Valancy appeared unrepentant the next morning when she came down for breakfast. Mrs. Frederick wasn't sure whether or not to scold her daughter or ignore her; after some thought, she tried to talk to Valancy sweetly and kindly, 'like a concerned, loving mother'. Unfortunately (for Amelia) Valancy did not buy this act. All of the latter's life, her mother had shown her disappointment in Valancy. Amelia always had been disappointed that she'd hadn't gotten a son, or at least a pretty girl.
"Valancy," Amelia said, with an unconvincingly empathetic gaze, "I was sorely shocked by your behavior last night. I did some thinking, however, and I wanted to know if there's something you'd like to talk to me about. Perhaps you are feeling lonely, being unmarried at twenty-nine—poor dear—and don't know how to 'deal' with that?"
A grin spread on Valancy's face as she looked up from the toast she'd been buttering quite lavishly.
"No, Mother," she said politely, but with a gleam of humor in her eyes. "I've gotten used to it. After all, I'm known as the Deerwood old maid now. At least I'm known for something. It is dull to go through life without being known for anything."
"Then your behavior was purposeful," Mrs. Frederick said, frowning. She ignored Valancy's calm acceptance of her unmarried state.
"Oh, yes," Valancy said carelessly. "Being honest is so freeing. After all, nobody's shied away from putting it in my face that no man's wanted me. Why not continue the family habit?"
Amelia was about to attempt a reply when there was a heavy knock on the door.
"That'll be Roaring Abel," she said stiffly.
"You asked him to come here?" Valancy said innocently.
Amelia looked narrowly at her daughter, but turned wordlessly to open the door to Deerword's most disreputable sinner. It was Cousin Stickles who spoke to Valancy.
"Roaring Abel is only here because the back porch needs fixing. Simply a matter of business. We Stirlings do not associate ourselves with him on a social level."
By this time, Amelia had turned coolly away from Roaring Abel, with the door shut firmly behind her. It would never do to appear as if she was friendly with the sinner. What would the neighbors think?
"I hope you aren't paying him too much," Christine said, as she and Amelia, with Valancy following serenely behind, trooped into the dining room for dinner.
"I wouldn't," Amelia said icily. "Do you think I would, Christine?"
"I should hope not. It'll all go down in a whiskey bottle, anyway. But you've gotten more and more excited to get that porch fixed."
"I saw Mrs. Slocumb looking quite disapprovingly at it. She's head of the Ladies' Aid, and I don't wish to think badly of my housekeeping, now that I'm one of her most trusted members."
Valancy suddenly laughed from across the table. Amelia and Christine's heads snapped up and they stared at Valancy, who seemed hugely amused by something, twirling her fork mindlessly in her dish of mashed turnips.
"Valancy, what do you mean by laughing so rudely at your eld—" Christine began, but Amelia hissed at her to be silent. She must not give Valancy an opening to say more shocking things.
When supper was finished and dishes were washed, the two older women headed to the dining room, which was the warmest room and a haven from the unusually chilly June day, but hurried out again when they realized that Valancy had just gone outside to talk to that blaspheming Abel Gay.
"Valancy, won't you come in from the cold?" Amelia asked in her most diplomatic voice. Valancy only shrugged her shoulders and smiled serenely. Her mother instantly knew that neither force nor persuasion would get Valancy back inside. She gave up on this at once, suddenly imagining the tale Abel could spread if Valancy 'made a scene'.
This had a most unfortunate result. Half an hour after Mr. Gay left, Amelia left the kitchen to see if Valancy was still 'catching her death of cold' on the back porch. For days afterward, Amelia told herself that she'd rather Valancy come down with a cold than head off for what she was about to do…
"Valancy, why do you have your satchel…and why are you wearing your serge suit…and why…"
"I am going to work for Roaring Abel and nurse Cissy," Valancy said calmly. "He'll pay me thirty dollars a month."
Amelia thought for one irreligious second that there was no point in serving God after all.
"But…but…Valancy…you'll be keeping company with that bad Cissy Gay…"
Valancy's face hardened. "Whatever Cissy's been or done, she's a human being. I'm not ashamed for her. But that aside, I'm going. I already promised Mr. Gay."
Valancy was entirely too glib. "Do you have no regard for appearances? What the neighbors will think? What this whole town might think when this gets out?"
Valancy smiled, a smile that her mother thought was mocking and defiant. In reality, 'the Deerwood old maid' was smiling at her outraged italics.
"I've been keeping up appearances all my life," Valancy said passionately. "Now I'm going in for realities. Appearances can go hang!"
And with that, she was out into the glowing, frosty twilight, leaving Mrs. Frederick in a state of shock.