Summary

After three weeks, Thea leaves the infirmary. She describes that she actually became sicker before getting better, and that she was kept under Mrs. Holmes’s orders. It is now fall, and Thea experiences the changing of the seasons for the first time. Many other things have changed during this time: Henny is now engaged, Katherine Hayes’s uncle murdered his wife because they lost money. Jettie was caught drinking. Victoria, one of the Augusta House girls, had left because her family business went bankrupt. The summer-only campers have gone home. Sissy finds out that the three-week fundraising trip Mrs. Holmes goes on every winter will be six weeks this year because of the difficult economic times.

Thea is not allowed to ride, and her muscles have heavily deteriorated from being sick in bed. Thea still goes to the stables, though, to visit Naari...