The Funeral of Mrs. Drablow
- When Arthur reaches Crythin Gifford, Sam drops him off at the hotel and tells him to call him if he ever needs anything.
- Arthur is all like, "Psh, I won't need anything," but little does he know…
- At the hotel, Arthur gets settled in and tries to talk to the innkeeper about Mrs. Drablow, but he's not having any of it.
- Come to think of it, everyone's a little tight-lipped about the whole Drablow affair.
- Arthur figures that the townsfolk are backwards hicks who think that old Mrs. Drablow was a witch.
- Judgmental, much?
- He goes to sleep and wakes up the next morning blissfully unaware of what's going to happen next. Dun, dun, dun…
- When he gets back to the hotel from a morning stroll, Mr. Jerome, Mrs. Drablow's agent, has left a note saying that he'll be by shortly to pick up Arthur for the funeral. Field trip!
- Almost no one is at the service (guess Mrs. Drablow wasn't very popular), but Arthur sees a young woman who is dressed all in black and seems to be dying from some terrible disease.
- Oh, and there's also a row of unsmiling children lined up outside the gate at the funeral.
- That's not weird at all, right? Kids do that kind of thing all the time.
- But when he brings up the creepy lady with Mr. Jerome, Mr. Jerome is not pleased.
- Actually, he insists that he didn't see a woman at all and kind of freaks out when Arthur keeps claiming that he did.
- This goes on for a while, with Arthur, who apparently can't take a hint, talking about the woman and Mr. Jerome denying having seen her.
- When they get back into town, Mr. Jerome says that he won't take Arthur to Eel Marsh House.
- At lunch, Arthur hobnobs with some locals. When he talks about Eel Marsh House, one guy says that no one will ever buy that house—but won't tell him why.
- So it's off to Eel Marsh House to find out some answers for himself.