She asks Mrs. Grose to accompany her to the lake. They find a hidden boat before they reach the open space where they see Flora playing with a twig. They are relieved and at that moment, the governess looks across and sees Jessel standing and staring at them. When the governess points at the figure excitedly, the housekeeper is surprised because she does not see anybody on the other side. When Flora too looks shocked and disapproves of the behavior of her teacher, the governess believes that she is lying. The little girl is now frightened and requests Mrs. Grose to take her away to the house. Long after they leave, the governess remains on the scene, deep in thought and later when she reaches home, it is dark. As she goes up, she finds that Flora had taken her things and moved to the quarters of the housekeeper.

After Flora and Mrs. Grose leave, the governess confronts Miles. When she asks him about his behavior at school, he looks restless and delays talking about it. Then the governess asks him whether he has stolen her letter from the table and Miles confesses that he has read her letter and then torn it. Happy that she had succeeded in making the boy talk, the governess presses him to talk about his conduct in school. Miles confesses that he has behaved badly at school by abusing a few of his classmates. He believes that the word might have spread about his behavior and reached the ear of the teachers. As the boy opens up, the governess notices the apparition of Peter Quint against the window. She manages to keep Miles' face away from the window till the figure disappears. However, when the vision appears again, she is terrified. Inadvertently, she refers to the ghost and Miles turns around. He sees nothing but when the governess talks about the apparition, he is startled. He wonders if it could be Miss. Jessel but when the governess looks doubtful, he looks shocked. Then uttering the name of Peter Quint and calling him a devil, he drops down dead.

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