Chapter 19 — Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary (Chronological)
The chapter opens with Jean at her desk at the newspaper office, typing up apple recipes she has personally tested over the previous weeknights. She has accumulated enough to fill a page, and a leftover cake pan of turnovers sits untouched because even the greediest colleagues have grown tired of her baking experiments. The phone rings, and the switchboard operator announces that Mr. Tilbury is calling. This is not unusual—Gretchen sometimes suggests he call Jean at work to arrange things—but it is the first time they have spoken since their visit to Aunt Edie's over a week ago.
Jean is suddenly shy and full of regret. She remembers the intimate, confessional tone of their last conversation, when she told Howard about her abortion—something she had never shared with anyone except her mother, who had chosen not to acknowledge it. Her sister Dorrie has left for Kitale, so there is no one to confide in. Jean feels she made a mistake in telling Howard, the one person she wanted to impress.
Howard says he has repaired Aunt Edie's brooch and offers to drop it off at her office on his way home, since it is his half-day. Jean agrees, trying to sound neutral. After hanging up, she fans herself with her notebook, relieved she didn't betray her pleasure at seeing him.
Jean reflects on her recent insomnia, which she attributes to a strange form of guilt—not for past wrongs, but anticipatory guilt for things that might yet be done. Since Howard told her that he and Gretchen no longer have a sexual relationship, Jean has allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to be made love to by him. She rationalizes these fantasies by telling herself that the mind cannot be policed, that she has no intention of acting on them, and that there is no betrayal of Gretchen because Gretchen has renounced sexual interest in Howard.
At ten to two, Jean goes to the ladies' room to check her appearance. She combs her hair and re-powders her nose, wearing no other makeup because past experiments made her look painted. She is wearing a dress made by Gretchen, which always prompts compliments. While drying her hands, a secretary comes in, red-eyed and wretched, and plunges into a stall. Jean recognizes her as the pretty one often tangled up with the lad from the print room. Jean remembers crying in that very room after Frank's desertion and wishing for a kind word, but she cannot bring herself to comfort the girl and slips out.
In the forecourt, she sees the reason for the girl's distress: the print room lad is in huddled conference with a new secretary, whispering in her ear and brushing hair from her face in a possessive gesture. Jean glares at them, then feels ashamed, thinking,