Demon arrives at Betsy Woodall’s house and endures her stern appraisal in a cluttered, smoke-filled parlor. Betsy, openly hostile toward men, questions him while feeding him sandwiches and notes he is the image of his father. She recounts that church extremism and car obsession marked Demon’s father, who died in July before Demon’s fall birth.

Betsy explains she has raised eleven girls without social-service pay and distrusts agencies. To avoid police trouble, she insists on calling the necessary people to confirm Demon is alive and with kin. When Demon outlines his abuse and exploitation, Betsy’s sympathy centers on his late mother, whom she calls “that poor girl,” and she condemns her own son for leaving Mom with a baby by dying.

Betsy introduces “little brother Dick,” her small, disabled brother in a wheelchair. Dick wordlessly suggests a bath and new shoes, which Betsy accepts. She sends for Jane Ellen to find clothing, then marches Demon to a deep clawfoot tub, where Demon bathes and absorbs the shock of discovering real kin and a connection to his father’s name.

At dinner with Betsy, Brother Dick, and Jane Ellen, Demon learns Jane Ellen is the latest of the girls Betsy raised. They pointedly do not say grace. Conversation turns to loneliness and abusive men, with Betsy and Jane Ellen implying hard histories; Demon stays cautious, noting that hate can trap anyone.

Afterward, Betsy and Dick smoke while Demon observes their reversed gentleness and severity. That night, Betsy settles Demon in a large bedroom, then locks the door. Demon feels both captive and safer than before, uncertain whether his stay will last given Betsy’s disdain for boys, but heartened to have found family.