John returns to Sir Ensor’s death bed the next day, and no one protests it as the women caring for him seem to approve. The women send him and Lorna in, believing it is what he wants, even though he has not asked for them. Sir Ensor silently gestures for John to retrieve the glass necklace, which Sir Ensor gives back to Lorna. She gives it to John for safekeeping, then Sir Ensor dies. John is aware that Carver and the Counsellor have “vowed a fearful vengeance” upon him, though they dared not act while Sir Ensor was dying, nor immediately after due to the delicacy of succession and the fact that Lorna was so beautiful that the young men adored her and that adoration could turn to tactical support (274).

The dropping temperatures affect Sir Ensor’s burial and funeral. The frost continues, and birds fly West. Many animals flee towards the shelter of the Ridds’s barns, and Annie cares for them. A shepherd takes shelter with them and warns them that the winter will be strong enough to kill their livestock, as the current weather patterns match his memory of a previous, legendarily cold winter 60 years prior. John is unsettled and determines to bring the sheep inside for the winter to prevent their deaths, but he awakes to find them buried in snow the next morning.