Content Warning: This section contains accounts of enslavement, with implications of sexual violence and incest.

The story of the boating accident is revealed in full. When Aubrey, Molly, and Dianthe capsized in the boat, Aubrey shook off Molly in order to save Dianthe, but not before catching a final glimpse of Molly’s body rising to the surface. He leaves Dianthe in a nearby cottage, then stumbles back to the river to be “found.” Dianthe once again experiences amnesia, making her even more susceptible to Aubrey’s manipulation. Believing that Reuel has died, she marries Aubrey and goes with him to the Livingston estate in Maryland.

Aubrey is obsessed with Dianthe, but she remains in her room, silent and sorrowful. Aubrey asks if she is seeing the spirits of Reuel and his fellow travelers, but Dianthe speaks instead of the woman who signed the Bible; Aubrey is able to see the inscription. When Aubrey leaves, he unintentionally leaves behind a letter from Jim Titus reporting that his attempts to kill Reuel have failed. Dianthe realizes that Reuel is alive and she has become a bigamist. She wishes that Aubrey would die. The name of a nearly-undetectable poison comes to her mind, as if someone had whispered it in her ear.