As the weather is warming, Michel and Marceline stay in La Morinière while Marceline recovers. Michel spends time among the farmworkers to see how his farm is run and because he enjoys the company of the working-class men. He is fascinated by one man, Pierre, who is both a hard worker and often drunk. When Michel hears that Bocage has fired Pierre for passing out in a barn, he becomes angry with Bocage and demands that he himself make the final decisions on dismissals going forward. Charles returns from his training, and Michel realizes he has barely thought about the boy in the past few months. He now finds Charles pretentious.

Meanwhile, Michel befriends one of the laborers hired to clear the forest, a man named Bute. Bute tells him scandalous rumors about Heurtevent, the wood merchant, and his children, claiming that Heurtevent helped his son rape a servant girl and that his daughter prostitutes herself. Bute also informs Michel that Bocage’s younger son, Alcide, is setting illegal traps in the woods at night. When Michel catches the boy in the act, Alcide explains that he sells any game he captures to Heurtevent.