Uncle Julian reveals that Constance was tried for the murders of her family but acquitted. Helen Clarke disapproves of the discussion of the events, urging Constance to put them behind her, but Mrs. Uncle Julian himself barely survived the poisoning and has both mental and physical challenges as a result-for example, he uses a wheelchair and is easily confused. Uncle Julian joins the women and begins to discuss the family tragedy: six years ago, the rest of the Blackwood family (the parents, the sisters’ younger brother Thomas, and Uncle Julian’s wife) were poisoned with arsenic at the dinner table. In response, she smashes a pitcher in the kitchen. Constance seems to be considering this idea, which she also joked about earlier, and this possibility alarms Merricat. Helen Clarke, who Merricat clearly dislikes, urges the polite, kind Constance to go out in the world more often, reminding her that it’s been years since the family tragedy. When Helen Clarke arrives, the sisters realize that she has brought her friend Mrs. The sisters begin to prepare for tea with a neighbor, Helen Clarke, which is one of Constance’s few interactions with the outside world. These papers are dedicated to an incident six years earlier that killed the rest of the family. Constance begins to make lunch, and Uncle Julian, the third member of the sisters’ household, looks over his papers. In contrast to Merricat, Constance is sunny and cheerful. Merricat returns home to her sister Constance. On her way home, a group of boys (the Harrises) sing a made-up rhyme about her sister Constance trying to poison her. Two neighbors, Jim Donnell and Joe Dunham, taunt and pester her, the former claiming that he’s heard that Merricat and her sister are moving away (which proves to be false.) Eventually, the cafe’s owner, Stella, tells Merricat to go home. On her way home, Merricat goes into a cafe defiantly, trying to demonstrate her lack of fear towards the villagers. It’s clear that the hatred between Merricat and the villagers is mutual, since she often wishes them dead. She explains that her house is set apart from the town, closed off by a fence, and her family doesn’t even accept mail or phone calls.

These errands are difficult for Merricat because she’s afraid of her town’s hostile villagers, who she claims have always hated her family. She recounts a day of doing her weekly errands, such as going to the library and picking up groceries. Merricat says that all of her family is dead except for her sister, Constance. The novel begins with the narrator and protagonist, Mary Katherine “Merricat” Blackwood introducing herself.

We have always lived in the castle book