At the Warren house, a new friendship forms when Alice, the "little girl from the river," visits Ian, but Ian refuses to take his bitter medicine and adamantly repeats, "I'm not getting the surgery." Mrs. Warren urges him the medicine will build strength for the operation and pleads for compliance, while Alice says she can only stay after finishing farm work her grandmother gave her. Mid-argument, someone announces Alice is at the door and that she says she's here to see Mr. Warren. Mrs. Warren orders her shown in, leaving Ian's medical refusal and the upcoming meeting unresolved.