Chapter 10

Rory rudely refuses Frances’s lunch invitation but later drives Frances and Birdie to the Oxford orphanage, easing tension tied to Birdie’s quiet need for his financial help. The building’s sign welcomes all, yet posted rules contradict that promise. Frances ushers Birdie through a cozy lounge reserved for volunteers, not children.

Beyond the front rooms, Birdie finds sour, overheated halls and mildew. Frances greets Chairlady Garnett Pittman, whose stern attention sets the tone. The sunny baby nursery and toddler room appear cared for, and Frances dotes on a grieving toddler, Ella Jane. Upstairs, Birdie discovers a hot attic dorm with leaky stains, rusted cans for drips, and broken toys, revealing severe neglect.

Birdie learns funding comes from church, fundraisers, donations, and county school money. Frances dismisses the “big girls” as beyond help and praises Garnett’s work program that sends those over twelve to Gulf Coast canneries. Birdie is unsettled by the attitude but follows Garnett into a dank, boarded-up office where Meg, an expelled girl, copies cards under a bare bulb amid mold and rat holes.

Garnett tasks Birdie with rebuilding the orphanage books before an inspection in ten days; the previous bookkeeper quit in March. Birdie insists on working in the miserable office to stay close to questions, despite Garnett’s warning not to touch the “big girls.” After Garnett and Frances leave, Birdie questions Meg, who coolly says her father died in a war and her mother left to buy curling fluid and never returned.

As Birdie sorts months of receipts and ledgers in stifling heat, Meg draws silently. At lunch, Birdie reports the conditions and Meg’s story, but Frances repeats Garnett’s claims about “feebleminded” unwed mothers and the necessity of state control. The chapter closes with Birdie committed to the books but doubtful she can finish in time, and more wary of Frances’s beliefs.