Chapters 25-26 Summary

Amy returns with a portfolio of old photographs. William does not recognize Ted in the earliest ones, before his marriage to Rosie. Her wedding picture is grotesque; only William knows how lovely she must have looked. Roy and Amy deplore how common Rosie had been. Looking through the pages, Ted's face grows thinner and more lined. He always looks aloof, as though he and the person who writes his books are separate puppets. William is glad to leave resolving Ted's personality to Roy. There are photographs of Retford and of Hillier's portrait of Rosie, which gives William a pang, for that is how he best remembers her—alive and passionate.

Amy and Roy both snipe at that picture, Amy calling Rosie "a white nigger," Isabel's hateful old phrase. Once William has described Rosie as virginal and enchanting, Amy assures him...