Lizzy escapes the convent and finds Violate Lacey

Lizzy Enders escapes the convent at dawn to reclaim the freedom and companionship she fears have been taken from her, only to find that her departure leads her to the missing Violate Lacey. The episode turns an attempted flight into an act of care: Lizzy recovers Ben, follows Ramona’s appeal, and brings Violate back on terms that acknowledge the grief keeping her away.

Leaving the convent

The immediate impulse to escape comes amid Lizzy’s confusion and distress. She is ill, wants to return to bed, and longs to follow her father, but the thought of Ben suddenly stops her: she has not asked whether he is with her or whether her father took him. The uncertainty weighs on her because Ben might need her, and because she recognizes that she has been too dazed and sick to think of him. When she tries to move, nuns block her way. One takes her from the aisle into the vestibule and sends Ramona to show her the privy.

Outside, with daylight only beginning to streak the east, Lizzy asks where the barn is. A brief exchange about the Spanish word for horse points her toward the largest outbuilding. She runs through the stable among servants cleaning stalls and feeding horses, calling for Ben. Finding him in the last stall, she throws her arms around his neck and clings to him. Her relief is inseparable from grief: the horse recalls rides near Independence, Missouri, outings with Uncle William and her father, and the time on the Santa Fe Trail. She also remembers Mama giving Ben special treats and teaching her to weave ribbons into his mane. As Lizzy weeps, Ben nuzzles her; his familiar presence offers comfort amid the losses and separations she cannot undo.

Ben and the open gate

Lizzy feeds Ben oats and gives him water, then notices his blanket, saddle, and bridle. While he drinks, she forms a plan. She puts the riding gear on him, leads him from the barn as naturally as she can, and smiles at the Mexican servants. The detail of the tack marks the transition from longing to action: she is no longer merely imagining escape but preparing to ride.

A morning star is still visible when Lizzy mounts. She knows the gate to the street and finds it open as a delivery wagon leaves. She leads Ben through the garden, past its fountain, and down the path, with singing from the cathedral still audible behind her. A figure emerges from the shadows, and Lizzy prepares to run; it is Ramona. Lizzy asks the way to the Santa Fe Trail, and Ramona points left. The route appears to offer a way out, but Ramona’s next actions redirect Lizzy before she can go.

Ramona’s appeal

Ramona gives Lizzy warm corn bread and a small canteen of coffee. The food and drink provide practical help, while the kindness of the gesture changes the encounter: Lizzy dismounts, thanks Ramona, and embraces her as a friend. Ramona then becomes agitated and points toward a hill at the end of town. She repeats that she means a mother, clasps her hands, and looks toward heaven as if pleading. Lizzy understands that Ramona is not simply expressing sympathy for Mama’s death; she is asking Lizzy to go to someone in danger.

Ramona does not leave the direction as an ambiguous gesture. When Lizzy nods and starts to mount, Ramona stands in front of Ben, gently takes his bridle, leads them through the gate, and points up the street again. Beyond low adobe houses with candles flickering in their windows, Lizzy sees the mountain end of the street and what looks like a crumbling barricade. Ramona’s insistence makes the errand unmistakable: Lizzy is to fetch someone. She follows the indicated route on Ben rather than continuing toward the trail.

Finding Violate and returning

The coffee and corn bread, together with the chance to look out over the town from higher ground, briefly steady Lizzy. She does not yet know what to do about being left at the convent and thinks she might write to Uncle William to ask him to fetch her. Then she hears crying. At first it seems low enough to be wind, or part of the desolate ground around her, but the sound comes again. She guides Ben uphill through lingering mist, taking care around holes and bones. Ben stops, neighs, and lowers his head before Lizzy sees a woman kneeling at a leaning headstone, wrapped in a Navajo blanket.

The woman speaks to Robert as her son and says she must go because the nuns will be looking for her. She has fallen asleep at the grave and notes that at least he was not alone that night. A small stone structure beside the grave shelters a lantern; when she lifts it and sees Lizzy, she cries out and asks her to go away. Lizzy identifies herself and invites the woman to return to the convent with her. The woman refuses: she would rather stay with Robert than be locked in her room for having gone out alone. Lizzy recognizes her as Violate, whom the nuns call Mrs. Lacey, and understands that she is the missing person Ramona had sent her to find.

The return depends not on force but on a promise. Violate asks whether Lizzy will speak for her to Mother Magdalena and tell her that Lizzy will come to the grave with Violate every day. Lizzy agrees, and Violate consents to go back. They descend carefully; Lizzy walks Ben instead of riding and holds Violate’s arm. Violate remarks that visiting Robert does not make the climb up difficult, though going down can be worse. The contrast gives the scene its quiet reversal: Lizzy leaves the convent expecting to recover her own freedom, but her encounter with Violate makes her responsible for someone else’s grief. Her first act after being left alone is not simply to flee; she becomes a companion and advocate, and the promise of daily visits gives Violate a reason to return.