After a two‑week gap, the first‑year seminarians gather on a Thursday in the second aulė for recreation. Jonas Variokas bursts in, visibly agitated, and declares that today is his last day in the seminary and he will leave tomorrow. He jokes about buying a cheap coat, and his nervous speech unsettles the others. Liukas Vasaris reacts, teasing Variokas about “escaping to freedom,” while Petryla and another friend mock the idea of Vasaris ever leaving. The group falls silent when the bell rings.

Later, a guard announces that Liudas’s parents have arrived. With the rector’s permission, Liudas is escorted to the parlatorium, the seminary’s guest‑reception room, for his first meeting with his father and mother. The encounter is painfully formal: the father kisses Liudas’s hand and immediately feels embarrassed, while the mother cries tears of joy. Both address him repeatedly as “kunigėli,” a plural, reverent form that strikes Liudas as degrading. He defends himself, but the parents’ condescending respect deepens his sense of being isolated from his family.

After the parents leave, Variokas returns to say goodbye to the first‑years, selling a cheap coat and promising to be “free.” He bids Liudas a firm handshake and departs, leaving the boys to contemplate his confidence.

The next morning, before lessons, third‑year clerk Jonelaitis, the library assistant known for his cautious politics, meets Liukas in the garden. They discuss the stultifying routine of seminary life, agreeing that the official program is monotonous but that private initiative—reading, research, and community work—remains essential. Their conversation lifts Liukas’s spirits and hints at a hidden side of seminary life.

In the afternoon, a group of clerics—including Petryla, Kasaitis (Petras Kasaitis), Balselis, and a few others—convene in a concealed storage room nicknamed “žirkininkas” (the rat room). They unpack a large pot of stew, a cake, and jars of preserves. Kasaitis jokes about the meager provisions, Petryla orders everyone to help themselves, and Balselis recites a Latin phrase “quam bonum et jucundum est, fratres, habitare in unum,” while warning that the inspector may appear. The bell rings “silencium,” the room empties, and the boys scramble to re‑hide the food and their whereabouts.

During the subsequent silentium, Liukas, recalling the earlier admonition to avoid the rector’s and inspector’s gaze, carefully watches the corridors, ready to bow or apologize if noticed. When a rector’s hand appears at the doorway, Liukas instinctively kisses the rector’s hand and apologizes, trying to preserve his fragile reputation. The rector questions his acquaintance with Variokas, to which Liukas feigns ignorance.

The chapter ends with Liukas reflecting that his experience with his parents and the secret gatherings have taught him to be constantly vigilant, to conceal any “profane” books during inspections, and to rely on the opinion of the rector and other authorities for his future in the seminary.