Why did Gilly decide to stay with her grandmother?

Mrs. Trotter asks Gilly about the woman who had come to visit, but Gilly lies and says that the woman was there to convert them to a different religion. When Gilly gets home from school on the following Monday afternoon, Mrs. Trotter does not look happy.

Miss Ellis has also arrived at Gilly’s house. Gilly is to go and live with her grandmother, permanently. Gilly opposes this idea, having wanted to live with her mother, not her grandmother. Miss Ellis informs Gilly that she has no say in the matter.