True Grit

The following day, Mattie visits the courthouse. She speaks to the deputy about Chaney, only to be disappointed to learn that he is very low on the list of priorities for the marshals. As she waits for the trial to begin, she visits Colonel Stonehill. In his barn, she finds the ponies her father planned to train and sell, and in the office she finds Stonehill. He shares his condolences, and Mattie reveals to him her plan to hire a marshal to bring Chaney to justice. There are few marshals, Stonehill says, so she may need to be patient. He also warns her that there are many “natural hiding places” (128) out in the Indigenous territory, so Chaney will be hard to find.

Mattie begins to negotiate. She wants Stonehill to buy back the ponies he sold to her father. Stonehill refuses. Mattie insists, as she and her family no longer have any use for the ponies. Mattie also wants compensation for the theft of Judy and the saddle since her father’s possessions were in Stonehill’s stable. Stonehill is taken aback by the forcefulness of Mattie’s haggling. When he still refuses, Mattie threatens to contact her lawyer. She warns that a court will not look fondly on Stonehill offering such poor treatment to a recently bereaved family.