That he's an injury to the others. At this, With one of the quick turns of simple folk, She suddenly flamed up. Master Miles! Him an injury? There was such a flood of good faith in it, That, Though I had not yet seen the child, My very fears made me jump to the absurdity of the idea. I found myself, To meet my friend the better, Offering it, On the spot, Sarcastically, To his poor little innocent mates. It's too dreadful, Cried Mrs. Gross, To say such cruel things, While he's scarce ten years old. Yes, Yes, It would be incredible. She was evidently grateful for such a profession. See him, Miss, First, Then believe it. I felt forthwith a new impatience to see him. It was the beginning of a curiosity that, For all the next hours, Was to deepen almost to pain. Mrs. Gross was aware, I could judge, Of what she had produced in me, And she followed it up with assurance. You might as well believe it of the little lady, Bless her, She added the next moment. Look at her! I turned and saw that Flora, Whom ten minutes before, I had established in the schoolroom with a sheet of white paper, A pencil, And a copy of nice round O's, Now presented herself to view at the open door. She expressed in her little way an extraordinary detachment from disagreeable duties. Looking at me, However, With a great childish light, That seemed to offer it as a mere result of the affection she had conceived for my person, Which had rendered necessary that she should follow me, I needed nothing more than this to feel the full force of Mrs. Gross's comparison, And, Catching my pupil in my arms, Covered her with kisses in which there was a sob of atonement. Nonetheless, The rest of the day, I watched for further occasion to approach my colleague, Especially as, Toward evening, I began to fancy she rather sought to avoid me. I overtook her, I remember, On the staircase. We went down together, And at the bottom I detained her, Holding her there with a hand on her arm. I take what you said to me at noon as a declaration that you've never known him to be bad. She threw back her head. She had clearly, By this time, And very honestly adopted an attitude. Oh, Never known him, I don't pretend that. I was upset again. Then you have known him? Yes, Indeed, Miss, Thank God. On reflection, I accepted this. You mean that a boy who never is? Is no boy for me. I held her tighter. You like them with a spirit to be naughty? Then keeping pace with her answer, So do I, I eagerly brought out, But not to the degree to contaminate. To contaminate? My big word left her at a loss. I explained it. To corrupt. She stared, Taking my meaning in, But it produced in her an odd laugh. Are you afraid he'll corrupt you? She put the question with such a fine bold humor that, With a laugh, A little sully doubtless, To match her own, I gave way for the time to the apprehension of ridicule. But the next day, As the hour for my drive approached, I cropped up in another place. What was the lady who was here before? The last governess? She was also young and pretty, Almost as young and almost as pretty, Miss, Even as you. Ah, Then, I hope her youth and her beauty helped her. I recollect throwing off. He seems to like us young and pretty. Oh, He did, Mrs. Gross assented. It was the way he liked everyone. She had no sooner spoken, Indeed, Than she caught herself up. I mean that's his way, The master's. I was struck. But of whom did you speak first? She looked blank, But she colored. Why of him? Of the master? Of who else? There was so obviously no one else that the next moment I had lost my impression of her having accidentally said more than she meant, And I merely asked what I wanted to know. Did she see anything in the boy? That wasn't right. She never told me. I had a scruple, But I overcame it. Was she careful, Particular? Mrs. Gross appeared to try to be conscientious. About some things, Yes. But not about all? Again she considered. Well, Miss, She's gone. I won't tell tales. I quite understand your feeling. I hastened to reply, But I thought it after an instant, Not opposed to this concession to pursue. Did she die here? No, She went off. I don't know what there was in this brevity of Mrs. Gross's that struck me as ambiguous. Went off to die? Mrs. Gross looked straight out of the window, But I felt that, Hypothetically, I had a right to know what young persons engaged for Bly were expected to do. She was taken ill, You mean, And went home? She was not taken ill, So far as appeared in this house. She left it, At the end of the year, To go home, As she said, For a short holiday, To which the time she had put in had certainly given her a right. We had then a young woman, A nursemaid, Who had stayed on, And who was a good girl and clever, And she took the children all together for the interval, But our young lady never came back, And at the very moment I was expecting her, I heard from the master that she was dead. I turned this over. But of what? He never told me, But please, Miss, Said Mrs. Gross, I must get to my work. Chapter Three Her thus turning her back on me was fortunately not, For my just preoccupations, A snub that could check the growth of our mutual esteem. We met, After I had brought home little Miles, More intimately than ever, On the ground of my stupefaction, My general emotion, So monstrous was I than ready to pronounce it, That such a child, As had now been revealed to me, Should be under an interdict. I was a little late on the scene, And I felt, As he stood wistfully looking out for me, Before the door of the inn, At which the coach had put him down, That I had seen him, On the instant, Without and within, In the great glow of freshness, The same positive fragrance of purity, In which I had, From the first moment, Seen his little sister. He was incredibly beautiful, And Mrs. Gross had put her finger on it. Everything but a sort of passion of tenderness for him was swept away by his presence. What I, Then and there, Took him to my heart for, Was something divine, That I had never found to the same degree in any child, His indescribable little air of knowing nothing in the world but love. It would have been impossible to carry a bad name with a greater sweetness of innocence, And by the time I had got back to Bligh with him, I remained merely bewildered, So far that it is as I was not outraged, By the sense of the horrible letter locked up in my room, In a drawer. As soon as I could compass a private word with Mrs. Gross, I declared to her that it was grotesque. She promptly understood me. You mean the cruel charge? It doesn't live an instant, My dear woman, Look at him! She smiled at my pretension to have discovered his charm. I assure you, Miss, I do nothing else. What will you say, Then? She immediately added. In answer to the letter? I had made up my mind. Nothing. And to his uncle? I was incisive. Nothing. And to the boy himself? I was wonderful. Nothing. She gave with her apron a great wipe to her mouth. Then I'll stand by you, We'll see it out. We'll see it out! I ardently echoed, Giving her my hand to make it a vow. She held me there a moment, Then whisked up her apron again with her detached hand. Would you mind, Miss, If I use the freedom? To kiss me? No. I took the good creature in my arms and, After we had embraced like sisters, Felt still more fortified and indignant. This, At all events, Was for the first time, A time so full that, As I recall the way it went, It reminds me of all the art I now need to make it a little distinct. What I look back at with amazement is the situation I accepted. I had undertaken, With my companion, To see it out, And I was under a charm, Apparently. That could smooth away the extent and the far and difficult connections of such an effort. I was lifted aloft on a great wave of infatuation and pity. I found it simple in my ignorance, My confusion, And perhaps my conceit, To assume that I could deal with a boy whose education for the world was all in the point of beginning. I am unable even to remember, At this day, What proposal I framed for the end of his holidays. And the resumption of his studies. Lessons with me, Indeed, That charming summer. We all had a theory that he was to have, But I now feel that, For weeks, The lessons must have been rather my own. I learned something at first, Certainly, That had not been one of the teachings of my small, Smothered life. Learned to be amused, And even amusing, And not to think for the morrow. It was the first time, In a manner, That I had known space and air and freedom. All the music of summer, And all the mystery of nature. And then, There was consideration, And consideration was sweet. Oh, It was a trap, Not designed, But deep, To my imagination, To my delicacy, Perhaps to my vanity, To whatever in me was most excitable. The best way to picture it all is to say that I was off my guard. They gave me so little trouble. They were of a gentleness so extraordinary. I used to speculate, But even this with dim disconnectedness, As to how the rough future, For all futures are rough, Would handle them and might bruise them. They had the bloom of health and happiness, And yet, As if I had been in charge of a pair of little grandies, Of princess of the blood, For whom everything, To be right, Would have to be enclosed and protected, The only form that, In my fancy, The after years could take for them was that of a romantic, A really royal extension of the garden and the park. It may be, Of course, Above all, That what suddenly broke into this gives the previous time a charm of stillness, That hush in which something gathers or crouches, The change was actually like the spring of a beast. In the first few weeks, The days were long. They often, At their finest, Gave me what I used to call my own hour, The hour when, For my pupils, Tea-time and bed-time have come and gone. I had, Before my final retirement, A small interval alone. Much as I liked my companions, This hour was the thing in the day I liked most, And I liked it best of all when, As the light faded, Or rather, I should say, The day lingered, And the last calls of the last birds sounded, In a flushed sky, From the old trees. I could take a turn into the grounds and enjoy, Almost with a sense of property that amused and flattered me, The beauty and dignity of the place. It was a pleasure at these moments to feel myself tranquil and justified. Doubtless, Perhaps, Also to reflect that by my discretion, My quiet good sense, And general high propriety, I was giving pleasure, If he ever thought of it, To the person to whose pressure I had responded. What I was doing was what he had earnestly, Hoped, And directly asked of me, And that I could, After all, Do it, Proved even a greater joy than I had expected. I dare say I fancied myself, In short, A remarkable young woman, And took comfort in the faith that this would more publicly appear. Well, I needed to be remarkable to offer a front to the remarkable things that presently gave their first sign. It was plump one afternoon, In the middle of my very hour, The children were tucked away, And I had come out for my stroll. One of the thoughts that, As I don't in the least shrink now from noting, Used to be with me in these wanderings, Was that it would be as charming as a charming story suddenly to meet someone. Someone would appear there at the turn of a path, And would stand before me and smile and approve. I didn't ask more than that, I only asked that he should know, And the only way to be sure he knew would be to see it, And the kind light of it in his handsome face. That was exactly present to me, By which I mean the face was, When on the first of these occasions, At the end of a long June day, I stopped short on emerging from one of the plantations and coming into view of the house. What arrested me on the spot, And with a shock much greater than any vision had allowed for, Was a sense that my imagination had, In a flash, Turned real. He did stand there, But high up, Beyond the lawn and at the very top of the tower, To which, On that first morning, Little Flora had conducted me. This tower was one of a pair, Square, Incongruous, Crenulated structures, That were distinguished for some reason, Though I could see little difference, As the new and the old. They flanked opposite ends of the house, And were probably architectural absurdities, Redeemed in a measure indeed, By not being wholly disengaged, Nor of a height too pretentious, Dating, In their gingerbread antiquity, From a romantic revival that was already a respectable past. I admired them, Had fancies about them, For we could all profit in a degree, Especially when they loomed through the dusk, By the grandeur of their actual battlements. Yet it was not at such an elevation, That the figure I had so often invoked, Seemed most in place. It produced in me, This figure, In the clear twilight, I remember, Two distinct gasps of emotion, Which were sharply the shock of my first, And that of my second surprise. My second was a violent perception of the mistake of my first. The man who met my eyes was not the person I had precipitately supposed. There came to me thus a bewilderment of vision, Of which, After these years, There is no living view that I can hope to give. An unknown man, In a lonely place, Is a permitted object of fear, To a young woman privately bred. And the figure that faced me was, A few more seconds assured me, As little anyone else I knew, As it was the image that had been in my mind. I had not seen it in Harley Street, I had not seen it anywhere. The place, Moreover, In the strangest way in the world, Had, On the instant, And by the very fact of its appearance, Become a solitude. To me, At least, Making my statement here, With a deliberation, With which I had never made, The whole feeling of the moment returns. It was as if, While I took it in, What I did take in, All the rest of the scene had been stricken with death. I can hear again, As I write, The intense hush in which the sounds of evening dropped. The rooks stopped cawing in the golden sky, And the friendly hour lost, For the minute, All its voice. But there was no other change in nature, Unless, Indeed, It were a charge that I saw with a stranger sharpness. The gold was still in the sky, The clearness in the air, And the man who looked at me over the battlements was as definite as a picture in a frame. That's how I thought, With extraordinary quickness, Of each person that he might have been and that he was not. We were confronted, Across our distance, Quite long enough for me to ask myself, With intensity, Who then he was, And to feel, As an effect of my inability to say, A wonder that in a few instants more became intense. The great question, Or one of these is, Afterward, I know, With regard to certain matters, The question of how long they have lasted, Well, This matter of mine, Think what you will of it, Lasted while I caught at a dozen possibilities, None of which made a difference for the better, That I could see, And there having been in the house, And for how long, Above all, A person of whom I was in ignorance. It lasted, While I just bridled a little, With a sense that my office demanded, That there should be no such ignorance and no such person, It lasted while this visitant, At all events, And there was a touch of the strange freedom, As I remember, And the sign of familiarity, Of his wearing no hat, Seemed to fix me, From his position, With just the question, Just the scrutiny through the fading light, That his own presence provoked. We were too far apart to call to each other, But there was a moment at which, At shorter range, Some challenge between us, Breaking the hush, Would have been the right result of our straight mutual stare. He was in one of the angles, The one away from the house, Very erect, As it struck me, And with both hands on the ledge, So I saw him as I see the letters I form on this page. Then, Exactly after a minute, As if to add to the spectacle, He slowly changed his place, Passed, Looking at me hard all the while, To the opposite corner of the platform. Yes, I had the sharpest sense, That during this transit, He never took his eyes from me, And I can see at this moment, The way his hand, As he went, Passed from one of the crenellations, To the next. He stopped at the other corner, But less long, And even as he turned away, Still markedly fixed me. He turned away, That was all I knew.