Kit goes to the kitchen and calls Mr. Gurlain, hoping to get reassigned. The request is difficult because Kit cannot fully explain why Hope’s End feels wrong, but Kit admits she does not like the house and asks for a different placement.

Mr. Gurlain refuses. He reminds Kit that he already made an exception by employing her after her suspension and says that if Kit leaves this assignment, Kit will lose the job entirely. Because Kit has little money, no clear prospects, and nowhere secure to go, Kit realizes she has no practical choice but to stay at Hope’s End.

After hanging up, Kit briefly reflects on the chain of failures and bad turns that brought her there. Trying to steady herself, Kit takes a leftover muffin outside onto the terrace, where the fresh air helps her think more clearly about what to do next.

Kit decides that survival now depends on finishing the assignment, collecting a paycheck, and eventually saving enough to escape. That decision also hardens Kit against Lenora. Because Lenora only admitted that Virginia was entering the room after Kit pushed her, Kit feels deceived and resolves to stop helping with Lenora’s typed story.

Kit then tries to explain the recent disturbances rationally, considering wind, moonlight, birds, or loose parts of the house as possible causes. Looking over the back of Hope’s End toward the beach below, Kit notices shapes in the wet sand that first seem like rocks. A closer look reveals a hand, a foot, and a head, and Kit realizes with horror that the half-buried corpse is Mary Milton.