The House Behind the Cedars

Only a week remains in Rena’s teaching contract, and she is anxious to avoid the attentions of both George Tryon and Jeff Wain. Wain has only grown bolder in his pursuit, leaping at any chance to insinuate himself into her presence. She almost lets herself hope that George wishes to see her so that he may propose to her but quashes the notion. Laying aside his earlier reaction, George’s mother has now met Rena; she would never be able to pass as white in his family.

George enlists Plato in a plot to engineer a meeting with Rena. He has Plato offer to walk Rena home through the woods after school. There, Plato will disappear so that George and Rena can talk privately. George swears Plato to secrecy.

On Wednesday afternoon, Rena leaves the schoolhouse with Plato with a sense of foreboding. He insists they take the path through the woods as a storm approaches. At a crossroads, she realizes that Plato has disappeared. George is coming towards her one path, and Jeff Wain is approaching on the other. In terror and despair, Rena runs off the path into the woods.