Summary

The second section begins with a quote from Anatole France, a French writer and winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature, stating that if something is well said, one should definitely take it and copy it. As the next phase of Maurice's story begins, it is September in Norwich, England. The narrator, Edith Camberley, recounts the dinner she and her husband enjoyed in celebration of their fifth wedding anniversary. She also mourned the loss of four children through miscarriage due to her inhospitable womb. She commented that her husband had wanted children so intensely. They discussed her new job teaching creative writing at the university and she felt unsure of herself, but her husband encouraged her and said she would do a great job. They also talked about Edith's sister and brother-in-law who were going through a divorce. Robert had decided to...