Ethan returns to the farm and finds Mattie crying because she thought she wasn’t going to see him again. He helps send her trunk ahead to the train station, assuring her that he’ll personally drive her there that evening. He reiterates this at lunch over Zeena’s objections and then goes into Corbury on business.

Ethan returns at three o’clock and finds Mattie in his study. As they settle into his sleigh, he tells her they have time for a ride and drives to Shadow Pond. The pond was the site of a church picnic the prior summer, which the couple now reminisce about; during the picnic, Mattie lost her locket, and it was Ethan who found it.

Mattie eventually says they ought to leave, and the pair head back towards Starkfield. Ethan asks Mattie about her plans, growing concerned when she says she’ll find a job; he urges her to stay with relatives instead, but Mattie says no one would take her. When Ethan says he would help her if he could, she produces the note he began writing to Zeena; she realizes that running away is impossible but says she’s fantasized about it since the day of the picnic. Ethan reiterates how much he wishes he could care for her, jealously saying he’d almost rather see her dead than married to someone else.