Meaulnes hurries to find a way out of the Domaine, eager to leave before his disguise is discovered and anxious about being left entirely alone. He navigates past the remaining travelers and drivers organizing their loads, eventually securing a place in an old carriage driven by a peasant in a blouse. Two small children are already sleeping inside, and Meaulnes settles into the opposite corner, pressing his face against the window to catch a final glimpse of the mysterious surroundings as they pass through the gates and into the pine woods.
As the carriage moves deeper into the narrow forest path, it swerves to avoid a massive gypsy caravan parked nearby. Suddenly, a flash of light cuts through the darkness, followed immediately by a loud gunshot. Through the glass, Meaulnes catches a fleeting glimpse of a frantic white figure running through the trees, identified as the costumed bohemian carrying a limp human body in his arms. The carriage races away at a gallop while the terrified children cling to each other before falling back asleep. Exhausted and overwhelmed by the strange events, Meaulnes eventually drifts off to sleep as well.
Hours later, before dawn, the carriage halts on the side of the road, and the driver wakes Meaulnes to tell him he has reached his destination. Groggy and shivering from the cold wind, Meaulnes retrieves his cap from beneath the sleeping children and steps out onto the roadside. The driver urges him to keep moving rather than sleep against a milestone in the freezing air. Vacillating like a drunken man, Meaulnes begins his final six-kilometre walk toward Sainte-Agathe while the old carriage disappears silently down a side track.