Toby, in an attempt to save Lieutenant Le Fever's life, went the next morning to the house where the sick man lay in his bed. Toby offered Le Fever everything he had. He was willing to buy Le Fever food and drink and to give him money. In other words, Toby said he would do whatever it took to save the man's life.

Le Fever was so grateful that he showed signs of improving, but this was short lived. When Le Fever died, Toby paid for a funeral and his friend Yorick delivered a sermon on mortality, which the narrator states was one of Yorick's best.

After Le Fever was buried, Toby sorted through all of the soldier's personal belongings. There was not much the soldier owned, so Toby use his own money to pay Le Fever's bills. In the end, all that was left was Le Fever's uniform, which Toby gave to Trim, and the soldier's sword, which Toby promised to keep for Le Fever's son, Billy.

When Toby and Trim returned home, they took Billy with them. Toby enrolled Billy in a good school, where the boy stayed until he is seventeen. When he reached this age, Billy decided he had had enough education and wanted to enlist in the army.

Billy went to Toby before leaving and asked if he might now have his father's sword. When Toby heard that Billy wanted to enlist in the army, he told the boy that he wanted to go with him. They would fight side by side, Toby said.

However, Toby had received a wound in his groin during his last battle and confessed that he was no longer fit. So Toby bid farewell to Billy, whom he had raised as if he were his own son.

Before Billy left, Toby gave him the sword, telling Billy that if luck was on his side, the sword would guard his life. Then Toby added that when Billy's tour in the army had ended, he wanted the boy to come back and share his home.

Toby also slipped Billy's father's purse into the boy's pocket. Inside the purse was a generous amount of money as well as Billy's mother's wedding ring.

Six weeks before Tristram's accident with the window, Toby receives a letter from Billy telling him that he has lost everything, including his health. The only possession he has been able to hang on to is his father's sword. He then asks permission to come back to Toby's home, which Toby agrees to.

This is why, when Toby hears his brother speaking of wanting to find a tutor for Tristram, especially when Yorick mentions that a good teacher should also have a good heart, Toby's first thought is to suggest Le Fever's son. There is no one who has a better, more gentle heart than this boy, who so faithfully stayed at his father's side in his attempts to nurse him back to health.

As this section closes, Toby is anxiously awaiting Billy's return.