“No, Miss Fitzgerald. No house is haunted.”
Por qué es buena
It refuses the ghost story without a tremor, which makes the old man more unsettling than the rumor.
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No road is cursed, only badly built.
00:00 / 03:11
00:00 / 03:11
The Fitzgeralds Buy a Haunted House, Explained
The Uninvited · 1944
Capítulo 3 de 28 · 3'11"
On the surface this is a straightforward sale: an old house, a low offer, a seller who needs the money. But Beech keeps circling one subject — the disturbances his tenants once reported — and answers the direct question with "No, Miss Fitzgerald. No house is haunted." The price, not the ghost, is what everyone is really negotiating.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:52–1:46
Beech Denies the Haunting
54s
The Fitzgeralds Buy a Haunted House, explained
What happens
Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald negotiate to buy a lonely house on the coast. The owner, Commander Beech, insists the building is sound, that £1,200 is his absolute limit, and that the money will ease his mind for his young granddaughter. When Pamela asks outright whether the house is haunted, Beech denies it — then mentions tenants who once complained of disturbances.
What's really going on
The haggling is almost a formality; both sides want the deal and both know it. Beech lowers his price before anyone asks, and gives his real reason without much prompting: "£1,200 in the bank for her would ease my mind considerably." The house is sold for his granddaughter's security, not its worth. Yet the one thing he will not put a value on is the past — he refuses to discuss what his tenants heard and insists, "No house is haunted", even as he admits the disturbances were real enough to cancel a lease. Roderick jokes that a ghost story should knock the price down, but Beech holds firm. What the Fitzgeralds are buying is a bargain they cannot quite explain.
Key lines & what they mean
- “No, Miss Fitzgerald. No house is haunted.”
- Beech denies the house is haunted but does not deny the disturbances. The line is a careful non-answer dressed as reassurance.
- “In the meantime, I have your word, and you have mine.”
- The deal rests on trust alone: no papers yet, just each man's word. It is oddly warm for a business exchange.
- “Well, it's wonderfully simple to buy a house, isn't it?”
- Roderick's dry amusement that a house can change hands on a handshake, with no solicitor in the room yet.
- “One does feel that a story like that should bring the price down.”
- A polite way of saying a ghost story should make the house cheaper. Roderick floats it as a negotiating point.
Theme
- Money — The whole scene is a price: £1,200, an absolute limit, and a house sold to fund a granddaughter's future.
- Secrets — Beech refuses to discuss the disturbances and denies the haunting, leaving the buyers to take the house on faith.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel1/6
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“In the meantime, I have your word, and you have mine.”
Por qué es buena
It seals a deal on mutual trust rather than paper, which tells you what kind of man he is.
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I have your word, and you have mine until Friday.
“Well, it's wonderfully simple to buy a house, isn't it?”
Por qué es buena
The tag question makes a tense negotiation sound like a joke they can now share.
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Informal
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It's easy to get a loan these days, isn't it?
“One does feel that a story like that should bring the price down.”
Por qué es buena
The politest construction does the hardest bargaining, joining manners with cunning.
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Formal
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One does feel that a scratch like that should bring the price down.
Siguiente · 04dog in the mangerLa escena: Rick Feels a Chill in the RoomIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- A price is settled by manners, not pressure.
- The seller cuts the price for reasons of his own.
- Ghost talk here works as a bargaining chip.
- Trust closes the deal before any paperwork.
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy does Beech sell the house so cheaply?
He says the money would "ease his mind" for his young granddaughter. He also admits the house is worth far more than £1,200, so the low price is driven by his need to provide for her, not the house's value.
Does Beech believe the house is haunted?
He says flatly that "no house is haunted," yet he mentions tenants who complained of disturbances and admits he canceled their lease. He is denying the word while conceding the events.
Why won't Beech talk about what happened to the tenants?
He says he "declined to discuss it" and simply canceled the lease. That silence is what unsettles the Fitzgeralds more than any ghost story would — they never learn what the tenants saw or heard.
What does Roderick mean about a story bringing the price down?
He is saying, half-jokingly, that a reputation for being haunted should lower the asking price. It is a light attempt to bargain using the very rumor Beech keeps dodging.
How is the sale completed?
By word of mouth at first: "In the meantime, I have your word, and you have mine." The title deeds and checks are to be exchanged later through their solicitors.