A visit to Uncle Benjamin's grocery store is in order, it would be unacceptable to get tea from anywhere else. Much as his jokes prod Valancy painfully, she buys her tea and  realises his jokes are painful primarily because that are in fact true - she is getting old, she's not married, and feels unloved and unwanted.
 
Resolving to be honest with herself from now on, she passed by her church minister, Rev. Dr. Stalling, and feels that he must be listening to her thoughts. She delights in her new John Foster book, and by chance her eyes fall on a paragraph on overcoming fear - and decides in that moment to visit Dr Trent after all.