Summary

Chapter 41 starts with May receiving a letter that her painting La Negresse had been accepted into the Salon of 1879. She tacks the letter on the wall right next to her painting of Orchard House. At the night of the exhibition everyone congratulates May, including her teachers and Mary Cassatt. Even her Russian classmate brings potential clients over to meet her. She runs into Jane Gardner who tells her she is engaged to her mentor Bouguereau. Talking to Jane, May starts to feel ill and she faints as she walks outside. When she wakes the next day Ernest has brought the doctor, who has assumed she is expecting. The doctor, whose English is weak, asks May “You are . . . aged” and May responds “I am older” and he responds “Old. Yes” (367). He tells her to get as much rest as possible, and no travel into...