Following the accident, Lena cares for Bonnie, who sleeps beside her and Ella on a mattress placed near Lena’s bed. She gives Bonnie small amounts of moonshine for pain and sassafras tea and soup to help her heal. Bonnie speaks very little at first but gradually begins talking again and insists on helping prepare meals. Days later, Teensy and Betty Lee visit with food and convey the community’s wishes for Bonnie’s recovery.

The following afternoon, while Silas and Jack Henry are away gathering supplies, Lena changes Bonnie’s dressing. The wound is deep and stitched with black thread, but Lena keeps her composure and applies salve. When Bonnie compares herself to Frankenstein, Lena tells her about Frankenstein Castle in Germany and explains the origin of the name and the story of a man said to have experimented on dead bodies there.

Tired of soup, Bonnie asks for mashed potatoes. Lena decides to also prepare potato pancakes for Silas and Jack Henry. They go to the garden and dig potatoes, but as they finish, Bonnie sees a well-dressed man approaching on foot. Lena sends Bonnie inside with Ella and goes to meet the stranger. He asks for Silas, refuses to give his name, and makes inappropriate remarks about Lena. When he attempts to wait inside, Lena tells him someone is aiming a rifle at him and orders him to leave. The man retreats to a horse tied out of sight and rides away, saying he will return and speak with Silas.

Inside, Lena confirms he has left and opens the trapdoor where Bonnie and Ella had hidden. Bonnie says she has seen the man before, arguing with Silas, and believes he may be George Pollock, a man people in the community have been discussing. She adds that he is not Sheriff Dixon, who drives a paddy wagon.

Two weeks after her accident, Bonnie sits calmly while Silas removes her stitches. At supper, she declares she will not return to school with the scar on her face. Silas announces neither child will attend school until the land dispute is resolved, explaining it is too dangerous for them to travel alone. When Bonnie suggests Lena could escort them, Silas dismisses the idea, stating Lena has work and a child to care for.

Three loud knocks interrupt the meal. George Pollock demands entry. Silas grabs a rifle and orders him off the property. Pollock insists he has information about a deal that could allow Silas to keep his home. Silas goes outside, instructing Lena and the children to remain inside. After he leaves, Lena confirms to the children that this is the same man who previously approached her in the garden.

Silas calls Lena onto the porch, where Pollock falsely claims she invited him inside for coffee. He then outlines his proposal: If Silas surrenders Lena to work as his house servant, Pollock can use his government connections to secure lifetime use of the home after the state condemns it. He explains that because Silas does not hold legal title to the land, the state will not compensate him. Pollock adds that Lena would first be committed to an institution called the Colony and sterilized. He also suggests that his wife could care for Ella.

Lena protests, but Silas silences her. When Silas asks what he would do for help and whether Ella is old enough to work, it becomes clear he is weighing the offer. Pollock insults the house, prompting Silas to raise his rifle and order him off the property. Pollock says he will return in a day or two for an answer, then leaves.

Inside, Silas resumes eating and tells the children not to worry. Lena announces that Silas intends to send her and Ella to Pollock and declares they will leave before he returns. Bonnie and Jack Henry defend Lena, refusing to accept the decision. Silas insists it is his house and his choice, framing the situation as a decision between keeping the home or losing it. When the argument escalates, he grabs his rifle and hat and leaves the house. The children fear he has gone after Pollock and may face arrest. Lena considers whether to flee with Ella or remain and face Pollock’s return.

At midnight, Lena sits on the porch awaiting Silas’s return, considering whether to flee with Ella before he makes a decision about Pollock’s offer. Fearing he may send her away to save his home, she goes inside, writes a farewell note to Bonnie and Jack Henry, packs their belongings, and straps a sleeping Ella to her chest. She takes food from the kitchen and prepares to leave, but Silas’s truck returns. Ella wakes and cries, and Silas sees that Lena is attempting to run.

Silas tells her she no longer needs to worry about Pollock. He says he did not kill him and explains he does not trust him or believe he has the power to secure lifetime use of the house. Even if Silas agreed, the government would still take the land. He adds that he will not send Lena and Ella away because Bonnie and Jack Henry would never forgive him. Bonnie and Jack Henry appear at the top of the stairs and come down to embrace Lena and Ella. Lena begins to cry.

By late September, Pollock has not returned, no one has come from Sweet Briar College, and Sheriff Dixon has not appeared, though Silas remains tense and withdrawn. Lena asks Jack Henry to teach her how to load and fire a rifle and hides one under the back steps when Silas is away, despite worrying that one of the children might try to use it.

Lena receives a letter from Enzo saying he is working as a bricklayer in Berlin and living with Frau Müller’s son. She replies that she has no money to send but explains that she and Ella are provided for in the mountains.

A week later, Lena, Bonnie, and Jack Henry are picking apples when three vehicles drive up the lane: a truck, a Model T, and a paddy wagon. George Pollock, a man in a suit, Miriam Sizer, Sheriff Dixon, and his deputy arrive. Lena orders Bonnie to take Ella into the house, but the vehicles stop between them and the door. Jack Henry grabs the rifle from beneath the back steps, but the deputy seizes it and restrains him.

Sheriff Dixon announces that the state has deemed Silas incompetent and unfit as a parent and provider. Bonnie struggles against the sheriff, kicking and biting him, but both children are forced into the paddy wagon. Lena pleads for their release and asks to bring shoes and food, but the sheriff refuses and will not say where they are being taken.

Miriam tells Lena that Penelope Rodgers reported that Silas is living in sin with her and that Ella is their child. When Lena denies this, Miriam and the man in the suit restrain her while Miriam takes Ella from her arms. Lena scratches Miriam’s face but cannot free herself. The deputy places Ella in the front seat of the paddy wagon while Bonnie and Jack Henry remain locked in the back.

As the paddy wagon drives away with the children, Lena offers to do anything Pollock wants if her baby is returned. Pollock denies involvement. Lena collapses and loses consciousness.

Lena regains consciousness in the back seat of the Model T with Miriam beside her and Pollock and the man in the suit in front. Miriam tells her they are on their way to the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded. When Lena asks where Ella is, Miriam says the children are also being taken there.

They arrive at a large complex of brick buildings. Nurse Irene meets them at the entrance. Miriam introduces Lena as uneducated, unmarried, and the mother of an “illegitimate” (268) child, calling her a possible “imbecile” (268). Lena demands to see Ella but is told she must first speak with Dr. John Bell, the superintendent. Nurse Irene leads them through locked corridors that smell of urine and waste while muffled cries echo through the walls.

In Dr. Bell’s office, Miriam gives him a document about Lena. Nurse Mabel brings in a syringe as a precaution. When Dr. Bell asks whether Miriam told Lena the children were at the Colony, Miriam admits she did. She then explains that Ella is not there and that the children are being placed in another home, adding that for now Ella is with Bonnie and Jack Henry but that they will likely be separated later.

Lena lunges at Miriam but is restrained by Dr. Bell and Nurse Irene. After Miriam leaves, Dr. Bell continues an evaluation, questioning Lena about her background, conduct, and family. Lena denies the accusations against her, but Dr. Bell rejects her account. He tells her Silas’s home is being condemned and that she has no place to go. He also says that by relying on Silas for food and housing, she violated the conditions of her entry into the United States.

Dr. Bell ends the session, saying the evaluation will continue and that a review board will decide her case the following week. Lena insists Ella was not lost but taken and that Miriam knows where she is. Dr. Bell signals Nurse Irene, who injects Lena with a sedative. Lena loses consciousness while Dr. Bell holds her in the chair.

Lena awakens in a gray-walled ward that smells of sweat, urine, and feces. Women of all ages fill the room; some wander, others sleep or sit on metal beds, and several appear restrained. Realizing she is in the Colony, Lena rushes to the door and finds it locked. She pounds on it, calling for her baby. An older woman warns her that attempting to escape will lead to confinement in “the blind room” (286), forced douching, and weeks with only bread and water.

Nurse Irene arrives to take Lena for the remainder of her evaluation. In the hallway, Lena sees a gray-haired woman she recognizes as the Widow Spinney from Wolfe Hollow, holding a swaddled bundle she believes is a baby. Two nurses restrain the woman and throw the bundle to the floor, revealing there is no baby inside. They drag the widow back into a room as she screams.

Nurse Irene escorts Lena to an examination room, where Lena is weighed and has her temperature and blood pressure taken. Dr. Bell enters and tells her to remove her dress and put on a hospital gown. When she hesitates, Nurse Irene threatens restraints and sedation. Lena changes and lies on the examination table. Dr. Bell listens to her heart, checks her reflexes, examines her ears and throat, measures her head, and records his findings. He then instructs her to place her feet in stirrups for a pelvic examination to check for venereal and pelvic diseases and for “evidence of an immoral lifestyle” (290). After further threats of restraint and sedation, Lena complies and submits to the procedure.