There’s nothing inside the big cupboard in Grandfather’s room, and it’s closed at the far end. Henry retrieves the second journal and finds in it a letter from Grandfather to Frank and Dotty. Grandfather writes that his own father built the cupboards, designed the house around them, and suffered serious injuries using them because time moves at different rates in each one. Grandfather found his father’s notes, learned about the cupboards, and avoided their most dangerous pitfalls. He doesn’t recommend Frank and Dotty do the same, but he knows they’ll try.

The journal lists the combinations to each of the cupboards. The combination knobs upstairs determine the destination point for each, including the big cupboard downstairs. Some of the cupboards go nowhere; others must be kept closed, or things from the other side may get into the house. One of those things, says the journal, was Henry.

Stunned, Henry wants more information, but first he must find Henrietta. He returns to his room and studies the locks. Henrietta had spun the dials, accidentally resetting the destination of Grandfather’s cupboard, and Henry had idly twisted them, too, locking out Henrietta’s pathway.