- The boy is awake in bed, and hears the whole uproar. He had been on his way to the borrowers' house with a screwdriver when he heard Mrs. Driver exclaim on the stairs and ran back into his room.
- That was at midnight. Now he hears the clock strike one. It must be safe now to return, right?
- The boy rushes to tell the borrowers that it is no longer safe for them to live in their clock, and that he'll help them escape to the great outdoors.
- Homily can't bear the thought, but Pod knows it's the only way, and Arrietty is super psyched to live in freedom. Anything's better than a musty old clock, right?
- The boy calms Homily down by saying that he will help them get some supplies of food and carpets from the dollhouse.
- He decides to carry the family upstairs in a clothespin bag (because Homily says she would rather die than be carried out in the boy's hands).
- But just as he's loading the family into the bag, Mrs. Driver appears.
- Gulp.
- She accuses the boy of being a thief, just like the little people, but the boy defends them by saying they are "borrowers," and that he is a borrower, too.
- He begs her to let him move them from the house and not to hurt them.
- No dice.
- Mrs. Driver, who really is not a very nice lady, pushes the boy roughly into his room and locks him in there, where he cries himself to sleep under the blankets.