Molly is buried that week, but hardly anyone notices. The villagers are surprised at Silas' determination to keep the child, but it leads to greater sympathy for him, and he receives much advice on child-raising. The most acceptable help comes from Dolly Winthrop, who gives Silas some of Aaron's old clothes and shows him how to dress and bathe the child. She also suggests that if Silas wishes to do the right thing by the child, she must be christened at church. Silas doesn't understand the word, but after Dolly explains it to him, he decides the child should be named Hepzibah after his mother and his little sister. She is to be called Eppie for short.
As time passes, the child creates new links with the world for Silas. His gold had always kept his thoughts inward, but Eppie leads them out into the world like a reawakening to life. Eppie soon develops a capacity for mischief, and Silas is troubled about having to punish her. He cannot bear to spank her, so he takes Dolly's advice to try shutting her in the coal hole. He tries this only once, after Eppie has run away into a neighboring field. Eppie finds the coal hole as much fun as the fields, and Silas drops all idea of punishing her in the future. Silas takes her on his trips to the farmhouses, and Eppie makes him seem human to his neighbors. Even the children no longer fear him. And now that he has the child, the gold he earns seems unimportant.
Godfrey watches the weaver's growing happiness with hidden interest. He dares not claim the child as his own, and he sees that she is well taken care of. Godfrey has no regrets now. Dunstan has not returned; Godfrey's courtship of Nancy is going well; he envisions himself happily married, playing with his children on his own hearth.
