Act 3, Scene 1 Summary

It is a late afternoon in 1913. The scene is again the bedroom where the furniture has been rearranged and the curtains on the fourposter have been changed to a more conservative style. Agnes is seated at her dressing table holding a bouquet that matches her gown and hat. Michael enters, humming the Wedding March. She is a bit melancholy and he tells her to cheer up; he is the one who gave his daughter away to some nit with and has had to act happy about it for weeks.

She tells him that it is the first day of their daughter's marriage and the last day of theirs; that she is leaving. All her life she has been someone's wife or mother and she wants the chance to live before she becomes a grandmother. She does not want a trip; she...