As evening comes on after the trial, Dinah appears outside the prison. She encounters the gentleman who had watched her from horseback on the day she preached at Hayslope and through him gains admittance to see Hetty.
She finds the girl huddled up in a heap. Hetty rises, takes a step forward; Dinah embraces the poor creature, and the two girls sit silently together for a long time. Finally Dinah begins to speak, trying to bring Hetty to confess and unburden her soul. At first Hetty, sunk in despair, can think only of the horror of her imminent death, but slowly she softens and, in response to Dinah's earnest prayers, at last bursts out in confession. She says she abandoned the baby because she could think of nothing else to do; it seemed like the only way out of her dreadful situation. Unencumbered, she could go back home, make up an excuse to explain her absence, and life could go on as before. But, she continues, the baby's crying had haunted her after she left it in the woods, and, drawn by an irresistible impulse, she had gone back. The emotional dam is burst and Hetty sobs hysterically. She asks God's forgiveness, and the two women pray together.
