chapter 24, Aunt Alexandra invites over the women from her missionary circle to have tea with her. Scout, bored because Jem and Dill have gone to swim, joins her. Scout actually wears a dress and helps Calpurnia bring in the tea. The women gossip for a time, talking in particular about Mayella Ewell and how their black servants have been acting angry since the trial. They even go so far as to allude to Atticus in their small talk although, for once, Alexandra sticks up for him. The entire tone of their conversation amongst the women is petty and gossipy.
Atticus enters the home, and asks Alexandra to come into the kitchen. He tells her, Scout, Miss Maudie, and Calpurnia that Tom Robinson tried to escape from prison and, as a result, was shot seventeen times. Atticus asks Calpurnia to come with him to break the news to Tom's wife.
After he leaves, Alexandra sits for a time with Scout and Miss Maudie in the kitchen. Alexandra is angry that so much responsibility in the town falls on Atticus' shoulders. However, Miss Maudie reassures her by saying that Maycomb trusts Atticus to always do the right thing. And, that said, they all go back out to the tea party.
In chapter 25, it has now become September. Sitting on the porch, Scout almost squashes a roly-poly. Jem stops her at the last minute, telling her to leave it alone because the bug has never done her any harm. Clearly, this is an echo of Atticus's earlier comment about not harming a mockingbird for the same reason. This is surely a sign of Jem's increasing maturity, though Scout writes it off as him being too "girly."
Scout and Jem begin talking about Dill and, after one thing leads another, Jem tells how on the night Atticus went to tell Tom Robinson's wife what had happened, Jem had convinced him to be allowed to accompany him. Jem recounts what he saw and how Helen Robinson seemed to know what was coming before Atticus even told her. She fainted when she saw him coming.
