As Pete foresaw, his story about the Mansfield sisters spreads rapidly through the village, growing more elaborate with each telling. Villagers begin adding their own “memories” of the girls having sharp teeth and glowing eyes. Robin hears the rumor from Martha Heathcote and is disturbed by the villagers’ gleeful excitement. He worries for the sisters, who have always been kind to him.

Robin later encounters the Mansfields’ maids. Connie calls the rumor “dangerous nonsense” (94), fearing it could lead to accusations of witchcraft. She says if the girls are truly sick, she and Amie will leave the farm. When Robin arrives home, his mother is enraged because all their hens have been killed by what appears to be a dog. She immediately connects the attack to the rumors about the Mansfield girls, having heard Robin’s younger brother, Richard, repeat what he heard in the village.

Robin confronts Richard, who says his schoolmaster, Tubb, swore the story was true. Robin instructs his brother to bring all future gossip to him so he can “sift for [him] the true from the untrue” (98). Richard agrees and then reports something he knows is true: He saw a loach stranded on the muddy, exposed banks of the shrinking river.