When Arrietty returns to the living room, Homily tells her that Pod has gone borrowing to Great Aunt Sophy’s room, which means that he will not return for a long time. He amuses himself by talking to the bedridden woman, knowing she will always think that he is only a delusion. Pod’s excursion gives Arrietty an idea, for she remembers that her father always leaves the gates open until he returns. Arrietty tells her mother that she is going to the storeroom and hastily makes her way down the passageway, knowing she has at least an hour to find the boy and ask whether he found her letter to her aunt and uncle. She stops by the storeroom first to find a hatpin that she can use as a tool to help her climb the human stairs.

Arrietty quickly makes her way upstairs and can hear her father inside Great Aunt Sophy’s room. She stealthily makes her way through the patch of light that streams from the bedroom doorway as she listens to Sophy talk about horse racing while her father halfheartedly listens. Finally, she makes her way to the night nursery where she knows the boy will be sleeping.