The Moon is Down: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

On a cold night, soldiers patrol the snow-covered streets, walking by dark houses with shuttered windows. Inside one of these houses, Molly Morden sits knitting in the low light of a small lantern. She hears the footsteps of patrolmen outside—they grow in volume and fade away as the men pass. When it’s quiet again, three sharp knocks sound on the door. Molly opens the door to find Annie, who steps quickly inside and tells her that the mayor is about to arrive with two men named Will and Tom Anders. She gives Molly a piece of meat she stole from Colonel Lanser’s plate. She then tells Molly that the Anders boys are going to sail for England that night because their brother, Jack, has been shot for destroying a car. “The soldiers are looking for the rest of the family,” she says. “You know how they do.”

Annie explains to Molly that the mayor needs to speak to the Anders before they sail, though she doesn’t know why. She says that they’ll be along in 45 minutes, and slips out to go tell Orden the coast is clear. After she leaves, Molly hears knocks on her door and opens to find Lieutenant Tonder. “I don’t mean any harm,” he says. When she asks what he wants, Tonder says, “Miss, I only want to talk, that’s all. I want to hear you talk. That’s all I want.” He then insists that he only wants to spend time with Molly because he’s seen her in the streets and she seems nice. “Just for a little while, can’t we forget this war?” he pleads. “Just for a little while, can’t we talk together like people—together?”

Having let Tonder inside, Molly says, “You don’t know who I am, do you?” She realizes that he’s lonely, and decides to let him sit down for fifteen minutes. The house creaks, and he asks if somebody else is inside, but she explains that it’s just the snow, which is heavy on the roof because she doesn’t have a husband to shovel it off anymore. “Who did it?” Tonder asks. “Was it something we did?” When Molly nods, he offers to push the snow off her roof, but she asks him not to because it would make people think she had sided with the enemy.

Tonder tries desperately to elicit kindness from Molly, even reciting a short poem he claims he wrote for her, though she recognizes the lines as a famous poem by the German poet Heinrich Heine. When she points this out, they laugh together for a moment, and Tonder says, “They told us the people would like us, would admire us. They do not. They only hate us.” Eventually, Molly starts speaking bluntly to Tonder, provoking him by acknowledging that he clearly wants to sleep with her, though he denies this, saying, “Please don’t hate me. I’m only a lieutenant. I didn’t ask to come here. You didn’t ask to be my enemy. I’m only a man, not a conquering man.” Molly admits she understands this, but she starts talking about her memories of Alex, telling Tonder that he was the one to kill her husband. Finally, he leaves, but only after promising he’ll come back.

Moments after Tonder’s departure, Annie returns to Molly’s house and asks Molly why a soldier was in the house. Although she’s somewhat suspicious of Molly, she fetches Mayor Orden, Doctor Winter, and Tom and Will Anders, who are all waiting outside. Once inside, Orden addresses the Anders brothers, saying that he’s heard they’re going to bring Mr. Corell with them. “It isn’t good to see him in the streets,” Will Anders says, explaining that they’ll snatch the man as he takes a nightly midnight stroll, forcing him down to the docks where his boat is tied. Orden tells the boys that he wants them to ask British officials upon their arrival to send explosives to the town. “Then we will be armed, secretly armed,” he says. “If they will even give us dynamite to hide, to bury in the ground to be ready against need, then the invader can never rest again, ever!”

Tom and Will Anders agree to make a plea for explosives to the English government when they arrive. At that moment, Annie comes rushing into the room from where she’s been keeping guard at the front door. She reports that a soldier is coming up the path. Having learned that Tonder was inside Molly’s house not long ago, Orden asks the young widow if she’s in trouble. “The trouble I’m in no one can help me with,” Molly says solemnly, ushering her guests out the back door. As Tonder raps the front door, she picks up a pair of knitting scissors and slips them into her dress, saying, “I’m coming, Lieutenant, I’m coming!”