Marguerite, now thirteen, is summoned by her guardian Roberval, fearing he will marry her off. In the great hall, where a new fair-haired secretary works beside him, Roberval examines her and takes her ruby ring, only to return it and declare her too young to leave. He grants her two more years and gives Damienne a purse of gold, leaving Marguerite relieved but uneasy.

Walking with Claire afterward, Marguerite learns disturbing news: Claire suspects Roberval, an adventurer and speculator, may not pay her dowry. Claire reveals he has mortgaged the estate to the Montforts, a wealthy merchant family, who will take over the main rooms while Marguerite, Damienne, Claire, and Madame D'Artois are displaced to the cold north tower. The maids' allegiance shifts to the new tenants, and Marguerite realizes her powerlessness.

In the tower, the women endure cramped, cold conditions. Madame D'Artois shares Christine de Pizan's book about a city of valorous noblewomen, and they imagine themselves as inhabitants of a citadel of ladies. Claire becomes Reason, her mother Rectitude, Damienne Justice, and Marguerite the authoress. Claire reveals Roberval lost a fortune in shipwrecks and now waits on the King for a new commission.

The Montfort family overruns the estate—Monsieur Montfort, his young second wife, two rough sons Nicholas and Denys, and four daughters. Marguerite proudly refuses to befriend them. Through autumn and into winter, conditions worsen: no candles, no fires, the music master gone, her finch dead. Watching the lavish wedding of Anne Montfort to a princely bridegroom, Marguerite reverses her earlier wish and longs to marry, understanding that Roberval has speculated away her inheritance and may leave her with no dowry or place.

Marguerite proposes that Claire take holy orders, swearing to pay her dowry, and fantasizes about founding a convent—Sisters of Claire—if Roberval drowns at sea. Claire warns against rash oaths. The chapter closes ominously: Roberval does not die, and he has his own plans for Marguerite.