Against Harriet's protests, Nels took Nancy behind the store, which was the town equivalent to taking her behind the woodshed on the prairie.
"She has to learn that her actions have consequences," he told Harriet, who thought that he was dealing with their daughter much too harshly.
Afterwards Nancy sulked and pouted for the rest of the day, refusing to speak to anyone, even her mother.
Percival took Nellie back to Dr. Adams, who examined her re-injured leg and clucked his tongue.
"The bone has become misaligned and will have to be re-set," he told them. "I must operate tomorrow. In the meantime, no weight is to be put on the leg at all."
Dr. Adams kept Nellie in the hospital overnight. Percival stayed with her for as long as he could, then returned to care for Jenny and Benny and help his mother run the store.
Pain from her leg, added to worry about the additional surgery, prevented Nellie from getting much sleep that night. She still felt quite angry at Nancy, although at the same time she realized the futility of her angry feelings. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes when she thought of how much of a struggle she had been through to get as far in her recovery as she had, only to suffer such a serious setback in one single afternoon.
Eventually, Nellie did fall into a deep sleep, from which she had to be roused the next morning for the surgery. Percival had already arrived at the hospital when she awakened.
"Good morning, sweetheart," he said. "Did you sleep well last night?"
"I hardly slept at all," Nellie said. "How are Jenny and Benny?"
"Fine, except that they are both very worried about you, of course."
"My parents?"
"Your father was very angry at Nancy. He took her out behind the store. Your mother is upset at him for doing that."
"Typical of her," Nellie mumbled. She often reflected that she herself might have been a nicer person when she was younger if her mother had been more firm with her. She primarily credited Percival with the improvements in her personality since she had met him, and was determined not to raise her own children as her mother had raised her.
Soon it was time for the operation to begin.
"I love you, sweetie," Percival said, kissing Nellie's cheek.
"Love you too," she replied as she waited for the anesthetic to take effect.
Several hours later, Percival sat beside his wife's bed in the recovery room waiting for her to awaken from the anesthesia. Her eyelids began to flutter, and then they remained open and she gazed up at Percival.
"It's all over now, darling," he told her.
"Did it go all right?"
"Everything went well. Your leg will only need to be in the cast again for a few weeks, and then we can try just the brace again and see how that works out."
Nellie looked down at her leg encased in the cast once again and cried. All she could think about was more endless weeks of just sitting or lying around, able to do very little and bored out of her mind.