With the secretary in residence and Roberval's funds, the household flourishes through spring and summer. Marguerite commissions a virginal and practices diligently. She and Alys note that the secretary plays a cittern privately. Alys eventually brings news that Roberval will return in winter with a treasure chest of gold before sailing for New France.

In December, Roberval arrives and meets with bankers and shipwrights but ignores Marguerite. Eventually he summons her alone, without Damienne. Frightened, Marguerite goes to him to find he wishes to instruct her in psalms and music himself. He quizzes her on scripture, insisting psalms are a mirror of her faults, and reveals a magnificent virginal on which he begins giving her lessons, sometimes placing his hands over hers.

Roberval's instruction grows volatile: he praises her, then raps her knuckles, mocks her hesitation. During a recitation of Psalm 37, he twists her arms behind her back to enact the verse "the arms of the wicked shall be broken," hurting her. Afterward he is calm, even pleased, and dismisses her. Marguerite recognizes his cruelty as deliberate play.

The secretary emerges from the adjoining study and helps her. When she desperately asks when Roberval sails, he tells her May. Quietly he promises, "I will never hurt you," and Marguerite understands he cares for her, though he is powerless against his master.

Subsequent lessons are gentle, as Roberval is busy provisioning his ships. In April, he summons her and reveals that her Périgord estate has not merely been mortgaged but sold to the Montforts to fund his expedition. When Marguerite asks where she will go, Roberval declares she will sail with him to New France. She falls to her knees begging not to be taken; he coldly orders her up, telling her she will belong to him.