So now it is the evening of Christmas Day. The schoolmaster and his wife have come to supper at the Colonel's house. Their names are Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield. They arrive wearing all black. The Colonel asks who they are mourning for, and hopes it is not anyone in the Bloomfield's family. Mr. Bloomfield tells the Colonel that they are mourning for a young man who had been one of his students. Since the table is very quiet, Mrs. Bloomfield encourages her husband to tell the story of the young man.
So Mr. Bloomfield tells the story of how a watch was stolen at the school where he used to teach. No one would confess to stealing the watch, but Mr. Bloomfield had a suspicion that he knew who did it. He kept the young man after class and confronted him. The young man was frightened out of his wits at being found out, and tearfully confessed everything. Mr. Bloomfield saw that he was sorry, and wanted to help him. He asked the boy to give him the watch, but the boy had already sold it, and had already spent part of the money. So Mr. Bloomfield asked him for the rest of the money, then told the boy to go back to his studies, and not worry or say anything about it.
Then Mr. Bloomfield had gone to the pawn shop in town, and had found the watch and bought it back, using some of his own small earnings. He had found a way to put the watch back in the owner's room so it would look like only a prank. The boy who had stolen the watch never stole again. He had become an officer in the army when he grew up and had recently died honorably while doing his work.
Everyone at the table likes the story, even Adela. After dinner, they go into the drawing room to sit around the fire. Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield tell other stories to entertain Adela. One is a happy story, and the other is a little tragic, but they seem to interest Adela. John makes a mental note of this, and begins to think of a scheme to revive the dispirited girl.
