Domenico’s memoir resumes. Though he and Ignazia did not speak of the doctor’s order, they stopped having sex. Paranoid that she or Prosperine would poison him, he took to buying meals from his former landlord, Mrs. Siragusa. Ignazia begged Domenico to allow her to have the baby baptized, but he refused. He secretly began visiting a brothel.

The local head priest died, and one of the priests serving under him—Father Guglielmo—was to be promoted. Father Guglielmo visited Domenico one day, and Domenico was certain that the priest aimed to convince him to allow the baby’s baptism. Instead, he explained that a new parochial school was to be built and that he wanted Domenico, with his masonry knowledge, to check on the progress every now and then and report to the priest as to whether the work was sound. Domenico reluctantly agreed to do so.

After some time, Domenico decided to approach the priest to ask him two questions that had been bothering him: whether he had condemned his brother Pasquale to hell and whether it was wrong to baptize his stillborn son. The priest said that it is not possible for humans to damn others and that he had been right to baptize his son, as Domenico had been acting as an agent of God in that moment.