Chapter 14 Summary

Chapter fourteen begins from Aunt Ada Doom's perspective. Feeling restless, she decides to descend downstairs, even if it is not on one of the two days a year she normally does so. Her daughter Judith helps her dress for the occasion. Meanwhile, Flora spends an hour helping Elfine get dressed for the party before she can prepare her own wardrobe. With an hour to wait before the car arrives, Flora is agitated and even reading Pensees doesn't calm her nerves. She imagines everything that could go wrong, the worst of which would be Richard Hawk-Monitor not proposing to Elfine. The perspective shifts momentarily back to Aunt Ada, who is still getting dressed, with memories flooding in her mind. Elfine begins to feel sick with worry but then there is a knock at the door. Seth stands there in his dinner jacket which in...