MR. JEROME

Character Analysis

In a way, it's fitting that there's a whole chapter named "Mr. Jerome is Afraid," because that's the overwhelming sense that we get from Mr. Jerome: fear. He's a squirrely little man who is obviously very afraid of the woman in black that Arthur is seeing, but won't tell him anything about her. He won't even explain why he's so terrified of going to Eel Marsh House, just repeating again and again that he can't help Arthur:

He shifted his chair back, further away from me, as he sat behind his rickety desk, so that I thought…