Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

Two young, American women, Sue Ledbetter and Ramona Dunn, meet over coffee at Heidelberg University. It is the winter before the war. Sue is as shy as Ramona is vain and effusive. The two women do not care for each other but found some comfort in the companionship they began to share on the days they had class together. Sue's father is dead and her mother is uptight. Ramona comes from a rich family, who had moved to Italy from New York. Mr. And Mrs. Dunn are both still living, as are Ramona's three brothers, Justin, Daniel, and Robert. Ramona explains that her twin sister, Martha, had died five years previously, when they were only sixteen.

Ramona Dunn is not a beautiful girl, being short and severely overweight, but she had pretty features that were not completed disguised by her layers...