The Haunting Of Hill House

In the middle of the night, Eleanor sneaks out of her room with the intention of going to the library. When she arrives, she stops: “I’m not allowed in there” (168). She calls for her mother. In response, she hears a laugh coming from upstairs.

Eleanor returns upstairs to follow the voice. Laughing to herself, she goes up and down the hall pounding on the doors. When Theodora wakes up and shouts that Eleanor isn’t there, Eleanor, whispering “Mother,” goes into the parlor. She listens as the others search for her, thinking “what fools they are” and how “[t]hey are so slow, and so deaf and so heavy” (170). In the drawing room, Eleanor dances before the statue of Hugh Crain, then runs into the library.

Eleanor goes up the curving iron staircase toward the door in the turret, repeating to herself that she is home. When the others arrive and call for her, she at first does not remember who they are. They tell her to come down carefully, for the staircase is rusting away from the wall. Luke gingerly goes up to retrieve her. When Eleanor and Luke safely return to the ground, Luke, Theodora, and

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