Belle knows the truth of what happened the night of the hog-killing. After Mr. Waters tried to force himself on Dory, Ben killed him. Belle and Mama drugged Rankin so that they could dispose of Waters’s body in the privy without Rankin noticing. They packed up all of the tutor’s things and disposed of them, and Jimmy took his horse far off the land and let him run away. Finally, Mama Mae had Belle forge a letter in Mr. Waters’ handwriting stating that he was resigning and leaving. They even used candle wax to create a fake seal for the letter. Despite the dire circumstances, Mama and Belle can’t stop laughing.

As she comes out of her drug-induced fog, Martha begins to take a shine to Lavinia and asks to spend time with her. When Martha continues to refer to Lavinia as Isabelle, Lavinia corrects her. Miss Martha admits that she knows it’s the wrong name, but Lavinia reminds her of her sister, Isabelle, and calling Lavinia by her name comforts Miss Martha. When she finds out that Lavinia can’t read, she begins to teach her.

Mama Mae comes in later to announce that Rankin wishes to speak with her. Mae baits Martha by telling her that Rankin doubts her capability to run the household. After putting herself together and dressing, Martha sends for Rankin. When Lavinia goes to get him, she sees him cornering Dory, making lascivious comments and trying to find out how she injured her face.

Rankin shows Miss Martha the letter from Waters and Miss Martha reasserts her authority, stating that any questions will be handled by the captain when he returns. She abruptly dismisses Rankin, who can barely contain his disgruntlement.

The slaves all go over their cover story again and again in preparation for the Captain’s return. They know that if anyone finds out about what really happened, Ben will be hanged. Rankin has taken out his anger at Miss Martha on the field slaves, behaving more cruelly than usual.

An emboldened Ben finds Belle alone and asks why she has been avoiding him. She explains that it is the Captain’s command and that she’ll be leaving in the summer. They both feel very attracted to each other, but Uncle Jacob arrives just in time, before anything happens. After Ben heads out, Uncle Jacob reprimands Belle and reminds her that if she has anything to do with Ben, the Captain might harm him or sell him, and it would be all Belle’s fault.