Part 4, Chapter 2 Summary

Every summer, Persse tutors a course at the Celtic Twilight Summer School, including a pilgrimage to W. B. Yeats's famous Lake Isle of Innisfree. His generally overweight American charges are concerned about the weathered row boats that will take them across, but Persse is more concerned with the sky. Mr. Maxwell, a teacher at a small Baptist college in the Deep South is particularly worried, because he cannot swim. Nor can Mrs. Finklepearl. The rowers, hardly disinterested financially, reassure Persse that three boats will suffice, and they set off, low in the water because of the weight. Just past halfway, the sun disappears, and the lake grows choppy, eliciting cries of distress. Two boats pull ahead of Persse's, which is foundering. Maxwell clings to Persse's arm in a panic. He cannot afford to die now, in a state of sin over...