The narrator collects and strains a tincture after five days, noting its amber color.
Grace arrives two nights later, cloaked and refusing to enter the narrator's home, requesting the tincture.
The narrator warns Grace of the pain and blood to come with the tincture's effects and discusses how to conceal the miscarriage from her husband, John.
Grace plans to take the tincture while John is at the alehouse.
Afterward, the narrator experiences anxiety, anticipating news about Grace's condition.
Mary Dinsdale visits the narrator for a cut, and the narrator fears bad news about Grace, which turns out to be unrelated.
Grace returns, visibly injured and abused, and the narrator tends to her wounds with a poultice.
Grace recounts her harrowing experience with the tincture, the miscarriage, and her husband's violent reaction.
Grace reveals a history of abuse and miscarriages, keeping her pregnancies secret for fear of stigma from a "poison womb."
The narrator expresses sympathy and regret, lamenting her inability to comfort Grace, reflecting on religious teachings concerning marital relations.
Grace stays the night, and they share the narrator's bed, reminiscing about a childhood moment of intimacy and comfort.
The narrator suggests to Grace there might be another way, possibly hinting at an alternative solution to her situation.
In the morning, the narrator finds that Grace has left.