The Turn of the Screw

THE TURN OF THE SCREW

The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except theobvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, astrange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebodyhappened to say that it was the only case he had met in which such a visitationhad fallen on a child. The case, I may mention, was that of an apparition injust such an old house as had gathered us for the occasion—an appearance,of a dreadful kind, to a little boy sleeping in the room with his mother andwaking her up in the terror of it; waking her not to dissipate his dread andsoothe him to sleep again, but to encounter also, herself, before she hadsucceeded in doing so, the same sight that had shaken him. It was thisobservation that drew from Douglas—not immediately, but later in theevening—a reply that had the interesting consequence to which I callattention. Someone else told a story not particularly effective, which I saw hewas not following. This I took for a sign that he had himself something toproduce and that we should only have to wait. We waited in fact till two nightslater; but that same evening, before we scattered, he brought out what was inhis mind.

“I quite agree—in regard to Griffin’s ghost, or whatever itwas—that its appearing first to the little boy, at so tender an age, addsa particular touch. But it’s not the first occurrence of its charmingkind that I know to have involved a child. If the child gives the effectanother turn of the screw, what do you say to twochildren—?”

“We say, of course,” somebody exclaimed, “that they give twoturns! Also that we want to hear about them.”

I can see Douglas there before the fire, to which he had got up to present hisback, looking down at his interlocutor with his hands in his pockets.“Nobody but me, till now, has ever heard. It’s quite too

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