Fact1: Beech ’s 20-year-old granddaughter lives with grandfather in nearby town of Biddlecombe, Fact2: Stella is upset by sale because of attachment to house, Fact3: mother fell to death, Fact4: commander has forbidden Stella to enter house or to see Rick, Fact5: Mary took Carmel to Paris leaving her there
Output: In 1937, London music critic and composer Roderick Rick Fitzgerald and his sister Pamela fall in love with Windward House, an abandoned seaside home, during a holiday on Cornwalls rocky coast. They purchase it for an unusually low price from Commander Beech. Rick and Pamela meet Beech’s 20yearold granddaughter, Stella Meredith, who lives with her grandfather in the nearby town of Biddlecombe. Stella is deeply upset by the sale because of her attachment to the house, despite its being where her mother, Mary Meredith, fell to her death. The commander has forbidden Stella to enter the house or to see Rick. However, she gains access to Windward House through Rick, who becomes infatuated with her. The Fitzgeralds initial enchantment with the house diminishes when they unlock an artists studio where they feel an inexplicable chill. Just before dawn, Rick hears the sobs of an unseen woman, a phenomenon that Pamela investigates whilst awaiting her brothers return with their Irish housekeeper, Lizzie Flynn. The superstitious Lizzie notices a peculiar draft on the stairs. Rick and Pamela must face the obvious: Windward House is haunted. When Stella comes to Windward for dinner, she senses a spirit. Rather than fearing it, she associates the calming presence with her mother. Suddenly she dashes out towards the very cliff from which her mother Mary fell to her death seventeen years earlier. Rick catches her just before she reaches the edge. Stella professes to have no recollection of the nearfatal incident. The Fitzgeralds and the town physician, Dr. Scott, investigate. They learn that Stellas father, a painter, had had an affair with his model, a Spanish gypsy named Carmel. Mary, from all accounts a beautiful and virtuous woman, found out and took Carmel to Paris, leaving her there. Subsequently, Carmel returned to England, stole the infant Stella from Windward, and, during a confrontation, pushed Mary off the cliff to her death. Shortly afterward, Carmel became ill and died. Rick tries to dissuade Stella from her dangerous attraction to Windward by staging a seance to convey the message that her mother wants her to stay away. However, the ghost takes over and communicates that it is guarding Stella. Stella becomes possessed by the spirit and begins muttering in Spanish. Distressed by Stellas renewed involvement with Windward, Beech sends Stella to a sanitorium run by Miss Holloway, Marys friend and confidante. The Fitzgeralds visit and question Holloway, unaware that Stella is confined there. Holloway explains that after Marys death, she took care of Carmel, who had contracted pneumonia and eventually died of it. Looking through the records of the previous village physician, Dr. Scott discovers that Holloway may have hastened Carmels death. The doctor is called away to care for an ailing Beech, who tells him that Stella is at the sanitorium. Rick, Pam, and Scott telephone Miss Holloway to inform her that they are on their way. Holloway deceives Stella, saying that the Fitzgeralds have invited her to live with them. Stella happily takes the train home. Holloway tells the wouldbe rescuers that Stella is on her way to Windward House. There Stella finds only her grandfather in the studio. He begs Stella with his last strength to get out, but she remains at his side. When a ghost manifests, the commander succumbs to a heart attack. Stella welcomes the ghost, believing it to be her mother, but the apparition frightens her, and she flees towards the cliff. Rick and Dr. Scott get there just in time to pull Stella from the crumbling cliff to safety. Back inside, the group is drawn again to the physicians journal, which the friendly spirit has opened to a certain page. They discover that Carmel gave birth to a child in Paris, where Stella herself was born. The truth becomes clear: Carmel is Stellas mother. Stellas realization of her true parentage frees Carmels spirit to leave Windward. Something evil, though, has remained. After sending everyone away, Rick confronts the spirit of Mary Meredith, telling her that they are no longer afraid of her and that she has no power over them any longer. Defeated, Marys spirit departs.