The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Edgar awaits morning. Just past noon, Claude appears in the kennel, whispering for Edgar. Claude kicks around the hay apparently searching for Edgar. As Edgar watches, Claude, sure now that he is alone in the barn, seemingly hides a small antique glass bottle in the floor beneath the hay. As soon as Claude departs, Edgar comes out of hiding and pries open the floorboards, but to his consternation the hole is empty. Edgar assures himself the bottle was not a “figment of his imagination” (502), but he finds nothing.

When Trudy comes out to the barn in response to Edgar’s note, she finds her son agitated. Their reunion is cut short by the boy’s urgent request that Trudy keep Claude in the house when he returns. Edgar wants to search the barn and needs his mother to keep Claude busy. All he tells her is that he knows Claude “is hiding something here” (504). Until then, Edgar departs the barn and heads to the creek to hide until nightfall.

Edgar takes advantage of the cooling creek water to bathe. So close to home, Edgar nevertheless feels lonely. Almondine is gone, his mother is torn between affections, and his father gone.