and later outside looking into the window. Mrs. Grouse tells the governess that the man she is seeing is Peter Quint, who has been dead for quite some time. The governess is concerned for the children and watches them closely. Then she sees yet another ghost, this time Miss Jessel, the children's previous governess.

As time passes, the children begin to behave strangely, and the governess sees the ghosts again. She is certain that the children see them, too, and their behavior becomes more and more irrational. The governess sends Flora away with Mrs. Grouse, but Miles mysteriously dies in her arms, leaving her to question her sanity in the midst of the horror.

Some scholars, however, argue that the governess is not just questioning her sanity but actually going insane. They claim that she is the one responsible for the strange activities and that there are no ghosts, just the governess's descent into madness. She takes the children with her into the depths of terror. This is a legitimate interpretation of the story, for the author is deliberately ambiguous.