Daughters of the House Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 10, The Biscuit Tin Summary

Chapter 10, The Biscuit Tin Summary

Soeur Dosithée has kept the letters Antoinette sent to her during Thérèse's infancy and childhood. After Antoinette's death, Thérèse receives the letters but does not open the tin immediately. In the letters Antoinette describes how Rose Taillé took the baby in because she lost her own baby the week before. Antoinette writes that she wishes the girls were not so fair-haired because they had enough "fair-haired people" to "last a lifetime" (45).

Chapter 10, The Biscuit Tin Analysis

Thérèse reads these letters after she realizes that Madeleine will likely marry Louis. Thérèse was angry and upset when she read these letters. In the correspondence, Thérèse discovers unexpected information about her parentage. At this point in the novel, the reader is only told that Antoinette does not feel capable of bringing up the baby and has given her to Rose to care for. Intimations of what may have happened to Antoinette are planted in the line, "These...
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