The Little Stranger: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Faraday leaves Hundreds and heads home. There, he drinks excessively until he passes out. The next morning, he wakes up and convinces himself he can still fix everything. He goes to Hundreds to speak to Caroline, but when he arrives, Caroline tells him he needs to leave and not come back. She also hands Faraday the ring he bought and says she does not want it. Caroline’s actions hurt Faraday and he does not know what to do.

In a desperate attempt to save his relationship with Caroline and Hundreds Hall, Faraday drives to the home of Harold Hepton, the Ayers’s family lawyer. Faraday tries to convince Hepton that Caroline is not of sound mind and therefore has no right to sell the house. Hepton hears Faraday out but tells him he is wrong. Hepton has spoken to Caroline himself and does not agree with Faraday’s assessment. If anything, he thinks Faraday is not of sound mind, so he tells him to leave.

Shortly after, Faraday finds himself telling his story to Graham and Anne. Both Graham and Anne try to cheer him up and assure him that there must be some misunderstanding. Anne even offers to drive out to Hundreds Hall so she can speak to Caroline herself. Faraday takes her up on the offer and together they go to Hundreds. Faraday stays in the car while Anne goes inside to speak to Caroline. Although Anne leaves the car confident she can sway Caroline, she comes back with bad news. She promises Faraday that Caroline is serious and does not think there is anything he can do to save their engagement. She also tells him that Caroline has packed up most of the house at this point and plans to leave soon.

Anne’s news only makes Faraday feel worse. Angry and afraid, he gets out of the car and confronts Caroline a final time. When Caroline sees Faraday, she tells him he must leave immediately, or she will contact the authorities. Her attitude enrages Faraday who, in response, makes a nasty comment insinuating she is responsible for Mrs. Ayers’s death and Roderick’s breakdown. In response, Caroline angrily orders Faraday to leave, and he does.

At this point, Faraday gives up. He does not try to contact Caroline again, and instead focuses on his work. One day, coincidentally the same day he had initially planned his wedding, Faraday is called out just before going to bed to handle a case of appendicitis. Faraday examines the patient and decides that he needs to be taken to a hospital immediately. Faraday drives the man to the hospital and then heads home.

On the way home, Faraday realizes he is taking the same route as the night of the dance. Suddenly, he starts thinking about Caroline and how much he still desires her. Rather than go home, Faraday parks his car next to the pond where he took Caroline the night of the dance. Once the car is parked, Faraday wraps himself up in a blanket and falls asleep. He dreams about walking to Hundreds Hall, only to find that it is no longer there. In his dream, he finds the manor home’s driveway, but sees only darkness at the end of it.

Faraday wakes up with the rising sun and heads home. When he arrives, he finds Graham standing outside, ringing his doorbell. Faraday asks Graham what is wrong, and Graham tells him that Caroline is dead. Apparently, Betty has been trying to get in touch with Faraday to let him know, but he was not answering his phone. Because no one could find him, Betty called Graham and asked him to come out to the house.

When Graham arrived at Hundreds, he found Caroline’s dead body lying on the floor below the banister. Blood was pooling from her head, and it was clear that there was nothing Graham could do. Graham tells Faraday that it looked like Caroline fell over the second story banister, even though none of the banisters were broken. Betty tells Graham that she heard Caroline walking around and when she went outside to check on her, she saw Caroline fall. 

Graham asks Faraday where he has been, and Faraday says he was with a patient. In retrospect, he realizes that he should have told Graham that he slept by the pond but thinks it would be too suspicious if he brought it up once the moment had passed.

Graham performs a post-mortem on Caroline and finds no signs that there was a struggle. Because of the strange circumstances surrounding Caroline’s death, a formal inquest takes place, and Graham, Betty, and Faraday are all asked to attend. Betty testifies first and shocks the judge when she says that Hundreds is haunted. Betty is convinced that a supernatural entity killed Caroline because she heard her say the word “you” just before she fell. Betty says that Caroline sounded like she knew her attacker and was afraid. However, when Betty went to look at the scene of the crime, she did not see anyone. Therefore, her experiences at Hundreds Hall led her to believe in a supernatural explanation. Betty tells the court Caroline believed in the ghost as well, much to the judge’s dismay.

 Eventually, it is Faraday’s turn to testify. The judge asks Faraday about Betty’s strange testimony and Faraday admits that Caroline did seem to believe in the supernatural. The judge also asks Faraday if he thought Caroline was suicidal. Faraday contemplates the question and eventually decides that, although he did not see it at the time, suicide is the likely cause of death. Faraday feels that this is the only answer he can possibly give; despite everything he has experienced, he cannot bring himself to believe in Betty’s supernatural explanation.