Chapter 10 Summary

Several days have passed since the disastrous luncheon. Meg wonders if Mrs. Wilcox is just one of those unsatisfactory people who dangles intimacy and then withdraws it. Meg likes things tidied up and written down and would have liked the older woman to commit to a friendship, but Mrs. Wilcox will not be hurried, if there will be any relationship at all.

Meg is brought out of her melancholy by a message from Mrs. Wilcox asking her to go Christmas shopping. The holiday is drawing near and Mrs. Wilcox has spent too many days brooding inside the London flat. The two women set out in a carriage for Harrods' and the Haymarket stores. Mrs. Wilcox tells Meg that she has been a wonderful help getting her organized and making gift suggestions.

Their conversation drift to their respective homes and Mrs. Wilcox suggests that...