Mamma might believe what Aunt Lavvy told her, that he had only gone to
look out of the window and had turned giddy. Aunt Lavvy might believe
that he didn't know what he was doing.
But you knew.
He had been afraid. Afraid. He wouldn't go up to the top-landing after
they took Aunt Charlotte away; because he was afraid.
Then, at last, after all those years, he had gone up. When he knew he was
caught in the net and couldn't get out. He had found that they had moved
the linen cupboard from the window back into the night nursery. And he
had bolted the staircase door on himself. He had shut himself up. And the
great bare, high window was there. And the low sill. And the steep, bare
wall, dropping to the lane below.