76 pages 2 hours read

Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1996

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Part X, Chapters 38-40

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part X: "Lady of the Lake"

Chapter 38 Summary

Grace takes up her story again the next day. She comes to in her own bed, but she is damp. James McDermott says that he threw a bucket of cold water on her to revive her after she fainted.

He tells her it’s time for her to give him what she promised, which is to sleep with him. She puts him off. She is convinced that McDermott is a madman. She plays along, out of fear that otherwise he will kill her too.

They decide to rob the house before they leave, and they take all the valuables they can find, including Mr. Kinnear’s personal effects, like his gold watch, and the silver candlesticks. Grace puts on Nancy’s clothes and burns her own.

She cannot find her kerchief, and she asks McDermott where it is. He laughs and says she should know that it’s in the cellar on Nancy’s neck, where she put it when she used it to strangle her.

They take the horse and wagon and set off for Toronto with their loot that evening. 

Chapter 39 Summary

They reach Toronto a little after five a.m. They have breakfast, and Grace is afraid all the time because McDermott is swaggering around drawing attention to them.

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