Part 2, Section 12 Summary

On Wednesday, her half day off, Daisy walks down to the river: she misses it and her twice-daily crossings. She only allows herself long enough to watch a barge go by before heading toward the Borough Library (which is connected to the public washhouse by the municipal fumigation rooms, where books could be disinfected after outbreaks of disease). She interrupts an old man who is sitting behind a pile of daily papers. She asks to read a few (and says she'll return them right away). She is used to reading newspapers, because she is a seeker of jobs. She next makes her way to a newspaper office and says she wants to see the editor (the newsmen notice she is good looking but not a "lady"). She wants them to run a news piece on an attempted suicide by a James...