The gifts appear at regular intervals and are more and more expensive. There are two figures carved in soap resembling Scout and Jem followed by a spelling-bee medal, an old pocket watch and so on. The children decide to leave a note thanking their unknown benefactor, but they find the knothole filled with cement. Nathan Radley tells Jem that he has plugged the hole in order to stop the dying oak tree from rotting. .
For the first time in decades, there is an unusually cold snap of weather and Maycomb gets snow. As a result the school is closed and Jem and Scout spend the day trying to build a snowman. That night Scout is awakened by a commotion and she goes outside to find that Miss Maudie's house is on fire. The neighbors have rallied round and have saved her furniture and the fire truck manages to stop the fire spreading to the other houses, but Miss Maudie's house is lost. .
In the confusion, someone drapes a blanket over Scout and when quizzed by Atticus about it she has no idea who has put it over her. Jem decides that it must have been Boo Radley and then he reveals the story about the knothole to Atticus including the story about his mended pants. Atticus tells them to keep this a secret.
Despite her lost house Miss Maudie is surprisingly cheerful the next day, saying that she had always hated her home saying that she now has the chance to build a smaller one with a larger garden.
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Interpretation.
The reader feels more and more sympathy towards Boo Radley as the story develops. Although the reader clearly guesses that Boo Radley mended Jem's pants and placed the presents in the tree, Scout does not realize this until Jem explains it to Atticus after the fire. It is clear that Jem is becoming more worldly wise and shares his father's strong sense of justice.
There is a definite gothic feel to the book due to the surreal happenings, which take place. We have the strange phenomena of snow so far south, coupled with the fire to Miss Maudie's house.
