We Have Always Lived in the Castle

In the morning, Merricat returns to the house and attempts to restart the family routine. Constance makes breakfast and Merricat tells her she will take her to the moon with her. They continue in this way, doting upon one another, until Constance informs Merricat that Charles is asleep in their father’s old bed. Merricat says she thought Charles was a ghost, and she had dreamed him away, a suggestion which Constance thinks is silly. She explains that their estranged uncle died recently. “As soon as his father died Cousin Charles hurried here to help us,” says Constance (61). Merricat insists they need no help and immediately plans to get Charles out of their house.

Soon, Charles comes down the stairs, greeting everyone cordially. In conversation with Uncle Julian, Charles notes his father died penniless. Merricat finds her 32-year-old cousin disturbingly large and disruptive, and his attempts at friendship with the youngest Blackwood go rebuffed. Charles sits down to the pancake breakfast Constance has prepared for him, and Uncle Julian makes a dark joke about poison. Charles hesitates a moment before taking his first bite. Though Uncle Julian likes nothing better than to discuss the poisoning and the subsequent trial, Charles says he would prefer to keep the matter in the past, which confuses and upsets Julian.