Anna’s schoolwork becomes more difficult as the other girls prepare for an exam later that school year (Anna is excused because she is not French, but she must complete the same schoolwork). She feels depressed, and spends hours laboring over difficult homework she can’t complete.

Mama notices Anna’s despondency one night as she sits over her arithmetic homework but does none of it. Mama takes Anna for tea and buys her an expensive pastry, even though it doesn’t leave enough money for the cod for dinner, to talk to her. Mama assures Anna that although learning a new language is hard, it will probably entail periods of struggles and then moments of feeling everything “click.”

At school, Colette asks Anna a question, and Anna replies automatically, without first needing to translate it into German and then back into French. School becomes easier; Mama sends a note to Madame Socrate, who starts helping Anna at lunch again. Anna feels more cheerful.

The family celebrates Christmas with the Fernands. The children are allowed to stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve, as is the tradition. Anna spends some of her money on chocolate for the white cat.