Nella stays in bed for a week. She pretends to be asleep whenever Marin sits beside her. On the seventh day, Marin brings Nella sweet-smelling rose-water wafers. When Marin takes the cradle from Nella’s cabinet to look at it, Nella angrily orders her not to touch it.

Nella hopes to shock Marin by revealing that Johannes is “a sodomite.” However, her sister-in-law shows no surprise at the announcement. When Nella accuses Marin of depriving her of the chance to be a “proper woman,” Marin admits to persuading Johannes to marry but says she hoped Nella would change him. She also points out that Nella has benefited financially from the marriage and that most married women are powerless or die in childbirth.

Marin asks Nella to consider what would happen to Otto and Cornelia if she reported Johannes to the burgomasters. Expressing gratitude for the protection Nella offers them, Marin clarifies that the legal punishment for men like Johannes is drowning with a weight hanging from the neck. Marin explains that she wants to do business with the Meermanses because she hopes it will protect the Brandt household. She does not believe the couple would be merciful if they knew Johannes’s secret.