As winter break approaches, Richard dreads returning to his parents in California and being unwanted during the long January–February closure at Hampden. While Henry and Bunny plan a trip to Rome, Richard hides his lack of money and pretends he is staying in town by choice, earning admiration for his supposed stoicism. Bunny’s last days at school are marked by frantic, nonsensical paper-writing and rude, self-serving behavior, while Francis and then the twins depart, leaving Richard abruptly alone.

With nowhere affordable to live, Richard takes a free room in a purple warehouse workshop run by an ex-student “hippie” named Leo, in exchange for occasional instrument work. The space is filthy, unheated, and dangerously exposed to a hole in the roof; Richard, ashamed, tells no one where he is. He survives by walking daily to Dr. Roland’s office job for warmth and showers in a creepy basement facility, becoming unusually productive and even earning a raise, while nights are spent in brutal cold, isolation, and mounting paranoia.

As January worsens into record cold, Richard’s physical condition deteriorates into hypothermia, pneumonia, and hallucinations, including the sense of being watched and hearing voices. Leo pressures him to do workshop tasks and tries to blame him for the roof damage; Richard nearly falls from the roof attempting a repair and ends up injured and needing a tetanus shot. Richard’s loneliness deepens, and he refuses to call home for help, hanging up when his father answers in an irritated, drunken voice.

During a storm in early February, Richard collapses further and, after injuring his head outside a pay phone, staggers back to the warehouse and finds Henry waiting inside. Henry, having returned from Italy weeks earlier and tracked Richard down through the college, is shocked by Richard’s condition and gets him to a hospital in Montpelier. Richard spends four nights hospitalized with stitches and pneumonia; Henry stays almost constantly, quietly providing supplies, books, and firm advocacy with the nurses.

When Richard is discharged, Henry refuses to take him back to the motel or warehouse and insists Richard stay in Henry’s sparse Water Street apartment until term begins. Living together is calm, but Henry reveals Bunny’s family is not wealthy and that Bunny has been dependent on Henry’s money, even in Rome. Bunny returns to town in a new suit and immediately needles Henry; Henry fabricates an “optometrist” excuse to remove Richard from the encounter, then later refuses to open the door to late-night pounding.

Francis arrives and has a tense private exchange with Henry that Richard cannot fully hear, suggesting escalating problems centered on Bunny. Soon after, Henry—visibly strained—asks Richard to call Bunny and invite him over, while offering Richard the car and nudging him to be out of the apartment. Richard delays the call until he has moved his belongings back to Monmouth House, then finally phones Bunny from campus.