Laura leaves, deeply upset over seeing the scars on Martin’s back, and returns to her room to sew. Her mind is not on her sewing but instead on everything that’s happened since Martin’s arrival. In Virginia, Laura experienced her aunt and uncle’s kind treatment of enslaved people, and “she want[s] to believe that all plantation owners [are] as kind as the Montgomerys” (51). Now, she is starting to wonder if she’s been wrong about slavery all along.

Time seems to crawl for Laura, and she has finally convinced herself that the slave catchers won’t be coming after all when she hears someone outside the house. She runs to the window to see who it is and notices a group of men, one of whom wears a sheriff’s badge. She watches them attempt to open the door without knocking. When the men find that it’s locked, one of them calls out for whoever is inside to open up.

Bert comes outside from the barn and calmly greets the men. They inform him that they are looking for a fugitive in the area, and they’ve received a search warrant to look through the house. Bert invites them inside but tells them he’ll have to let them in the back door since that’s the only key he has on him and the front door is locked.