Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary

Time is running out for Cecilia to be alone with her brother and she cannot think straight. She selects a pink dress and accessories, but she decides she looks like Shirley Temple and changes into a backless green gown that makes her look like a mermaid. She encounters Jackson, barefoot and upset, with Pierrot nearby, also barefoot. Both hold a single sock. Surely, socks cannot make them cry, Cecilia says and Jackson responds that they want to be in Briony's play but she has disappeared. Betty will smack them if they do not come down for tea immediately. Cecilia's solution is to raid Briony's room, while growing worried about what might have become of her missing sister. Adjusting the twins' appearance, Cecilia sends them downstairs. This attention to the twins' needs changes Cecilia's mood. Cambridge supposedly changed her fundamentally, but she...