The Woman in Black Chapter 5 Summary

Across the Causeway

  • Instead of a car, a pony and trap pulls up.
  • A man named Keckwick is going to drive Arthur to Eel Marsh House. Fun fact about Eel Marsh House: it's its own little island and becomes separated from town when the tide goes up.
  • Because the road is only available until five, Arthur tells Keckwick that he'll come back tomorrow with clothes and food so he can stay overnight in order to get all his work done.
  • Keckwick, who is certainly not a man of many words, just turns around and leaves. Nice guy.
  • Arthur takes some time to explore the area and checks out a little burial ground, which would make most people turn and run towards the town, screaming for Keckwick to wait up.
  • According to the law of horror, though, Arthur has to behave in a way that's completely the opposite of the way any normal, rational person would act.
  • So there's Arthur, checking out the burial ground, when he sees that creepy woman again.
  • Obviously.
  • He runs over, but he can't find her. It's as though she's vanished into thin air.
  • When he enters the house, he's not super reassured because… well, it's a big scary house.
  • He even starts to think that the woman might have been otherworldly, even though he doesn't really believe in ghosts.
  • Wandering through the house, he finds piles upon piles of random papers.
  • This is going to be a longer job than he thought.
  • Since he doesn't want to get to the work yet and Keckwick is coming in an hour anyway, he starts walking out on the causeway toward Crythin Gifford.
  • Oh, yeah, that sounds like a great idea.