Part 3, Chapter 5 Summary

Ralph returns safely and with much fervor asks Lucy to marry him. Lucy's resolve diminishes. She thinks that perhaps her parents too, will return. She rejects Ralph once again. Henry and Bridget are disappointed, for they too, had harbored hopes that when Ralph came home, Lucy would finally marry him. Ralph writes his final letter, accepting the inevitable. In the summer, she started petit-point embroidery and discovered she had a gift for it. She did not follow what the patterns dictated but made her own designs. She is looking more and more like her mother. On Thursday, March 10, 1949, she reads in the paper that Ralph is getting married.

Part 3, Chapter 5 Analysis

Despite the love she feels for Ralph, she is ultimately unable to go to him. She feels it is a betrayal for her to lead her own life before her...