Part 1, Section 3 (pages 40-52) Summary

Montgomery arrives at his family home, Coolgrange, in the early afternoon. It is overcast. The sun comes out when his mother appears laughing on the front stairs. Montgomery describes his mother with the full knowledge that amateur psychologists will be lurking in the courtroom. He describes her simply. Her name is Dorothy, but she is called Dolly. There is nothing doll-like about her, though. She is large and vigorous, and he remembers her from childhood as being statuesque but distant "like a marble figure at the far side of a lawn."

As soon as Montgomery says hello to his mother, he is annoyed. She notes that he's grown fat and pinches his belly. It wounds his pride. The house is smaller and less well kept than he remembers. It looks as if his mother is living in...