- Still in the kitchen, Nancy begins wailing again and is unable to drink the coffee Dilsey has given her. Jason, five years old and not very caring, essentially says, "Look at Nancy, Look at Nancy."
- Dilsey tries to convince Nancy to let the children's father—his name is Mr. Jason, we learn; it is actually Mr. Jason Compson, as readers of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury would know—phone the marshal. Or, Dilsey suggests, Nancy could go to her cabin and let her, Dilsey, stay with her. Nancy refuses these suggestions, saying no "n*****" will be able to stop Jesus.
- Dilsey asks Nancy what her plan is, and Nancy asks the children if she can stay with them in their room—she's thinking that might be a solution acceptable to their mother.
- Caddy asks her mother, who basically says no way. She suggests her husband call the police, but he protests that they wouldn't be able to find Jesus.
- The husband and wife fight some more, and Jason says he'll stop crying about Nancy not getting to spend the night if Dilsey bakes him a cake. Caddy keeps asking questions. Quentin continues silently observing. Sounds like this family has got some problems, you know?
- Nancy drops the coffee cup on the floor and resumes wailing. Dilsey leaves to look for someone to walk Nancy home.
- Nancy's got a new plan: for the children to come to her house and stay with her. She says they'll have fun.
- The children debate whether they should go. Jason says he'll rat them out to their parents if they go. Caddy says he's just afraid and points out their mother didn't expressly forbid going. Quentin says they didn't ask at all. Nancy says Jason isn't scared. The children decide to go.
- As they walk down the lane, Nancy, afraid Jesus is nearby, talks as if Mr. Jason is with them.
- They cross the ditch and enter the black woman's house, smelling something odd. Nancy asks them what they want to do.
- Caddy asks Nancy to tell a story. So Nancy builds a fire and tells a story. Quentin notices she seems to be elsewhere, as if the person telling them the story is merely the laborer they're familiar with. This is one of those moments when the perspective of the Quentin who's narrating the story fifteen years in the future seems to override the child Quentin's point of view.
- Nancy's story involves a queen who is about to cross a ditch, fearing a bad man. Caddy asks if she means a ditch like the one outside and asks why the queen wanted to cross. Nancy answers that the queen wanted to get to her house and bar the door against the bad man. Caddy, completely oblivious, asks why.