“How glad this house must be to be lived in again.”
Why it's great
It gives an old house feelings, setting both the warmth and the chill of the film.
Register
literary
Use it yourself
How glad this garden must be to be watered again.
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00:00 / 02:58
Stella Revisits Her Childhood Home, Explained
The Uninvited · 1944
Chapter 13 of 28 · 2'58"
Rick walks Stella through Windward, the house she left as a child, and the tour turns into a tour of her own past. She recalls a dream about this room and a father who "was a bit of a bad hat." Under the nostalgia sits something she was never told: who the other woman in her father's paintings really was.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:02–0:39
Stella Recalls Being Sent Away
37s - 0:59–1:31
❝ Monologue · 11 lines Stella's childhood dream
The small flame that appears and is snuffed out turns safety and fear into a bedtime tale.
32s - 1:50–2:39
❝ Monologue · 15 lines Stella Talks About Her Father
50s
Stella Revisits Her Childhood Home, explained
What happens
In the fading light, Rick shows Stella the rest of Windward House. Stella barely remembers it inside; she last peered in as a ten-year-old before being packed off to school in Brussels. She revisits her old nursery and her father's studio, recalls a childhood dream, and speaks of the foreign model her father painted — about whom everyone stays hush-hush.
What's really going on
Windward was Stella's family home, and walking through it as a guest, she is at once a visitor and the heir to its secrets. The dream she describes — a small flame snuffed out while she lies terrified — is less a ghost story than a child's memory of losing her mother, and nobody in the scene can explain who put the light out. The real subject surfaces in the studio, when she talks about the woman her father painted: "People get awfully hush-hush when I ask them." Her light aside, "I suspect Father was a bit of a bad hat," is how she keeps the question bearable — a joke standing in for everything she was never told about her parents.
Key lines & what they mean
- “How glad this house must be to be lived in again.”
- Stella speaks of the house as if it had feelings, glad to have people in it again; it is really her own relief at seeing it occupied.
- “Between you and me and the grand piano...”
- A playful way to say this is just between us, made funnier by dragging the piano into the secret; she is about to gossip about her father.
- “I suspect Father was a bit of a bad hat.”
- She calls her father a disreputable sort, quietly and with dry humor, rather than admit how little she knows about his life.
- “It's about time you asked me that.”
- He has been waiting to be invited to play, and answers with mock reproach — the teasing tone that runs through the visit.
Theme
- Memory — The rooms and a childhood dream bring Stella's past back; she is half visitor, half the child who once lived here.
- Secrets — Her father's model and the hush-hush reactions hint at a family story she was never allowed to know.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level2/6
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“Between you and me and the grand piano...”
Why it's great
It turns a whispered confidence into a joke, pulling the two speakers close.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
Between you and me and the coffee machine, I am quitting.
“I suspect Father was a bit of a bad hat.”
Why it's great
A dated, playful phrase lets her admit a family scandal without losing poise.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
I suspect Grandpa was a bit of a bad hat in his day.
“It's about time you asked me that.”
Why it's great
A short answer that is at once a tease and a signal that he has been waiting.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
It's about time you asked me to dance.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ Stella's childhood dream
When I was little... I used to have a dream about this room. You did? I'd be lying here, and it'd be dark... and cold and frightening. And then... a little flame would come. Just a tiny point of light so big... and yet suddenly everything would be... warm and light and peaceful. And then... someone would come and put the flame out, and I'd be terrified.
The small flame that appears and is snuffed out turns safety and fear into a bedtime tale.
❝ The studio confession
This is where my father painted my mother's picture. Strange to think of them here. My father would have his easel to the light, wouldn't he? And perhaps my mother would sit there in her soft, white dress. But sometimes, of course, he'd paint the other one. - "The other one"? - He had a model, you know. A foreign girl. I've never been able to find out much about her. People get awfully hush-hush when I ask them. Between you and me and the grand piano... I suspect Father was a bit of a bad hat. - Artistic temperament? - Very artistic, I'm afraid. But sometimes, you know, it's quite a comfort to me. - In what way? - If Father had been as good as Mother... think how good I'd have been.
It moves from a portrait to another woman and back to self-mockery, keeping the scandal soft.
Up next · 14dream upThe scene: Lizzie Sees a Ghost at WindwardTakeaways
What you walk away with- An old house is treated like a person with feelings.
- The family scandal is hinted at, never spelled out.
- Her dream of a snuffed flame foreshadows the plot.
- A playful confidence bonds the two strangers fast.
- The piano invitation ends the tour on a flirtatious note.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does Stella know the house so well?
Windward was her family home. She lived there until she was three, and returned at ten to peer through the windows before her grandfather sent her to school in Brussels.
What does Stella's childhood dream mean?
She remembers lying in the dark until a small flame appeared, then someone snuffing it out and leaving her terrified. It reads as a memory of her mother, and of losing her, rather than a literal ghost.
Who is the 'other one' Stella's father painted?
A foreign girl who modeled for him. Stella says she has never learned much about her because people become hush-hush whenever she asks.
Why does Stella joke that her father was a bad hat?
Calling him a disreputable sort lets her discuss the rumors about him without breaking down. She even says his flaws comfort her, since she might have turned out worse if he had been as good as her mother.