Märta, who has been lurking in the chapel, is overjoyed to hear this, and embraces Tomas, who again does not respond to her affections. They are interrupted by the widow Magdalena, who tells them that Jonas has just committed suicide with a rifle. Tomas drives, alone, to the scene, and stoically helps the police cover Jonas's body with a tarp. Märta arrives on foot, and she and Tomas drive off to her home, where she invites him in to take some medicine for his cold. Waiting in Märta's classroom attached to her house, Tomas finally lashes out at her, telling her first that he rejected her because he was tired of the gossip about them. When that fails to deter her affections, Tomas then tells her that he was tired of her problems, her attempts to care for him, and her constant talking, and that Märta could never measure up to his late wife, the only woman he has ever loved. Though shocked by the attack, Märta agrees to drive with him to the Persson house. Informed of Jonas's suicide, Karin collapses onto the stairs and wonders how she and her children will go on. Tomas makes a perfunctory offer of help, and leaves.