The intensity of your feelings fades with time, as you and Biah grow apart. Although she comes to your Holyoke Anniversary, you speak with her only briefly, and spend your time enjoying the company of family and other friends. You congratulate yourself for having destroyed that letter.

You are happy to be home in Amherst, and finished with the religious fervor of Mount Holyoke. When you learn that Miss Lyons has died, you feel guilty because you are not at all sorry. You are becoming acquainted with two of Father's associates at the law firm: Ben Newton and Eldridge Bowdoin. Ben is nine years older than you, and quite intense. He has a brilliant mind—quite remarkable for having never been to college--and a most sensitive spirit; with Ben, you can finally share your writings. Eldridge is ten years older than you, and resolutely determined to remain a bachelor—which makes flirtation—for once--a carefree affair. He is lively and occasionally audacious; Father disapproves of his liberal politics. You feared he might forbid you to see Eldridge once again, upon discovering that he had loaned you Jane Eyre, but in the interests of smooth professional relations, Father merely scowled.

Turn to page 17.