Knowing nowhere else to go, Eustacia returns to her grandfather's house. She is looked after by Charley, her admirer from the time before she was married. When she moodily contemplates the pistols in Captain Vye's room, he removes them, later replying to her questions that he cannot allow her to injure herself.
Charley tries to amuse her in the days that go by but with little success. Since she has wanted a bonfire on the Fifth of November the previous two years, though he hasn't known the real reason for it, he builds one for her. When aware of its being lit, Eustacia first doesn't want it, then lets it burn, though she realizes it may bring Wildeve. It does, and he sympathizes with her, finally offering to help her in any way he can. She wants to get to Budmouth and then to Paris but agrees only to let Wildeve know if she will allow him to help and/or go with her.
