Summary

The people in the town are worried about Margery, and a few go to check on her at the jail and are appalled by the conditions she is living in. Alice sends the other librarians on their usual routes, and goes to the jail to bring Margery a clean change of clothes. The guard reluctantly lets her in, and she finds Margery looking “pale, her eyes shadowed” (297). Alice hands over the bag with the clothes and some food, and is heckled by the male prisoners. She promises they will get Margery out of there, and on her way out, she gives the deputy keeping watch some cornbread in an act of goodwill. Sven hired a lawyer from Louisville, who tries to assure him that the “state of Kentucky hasn’t executed a woman since 1868” (300).

Six weeks pass, and Margery is still in the...