Gallant

The master of the house, enraged at the shadows for letting Olivia escape, paces the garden path near the door in the wall. He notices that among all of the dead roses there is a single living rose where Olivia passed through.

Olivia wakes from a dream of her mother to find that she’s in the piano room with Matthew. Matthew apologizes for not having told her about the wall sooner; he thought ignorance would keep her safe. He goes on to explain that “everything in the world casts a shadow” (249), but the shadow that Gallant casts is more alive—and more dangerous—than most. Gallant existed before the Priors, but the Priors have always been attracted to the house. The Priors, recognizing that the wall was a threshold keeping their Gallant separate from its shadow-counterpart. They built the iron door and sealed it with their own blood in order to keep the master at bay. Matthew has realized that because Prior blood is the key to opening/sealing the door, the master needs Priors to be kept alive until he’s able to convince or trick a Prior into using their blood to willingly free him. Matthew believes that the master, years ago, tricked his brother, Thomas, into crossing the wall and killed Thomas when he realized that he needed Thomas to willingly give blood.