Family

The first half of the story is punctuated by Leila's relationships with her cousins, the Sheridan siblings. Leila accompanies her cousins Meg, Laura, Jose, and Laurie to the ball, and her thoughts as they travel through the city streets suggest her deep longing to be a part of the lifestyle they all lead together. "Every single thing was so new and exciting," the narrator says, conveying Leila's thoughts, "Meg's tuberoses, Jose's long loop of amber, Laura's little dark head, pushing above her white fur like a flower through the snow. It even gave her a pang to see her cousin Laurie throw away the wisps of tissue paper he pulled from the fastenings of his new gloves. She would like to have kept those wisps as a keepsake, as a remembrance" (1). Here, though Lelia is a welcome presence in the cab on the way to the...