Summary

Chapter 52 opens with annoyance toward Americans telling the women what to do. After Dilly’s death, Beth imagines him telling her that poetry can be used to break codes. Before he died, Dilly was working on code that reminds him of a rose, but did not get very far. While things are going better for Beth, she misses Osla and Mab. Mrs. Knox asks Beth to take Dilly’s papers to Travis but runs into her father. He calls Harry a heathen and tells her to come home. She refuses, accusing him of abandoning her before she takes Dilly’s Russian cypher to Peggy. In the future she admonishes herself for setting it aside.

In Chapter 53, Mab coaches Beth on how to ask for a contraceptive and warns her that Harry will never marry her. She meets a journalist named Ian who asks...