The village doctor, the local gossip, and a former governess visit, with strange stories of the beautiful Mary Meredith, who once lived in the house and of the striking, unstable Carmel, who posed for a painting that led to her destruction. Their housekeeper’s cat will not enter the nursery, where the sound of a weeping woman adds to the tense atmosphere, and the scent of a flowery, exotic perfume called mimosa comes and goes.

Slowly the Fitzgeralds begin to sense the evil spirit that still inhabits the house, announcing its presence with a sudden, bone-chilling cold. Fifteen years earlier a murder may or may not have occurred by the gnarled tree that can be viewed from the parlor window. The reason is soon apparent: The house has an unsavory reputation. The house, Cliff End, has long been empty, and they are able to purchase it at a suspiciously low price from crusty Commander Brooke, the village curmudgeon. Seeking to escape the demands of life in London, Pam Fitzgerald and her brother, Roddy, an aspiring playwright, discover a charming house in the west of England, overlooking the Irish Sea.

Spooky play