They stop for lunch with the station agent at a town along the way. That fall, Mr. Kronborg insists that Thea help at the Wednesday prayer meeting by playing the organ and leading the hymns, and she does. At fifteen, religion perplexes Thea, as typhoid kills her schoolmates and a local tramp, the source of the infection, is made to leave town; she wonders if the Bible tells people to help him instead.