- Polly Ann, Birdy, and Cissie-Mae and Ellie sit with Tom while he eats dinner. They already ate, since they didn't have to walk three miles through a snowstorm.
- Birdy commends Tom on a job well done navigating home.
- By now, the storm is so bad that Birdy agrees to spend the night and offers to drive Tom to the mill in the morning.
- The next morning, while doing his chores, Tom worries about how to get his presents from their hiding spot in the barn into the house. He has Polly Ann smuggle in the girls' presents, and then he has the girls sneak in Polly Ann's present, while Birdy creates a distraction.
- The girls and Polly Ann plan to go cut a Christmas tree that day, and Birdy and Tom start out for town.
- On the drive, Tom thinks he should get a Christmas present for Birdy as well.
- Tom asks Birdy if he has seen Widow Breen recently. He says he saw her in November when he followed a deer he was hunting up to her place and that the barn looked as good as ever. He also mentioned that she had asked after Tom and seemed pleased to hear he quit school and got a job.
- He thinks about the other part of his fortune from the cards, the part about getting a lot of money. He wonders when that will be. In case you forgot, he really wants that barn.