The Foundling

The Nettleton State Village Board of Trustees meets at Nettleton. As Mary takes notes, Dr. Vogel asks for money for new metalwork for the windows to prevent the girls from escaping. Judge Filmore wonders how girls who are supposedly “feebleminded” can plan an escape. Dr. Vogel explains that many of the girls are surprisingly clever, and what they lack in moral judgment, they make up in cunning.

After the meeting, the inmates come in for the choral concert that Bertie arranged. Dr. Vogel lies to the board and says that Elsie trained to play music at Nettleton, though she was already an excellent player prior to her arrival. Everyone is moved by her performance. When Lillian performs “Ave Maria” in Latin, everyone is stunned. Mrs. Howell asks whether Lillian knows Latin, and Lillian answers that she reads and writes it. Dr. Vogel interrupts and says that she just learned to parrot the words. Lillian realizes she is losing her opportunity and explains that she can sing and speak in German, too. She falls to her knees and begs Mrs. Howell to listen to her, in English and German. Dr. Vogel screams for Lillian to be removed, and she is dragged out screaming, which convinces the board that she is both violent and dangerous.

While the board has dinner, Mary goes to find Lillian but only finds Bertie, who tells her that Lillian was sent to Building Five, where inmates are kept in isolation. Mary sends a secret code to Jake by telegram, informing him to meet her and that she’ll have the papers.

When Mary returns to Dr. Vogel’s residence, Florence, one of the housekeepers, informs her that Dr. Vogel asked for her presence as soon as she arrived. Mary finds Dr. Vogel with dinner guests, among whom is Mr. Langdon, the president of the university. He gives her a letter with a formal acceptance to join the freshman class in January. Mary is stunned and says thank you. Dr. Vogel invites her to join them for dessert. As Mary looks around, she thinks that not everyone at the table can be corrupt. Dr. Vogel must have convinced them somehow. She excuses herself from the table, and in her room, she traces the embossed insignia on her acceptance letter. She thinks of all of the people who will never have the opportunity to learn about distant galaxies and other wonders that are only accessible through a university education. 

The next morning, Mary sneaks into Dr. Vogel’s office and replaces all of the whiskey receipts with dairy receipts. She also looks at the files of the girls who work outside of Nettleton, and many of the files are missing. Miss Hartley finds Mary in the office and wonders why she is in so early. Mary says she had insomnia.

On Saturday, Mary calls Graham, and they plan Lillian’s escape together. Graham passes a message to Mary for Lillian in French. The next day, Bertie and Mary meet Jake at a diner near a train station to go over their plan one more time. Bertie is embarrassed that she has looked away from what is happening in Building Five. They will get Lillian out through a series of underground tunnels that Mary discovered in the Nettleton blueprints that Dr. Vogel keeps in her office. Mary plans to drug Dr. Vogel so they can sneak Lillian out. Jake is to meet them and drive Lillian to New York, where she will meet Graham. Bertie and Mary will then take the train and meet them in New York on Christmas Eve. Mary will return after the weekend to not raise suspicion.

Mary passes on the papers she took from Dr. Vogel’s office to Jake, and they inform Bertie about their plans to get married. Mary reflects on her loss of opportunity: She won’t be able to go to the university and live out the dreams she had before she arrived at Nettleton. 

A snowstorm is coming, and Bertie gives Mary drugs for Dr. Vogel. Mary sees an envelope on the table and is worried it’s her arrest warrant, but it’s a list of courses at Berneston University. She and Dr. Vogel go over the list together. Mary enjoys planning for a future she might never have, and it’s easy to convince Dr. Vogel that she’s excited.

She drugs Dr. Vogel and keeps talking until she passes out, then helps her upstairs until she is snoring on the bed. She leaves the empty bottle of wine and a wine glass upstairs so Vogel thinks she drank too much when she wakes up. Mary then steals Dr. Vogel’s pistol in case of an emergency.

When she finds Lillian in Building Five, she is weak and smells awful. The attendant threw Lillian’s full chamber pot at her after Lillian asked her to empty it a week ago. Despite only being there for 10 days, Lillian can barely walk. Mary brings her to the morgue, and she washes up and eats the food that Mary brought her. Mary tells her about Graham, and she regains her strength.

Mary cannot get the limo out of the garage because of the snow. While trying to get the car out, she sees Charlie and Cloris coming up to the garage. She draws a gun on them to protect Lillian. Cloris disarms her, but to her surprise, she and Charlie help them escape in the milk truck. Charlie drives them to a hunting cabin that no one uses in the winter. He tells them that Jake has been arrested for agitating at the steel mill. Mary and Lillian remember how Mary’s father and uncle worked as Pinkerton men, brutalizing striking workers.

Lillian recounts the atrocities of Building Five to Mary. She asks Mary to save the other girls there. Mary changes the topic to talk about Graham and Rosemary, who was adopted by his sister. Lillian asks Mary to be Rosemary’s godmother, and she agrees. 

Charlie drops them off at the one-room cabin and brings in a bundle of clothes and food he received from his father, the entrance guard at Nettleton. He lights the stove for them and loads it up with wood. Charlie and Mary need to go back, but Lillian will stay at the cabin, and he’ll pick her up the next day. Mary gives Lillian money from Graham with his hotel name on the envelope, as well as a new set of rosary beads and a St. Christopher medal, the patron saint of travelers. Mary tells her to wait to open the envelope until the morning.

Charlie tells Mary that he, his parents, and many other people from the village have helped girls escape. Mary is surprised because the paper said they always get caught. Charlie says that Dr. Vogel’s uncle owns the newspaper, and she manipulates the stories. Charlie explains:

Most of ’em were from nearby towns. Vogel and Hartley don’t take in local girls anymore, ’cause in the past their folks would give us money to help get them back out. Cloris helped a few girls just ’cause they weren’t looking like they’d last another winter. My mom used to be one of the field attendants. She’d help a girl if she looked like she couldn’t take the strain no more. But we usually knew somebody who knew their folks (249).

Mary responds that she didn’t realize everyone was so caring. Charlie says she shouldn’t be so quick to judge and that she judged him from the minute he picked her up in Scranton. He says that while they don’t have a choice to work at Nettleton because of a lack of opportunities, she’s from Scranton and could have worked anywhere else. She’s complicit in keeping her friends and other girls locked up.

When they return, Charlie and Mary are relieved that no one knows that Lillian is missing. Charlie reminds Mary that they shouldn’t relax until he drops Lillian at the train station the next morning. They realize that none of the lights are on, which means the electricity is off, so they don’t know if Charlie’s dad left the light on or not, the signal for whether the alarm has been raised about Lillian. Charlie drops off Mary and reminds her that she got them all into this, so she can’t make any mistakes.

Mary realizes that she needs to put the gun back. Dr. Vogel is in the bathroom, and she comes back and falls asleep without noticing Mary in the room. Just as Mary leaves, the alarm goes off, and Dr. Vogel wakes up. Mary tells her she thinks there is an emergency.

Dr. Vogel is furious that Lillian is missing. She has everyone search the woods all night, and she interrogates the staff. Olga Swensen, who works in Building Five, reveals that she was drinking at a Christmas party. Dr. Vogel is also upset that Charlie sounded the alarm instead of coming to her. Now the police are involved, and she has to negotiate with the local sheriff and the townspeople.

Mary and Charlie realize that he won’t be able to get Mary until after the storm has passed. When everyone leaves, Mary makes breakfast for Dr. Vogel and Miss Hartley, who interrogate Mary about Lillian. Mary admits to knowing her. Dr. Vogel changes the subject and tells Mary that she will not be able to go to New York because she will need to help Dr. Vogel with correspondence as she manages this crisis. She tells Mary to get some rest.

Mary begins packing her suitcase but stops when she realizes that she will not be able to bring anything with her now that the plans have changed. She realizes that her mother’s suitcase is not fancy but is actually garish and small. 

Mary and Dr. Vogel have dinner by candlelight. Dr. Vogel says that she will protect Mary. Mary is confused and Dr. Vogel explains that Mary is implicated in the bootlegging operation.

Mary makes a mistake and asks about other missing girls, but Dr. Vogel believes that she has confused escaping buildings with escaping the grounds. Dr. Vogel asks Mary to bring all of the records to do with the judge and medicinal whiskey and the girls working outside the facility. Mary is fully disenchanted by Dr. Vogel, who blames everyone but herself for everything. When Mary confronts her about Ida, Dr. Vogel tries to blame it on Mary, saying she prevented them from reporting Ida’s rape to the police. Dr. Vogel proceeds to get very drunk, and Mary realizes that Dr. Vogel does not see her as a daughter but as a “useful fool” she can use to do her bidding.

The sheriff shows up to report that they haven’t found Lillian, and at this point, they are probably looking for a dead body. He notices that Dr. Vogel is drunk and tells Mary that she should not let her talk to any reporters.

Charlie arrives in the milk truck. The snow has cleared enough for them to get Lillian. Mary convinces Dr. Vogel to let her go under the pretense of keeping an eye on Charlie so he doesn’t tell anyone about what is going on during his milk deliveries.

In the car, she finds Jake, who is badly beaten. They drive to the cabin, where they see two farmers Charlie knows. Before he can say anything, Lillian runs out with a shotgun and shoots at the farmers, who run away and then fire back. Lillian is shot and falls to the ground.

Mary, Charlie, and Jake help the men move Lillian, but Jake has trouble breathing. Charlie says that they need to take Jake to the hospital because he probably has a punctured lung. Charlie and Mary drop him off at the hospital and return to the village, where they are met by the girls asking about Lillian. Mary realizes that up until that moment, she had avoided looking at the inmates' faces. She had dehumanized them on purpose. Mary meets up with Hal and Bertie, and Bertie whispers that Hal is going to take them both to the train so they can escape.

Photographers and angry townspeople arrive holding newspapers. Ike Brown published an article with the documents that Jake had passed onto him detailing the bootlegging operation and the corruption at Nettleton. Cloris announces to the townspeople that many of the girls are able to read and write, and the newspaper article is telling the truth. Dr. Vogel tries to manage the crisis and Bertie tells Mary that they need to go now.

Mary insists that they need to show the townspeople Building Five while everyone is here. Mrs. Howell volunteers to look at the building after Dr. Vogel protests that she will not let the sheriff, a man, into a women’s facility. Cloris, Betty, and Bertie all agree to come with Mary to show Mrs. Howell Building Five. Dr. Vogel tries to stop their access by firing everyone, but she is unsuccessful. They lead the way, and Mrs. Howell meets all 47 inmates living in deplorable and terrifying conditions that she calls medieval.

Dr. Vogel tries to blame Lillian’s death on Mary and warns Mary that she will be prosecuted. Mary gets into the back of the sheriff’s car, and they drive away.

Mary writes a letter to Sister Rosemary. She informs her that she is married to Jake and working for a refrigerator parts manufacturing company in Manhattan. She has a close friend, Olivia, who spends a lot of time with Mary’s niece, Rosemary. Mary cannot reveal that Lillian is still alive and changed her name to Olivia.

The Varnums, the two men who shot Lillian, hit her in the arm. They could not see and did not know who they were shooting at. They were just afraid because they were shot at. When Mary and Charlie took Jake to the hospital, they took Lillian there too. Her identity was easy to alter because she had no records outside of the ones from the orphanage and Nettleton. Her first surname, Faust, came from the doctor who delivered her to the orphanage, and her record at Nettleton was under Lillian Henning. Lillian takes on the name Olivia Moore. She plans to travel to Europe to see Graham with her daughter, Rosemary.

When Mary went with the sheriff, he told her he could drive her wherever she wanted. Charlie told Dr. Vogel that Lillian was in a morgue in Northumberland, which is outside the sheriff’s jurisdiction. Dr. Vogel blamed Olga Swensen and Miss Hartley for Lillian’s death. Dr. Vogel was not charged with anything because the judge, governor, and state attorney general were all involved in the bootlegging scheme. She resigned from the board at Nettleton and went on to become the first female head of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Welfare. All of the girls who were hired out to work on behalf of Nettleton were released back to their families.