In which the honest locksmith Gabriel Varden reveals to Mr Haredale his uneasy suspicions concerning the widow’s associations, describing a troubling encounter with a highwayman who once threatened him, and together they resolve to seek understanding and peace in this tangled affair. They proceed to the widow’s house only to find it empty, and there encounter Mr Chester, whose inveterate politeness masks a shrewd manipulation involving secret arrangements to disperse loyal friends connected to a young couple’s attachment.