text: The Hillyers begin to disagree about Rose's presence in their lives. Mr. Hillyer worries that Rose is too promiscuous when she goes to town and will cause them problems, but Mrs. Hillyer sees her promiscuity as her way of trying to obtain love and attention.
  Strange men begin lurking around the house and even fighting with one another. Mr. Hillyer attributes this to Rose, but she repeatedly denies knowing them before eventually admitting it. However, Rose is eventually arrested when some of her men begin brawling in a bar over her, and she bites the finger of a policeman. Though the police and Mrs. Hillyer are willing to forgive Rose, Mr. Hillyer insists on firing her, but before he can, Rose is hospitalized with a bad case of pneumonia. The attending doctor tells them that Rose has too strong a basic constitution to have had the desperately poor country background she has asserted. During her convalescence she develops a passion for the doctor, who spends lengthy periods of time in her room during his visits to her. After she recovers, Rose seems to be on her best behaviour but Mr. Hillyer eventually catches her with another man in her room. He fires her but obtains a position on a dairy farm in Tennessee for her. When he informs Rose, she begins crying, says that she is pregnant and that she does not want her baby to be born on a farm.