Marguerite avoids Roberval's young secretary after their unsettling earlier exchange, instead befriending the cheerful kitchen maid Alys, who freely shares household news. Alys reveals Roberval is at court and cannot sail in winter, and tempts Marguerite to slip out to see La Rochelle's harbor. Despite Damienne's likely objections, Marguerite agrees, hiding her cloak in Alys's laundry basket.

On market day, Alys leads Marguerite through the bustling marketplace, fending off beggars, rivals, and even her own fishmonger sweetheart. They climb the city wall, and Marguerite, who has never seen the sea, gazes in awe at the harbor crowded with masts, the gulls overhead, and the vast pearl-gray ocean. Hurrying back, Marguerite trips on cobblestones; Alys, frightened of being caught, helps her home, where Marguerite slips upstairs unseen. Damienne discovers the bruise and warns her against associating with servants, but Marguerite continues to seek out Alys for news.

A year passes with Roberval mostly absent and his expedition repeatedly delayed. In May, Alys reports that Cartier's three ships are loading for New France, but not Roberval's, and that the secretary is returning with gold from Roberval's capture of Spanish ships at Cádiz. The secretary's arrival ends the household's idleness: he pays the servants, settles with creditors through new contracts and mortgages, and the house erupts into spring cleaning.

The secretary summons Marguerite and presents her with a purse of gold from Roberval, promising more if needed. Touched, she asks for paper to write a letter of thanks, and he carefully trims her a pen. She composes a courteous letter under Damienne's guidance, then brings it down for the secretary to review. He praises her hand, and when she expresses a wish to study reading and music, he hints Roberval might allow it.

The secretary draws her attention to a great Italian map pinned in the study, showing Terra Nuova and La Nuova Francia. Marguerite steps around the table to stand beside him—an impropriety she allows—and they study the jagged coasts dotted with islands each labeled Isola. When she asks what lies in the blank space beyond, the secretary admits no one knows, foreshadowing the unknown world that will shape her fate.