Part 3 - Wisconsin, Winter into Spring, 1908 - Chapters 19 and 20 Summary

Chapter 19: Truitt's general health deteriorates quickly, and Catherine veers back and forth between acting on her love for Antonio and her growing love for Truitt. As he suffers traumatizing nightmares, deepening blisters, and painful oversensitivity to touch and hearing, he begins instructing Catherine in the ways and details of his business empire. A doctor diagnoses cancer, and Truitt begins to visit the churches in the area, seeking absolution and grace, hoping to ease his deepening sadness. Catherine stops administering the poison, then starts again, then stops, then starts, fully aware that she and Truitt are approaching the line where healing would no longer be possible. Truitt loses awareness of what's happening to him, coming to believe that he is suffering retribution for his youthful dissolution, that a...