When Adam comes home from work, his mother is her usual querulous self, but he brushes off her complaints and declares that he must he left free to do what he thinks is right.
He puts on his best clothes and goes to the Hall Farm, where he encounters Mrs. Poyser. She tells him that Hetty is in the garden with Totty and asks him to go and send the child in. Adam does so and then looks for Hetty. He comes upon her unawares and startles her; she blushes, and Adam takes this as a sign of love. It is a "sweet delusion," though; Hetty is thinking of Arthur. There is a lot of misunderstanding in the ensuing conversation; Adam tells Hetty of Arthur's plan to lend him money so that she will have a favorable view of his own prospects, but Hetty is interested in the information only because it relates to Arthur. He plucks a rose for her and Hetty puts it in her hair. Adam disapproves of this mark of vanity and says so; he maintains that Dinah's extremely plain style of dress is "very nice."
They go into the house and Hetty goes upstairs while Adam socializes with the Poysers. Mrs. Poyser is angry with one of the maids for breaking some crockery until, suddenly, she drops a jug herself. She has been startled by the appearance of Hetty in one of her aunt's dresses and acts as if she's seen a ghost. After a few comments on Hetty's joke, the talk moves to other topics. Adam mentions his scheme for a second business and Mr. Poyser approves of it. Finally Adam leaves to visit Bartle Massey, the village schoolmaster.
