Titus Groan the Countess. Here, Steerpike takes the opportunity to spy on the Groan family. Despite having led him there, the fiercely loyal Flay is angered by Steerpike's eavesdropping and locks him in a small room. Steerpike, however, escapes out of a window, risking his life above a sheer drop. He manages to climb up onto the roofs and towers of Gormenghast, and from there begins his rise to power. After spending twenty-four hours clambering over the enormous castle searching for a means to enter, Steerpike manages to climb in through a window into the secret attic of Lady Fuchsia Groan. Fuchsia,
Mervyn Peake Drawings" (1965), and "A Reverie of Bone" (1967). After his death came "Selected Poems" (1972), followed by "Peake's Progress" in (1979 – though the Penguin edition of 1982, with many corrections, including a whole stanza inadvertently omitted from the hardback edition, is to be preferred). "The Collected Poems of Mervyn Peake" was published by Carcanet Press in June 2008. Other collections include "The Drawings of Mervyn Peake" (1974), "Writings and Drawings" (1974), and "Mervyn Peake: the man and his art" (2006). A collected edition of the works, issued to celebrate Peake's centenary year, has been announced for publication by Queen