Once Upon a River

Daunt returns to Oxford, where he mourns The Child’s departure from the Vaughan family and his own nonexistent child. He looks around his shop at the pictures of Rita he has taken, then removes them from the walls with the resolve to no longer seek her company. However, the next morning he breaks his promise and goes to see her. They talk about The Child and he takes a picture of Rita, but while the image is settling, she starts to cry. He kisses her. They take the picture to be processed, where they kiss once again, but decide not to see each other again “to make it easier” to handle their irreconcilable differences (330). As she leaves, Rita asks him to take her along for his upcoming photography visit to the Armstrong farm so she can check on The Child.

Vaughan receives a letter from the fortune teller and follows its directions to the river, where the man is waiting for him. The man implies that for enough money, Robin will relinquish his claim on The Child. Vaughan offers 50 pounds and tries to leave, but the man stops him and demands a thousand pounds, the same amount of money Vaughan had paid in ransom two years prior.