Summary

In Chapter 6, Furlong returns home from the convent. Eileen informs him that he has missed first Mass; Furlong—without mentioning the woman he found in the coal house—tells her that he had tea at the convent. They open the envelope from Mother Superior to find a large Christmas tip. Eileen, noting Furlong’s testiness, asks him, “what has you out of sorts?” (78). Later, with “a fresh type of reluctance” (79), Furlong prepares to go to second Mass.

As they walk to the chapel, Eileen jokingly asks their daughters if Furlong has given them change for the collection box or if he’d “given it all away” (79). Furlong responds sharply. Inside the chapel, Furlong stands near the door and watches “how easily [his family] genuflected and slid into the pew, as they’d been taught” (80). Soon, the parish priest enters and begins the service. Throughout...