Montag later steals a book, as he is getting ready to burn a house down. He sees the old lady is not willing to give up her books or her home. She refuses to go and lights the house on fire herself. She dies in the fire, and Montag is stunned. Montag later becomes sickened after the scene he just witnessed, and returns home. His wife tells him that Clarisse was murdered, and he is worsened by hearing this.
Captain Beatty later visits Montag the next day. He gives out hints that he knows Montag is holding on to some books. He explains the dangers of having a book, and brings up what happened to the old woman. He also says that he does not want Montag to be harmed by this, so he suggests that if he were to have any books, to get rid of them. After this, Montag goes and gets out a hefty amount of books, and begins to read them. Montag becomes more interested in reading books, so he visits a professor that he met about a year ago. Professor Faber is afraid to talk to Guy Montag, because he is in fear of being the next victim on the firefighter's list. The two later bond, and become very trustworthy of each other. Faber gives Montag copies of books, and they both use a small two-way radio to keep in contact with each other.
Once Montag comes home, he sees his wife and her friends watching television and gossiping to each other. He is sickened by this, but Faber tells him not to blow it and stay calm, but he ignores his instructions. Montag gets in an argument with them and debates about politics, and he begins to read from a book of poetry. Mildred's friends were frightened, and once they had left Mildred runs to her room. Before going to work, he hides his books in the backyard. Later on during the day, there is a call, and Montag is surprised to find that his house is the one that is about to be burned down. He confronts Beatty and they get into a fight. The earpiece falls out of Montag's ear, so he has no communication with Faber.
